Creswell Crags gears up for reopening as lockdown rules ease

Creswell Crags and the nearby The Harley Gallery are set to fully reopen to visitors in May, as lockdown restrictions ease – just in time for international museum day, an annual event that has been celebrating the role of museums since 1977, on May 18.

Reopening highlights include a new art installation a Creswell Crags, as well as a new art exhibition at the gallery in nearby Welbeck.

Creswell Crags museum, which includes prehistoric artefacts excavated on the site, is due to reopen on Monday, May 17, with pre-booked cave tours due to begin the following weekend.

Visitors will also be able to visit both venues more easily thanks to improvements to a footpath between the two attractions.

Paul Baker, Creswell Crags executive director, said: “We are excited to offer visitors this new connection between the brilliant exhibitions hosted by our friends at The Harley Gallery, and some of the very earliest art recorded in Britain, in the caves at Creswell Crags.

“After a year in which Creswell Heritage Trust had to fight for survival, we are thrilled to welcome visitors back again – and hope our connection with The Harley Gallery encourages visitors to come to both sites and gives the local visitor economy a much-needed boost.”

Art inspired by migrants

Drawn to the Water’s Edge is a new art installation, within Creswell Crags’ exhibition gallery, which will be on display for the first time in May.

The cave art at Creswell Crags was likely scratched by a migrant who had travelled from Europe. Now composer Amanda Johnson and artist Richard Johnson, in collaboration with the area’s Polish community, are creating an art and sound installation to flood the exhibition space with the sight and sound of water.

The Harley Gallery’s new exhibition, A Year With The Jerwood Collection, opens on May 18 and includes works by artists LS Lowry, Henry Moore and Maggi Hambling.

The footpath work has been done ahead of a £60,000 project to create a cave art to contemporary art walking trail, linking the contemporary and historic art at The Harley Gallery and Britain’s only verified Ice Age rock art, at Creswell Crags.

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