Dove Marine Laboratory

Dove Marine Laboratory

Established	1897
Research Type	Marine research and teaching
Faculty	Faculty of Science, Agriculture and Engineering
Location	Cullercoats, North Shields, Tyne and Wear, NE30 4PZ
Telephone	0191 222 3051
Affiliations	Newcastle University
Website	www.ncl.ac.uk/marine

The Dove Marine Laboratory is a research and teaching laboratory which forms part of the School of Marine Science and Technology within Newcastle University in the United Kingdom.

History

The original Laboratory was established in October 1897. It comprised a small wooden hut sited next to the Saltwater Baths on Cullercoats Bay, and was used by Armstrong College to study the waters of the north east UK coastline.

On the 28 March 1904 the Laboratory and Baths were destroyed by fire, but it was agreed that the work of the Laboratory should continue. In 1906 the local landowner, geologist Wilfred Hudleston, FRS, offered not only to make the site of the old Baths available for newer, larger, facilities, but also offered to finance their construction. He was reluctant to publicise his generosity, and asked that the building be named after one of his ancestors, Eleanor Dove, when it was opened by the Duke of Northumberland on 29 September 1908. In 2008 the laboratory celebrated its centenary, where the current Duke of Northumberland led festivities.^[1]

The Laboratory became a department of Armstrong College when the building and land were purchased by the college following Hudleston's death in 1909, and soon grew in reputation, acquiring its first boat in 1911. The Laboratory also operated a public aquarium and once housed the coble in which Grace Darling and her father rescued passengers from the SS Forfashire in 1838.^[2]

In 1967 responsibility for the Laboratory was transferred to Newcastle University.

As a research facility the Laboratory is normally closed to the public, but opens for visitors on certain days as part of the European Heritage Open Day scheme. It also has Meeting Room and Small Conference Facilities named the Buchanan Room and the Blue Room.^[3] It is easily accessible by public transport with the Cullercoats Metro station being nearby.

Research Vessels of the Dove Marine Laboratory

• The Evadne: 1911 –
• Pandalus: 1950s
• The Alexander Meek: 1950s – 1973
• RV Bernicia: 1973 – present

References

1. ^ "Centenary Celebration 2008". Newcastle University Marine Biology. http://www.ncl.ac.uk/marine/about/facilities/dove/centenary/. Retrieved 2010-10-11. 
2. ^ Whiting, C E (1932), The University of Durham 1832-1932 London, The Sheldon Press
3. ^ "Dove Marine Laboratory Brochure 2010" (PDF). Newcastle University Marine Biology. http://www.ncl.ac.uk/marine/about/facilities/dove/documents/DoveMarineLabatory_Brochure2010.pdf. Retrieved 2010-10-11. 

External links

• School of Marine Science and Technology
• Dove web site at the University of Newcastle

Coordinates: 55°02′06″N 1°25′57″W / 55.035°N 1.4326°W / 55.035; -1.4326