Today I’ve been in Haltwhistle to see the folks at Stanegate Replicas and Restorations who are adding the finishing touches to the Spennymoor chip van (seen departing the museum on the blog last year). The van was very much a home-made affair, using what was probably a commercial (and by then already life expired) commercial dray or rolley chassis. A timber frame was clad in steel, later modified and with a long and hard life expected of it. It became an icon in the area after featuring in a number of Norman Cornish’s paintings, the van eventually being brought to Beamish after finishing its working life in Spennymoor.

Kept in store for some 40 years the van’s primitive construction had somehow managed to retain its shape and form until last year it was moved to Stanegate for restoration as part of the chip shop development. The specification was hard to determine, as to rebuild it as it was would have resulted in it collapsing fairly soon again. However, a full rebuild has been carried out which ensures its longevity but retains its character and non-sophisticated appearance. As part of this a new range has been made, and tested! To all intents and purposes the van is now in working order, though of course would not meet today’s food hygiene standards (though hot fat would kill most known germs!). It reflects Beamish’s policy to show the past in all its reality, so even though the van won’t be used to cook chips for the visitors, it could and is therefore as real as it ever was – something very important to us curatorially.

The van will be collected in the next few weeks and is likely to visit Spennymoor as part of the celebrations following its restoration. In the short term I expect we will display it in the Town here, alongside the garage and in a similar situation as that immortalised in the painting. Next year it will take its place in a lean-to alongside the chip shop – a very tangible and real object for visitors to enjoy…

Below: Nearly finished…

Below: The interior, new material and old, fully conserved.

Below: The old range…

See Stanegate Restoration & Replicas website for step by step photos of the restoration and coverage of various other interesting projects they are carrying out.