VISITORS will be able to step inside the home and studio of one of the nation’s best loved artists- the late Norman Cornish- when they are recreated at a museum.

The pitman painter’s former home in Spennymoor, County Durham, will be replicated at Beamish, The Living Museum of the North, complete with his studio which was donated to the museum before his death last year.

Mr Cornish’s paintings captured everyday life in and around 33 Bishop’s Close Street, in Spennymoor, where he lived both as a child and later with his wife Sarah and their two children.

The house, which was demolished in the 1970s, will be copied in Beamish’s planned 1950s town and tell the story of Mr Cornish and his family.

It will also reflect life in Spennymoor and at the Spennymoor Settlement, which provided free classes and community groups and was an outlet for creativity in an area affected by unemployment and poverty.

Mr Cornish joined the Settlement aged 15 and writer Sid Chaplin and artists Bob Heslop, Tom McGuinness and Bert Dees were all alumni of its classes and clubs.

Before his death at the age of 94 in August 2014, Mr Cornish arranged for his studio contents, including some unfinished work and furniture from his home, to go to Beamish.

To celebrate the relationship and gather Spennymoor residents’ memories, Beamish will host a 1950s community event at St Paul’s Centre, Spennymoor, on Friday, August 14, 1pm to 4pm.

It will feature items from Mr Cornish’s studio and the Berriman’s chip van, which features in many of his paintings, along with period crafts, fashion and food, Spennymoor Brass Band images from the Settlement’s Everyman Theatre and work from Spennymoor Quilters.

Lisa Peacock, Remaking Beamish project officer, said: “We’re delighted to be sharing the story of Norman Cornish and the Spennymoor Settlement in our planned 1950s Town. “We’re honoured to have received these amazing pieces of history from the studio and home of Norman, who so skilfully captured everyday life in the North East.

“We’d love to hear people’s memories of Spennymoor in the 1950s and we’re really looking forward to working with the community to explore their heritage.”

The replica of 33 Bishop’s Close Street is part of Beamish’s £17million plans to create a 1950s town and farm and expand its Georgian area, including a coaching inn where visitors can stay overnight.

Mr Cornish, who worked at Dean and Chapter Colliery, in Ferryhill, before becoming a full time artist, later lived on Whitworth Terrace, Spennymoor, where a blue plaque has been erected in recognition of its historical and cultural significance.