Durham Museum, Durham

The church was rebuilt in the 1670s to replace a church on the same site which collapsed in 1632, incorporating earlier material. The church is a reconstruction of an older building, so it contains elements from different dates. The roof is fifteenth-century and the panelling is eighteenth-century. During the middle ages, an arch connected the tower to the fortifications, which created a 'bow'. However, this later collapsed in 1635. The building lay in ruins until 1685, although efforts were made to preserve the building by the parishioners. The rebuilding only began thanks to the help from the Bishop of Durham, as well as the Dean and Chapter of Durham Cathedral. The present tower dates…

Established in 1975, the Bow Trust (Durham) Limited is a registered charity (number 513865). The charity was created to maintain the now redundant church of St Mary-Le-Bow, with the goal of turning it into a centre for upholding the history and culture of both the city and county Durham. This culminated in the establishment of Durham Museum which the trust ran in the old church building.