Rescue boat moved after 70 years

The boat, built in the 1830s, has never been moved since 1938

The boat used by a Northumbrian heroine is to be put into storage until next year while a new museum which will become its new home is built.

Grace Darling received national attention in 1838 when she rowed out to help survivors of the shipwrecked SS Forfarshire during a storm.

The coble used in the dramatic rescue now belongs to the RNLI.

It has been displayed in the old Grace Darling museum in Bamburgh since its opening in 1938.

The boat will take centre stage at the new £1.4m RNLI Grace Darling museum, set to open in Bamburgh next year.

RNLI heritage manager Dr Joanna Bellis said the 21ft coble, built more than 170 years ago, must be handled very carefully by a specialist removals team.

She said: "The coble has always been the heart of the museum and seeing it come out of the building will be a symbolic moment - the end of the old museum but the beginning of the redevelopment work which will give us a wonderful new home for the coble and other exhibits."

It will be moved 65 miles to the Beamish North of England Regional Museum Store, in County Durham, on 25 January.