I have just spent a very interesting hour or two,at this museum,situated in the small Northumberland market town of Morpeth,about 15 miles north of Newcastle upon Tyne. Naturally,the museum tends to have a good selection of Northumbrian smallpipes on display,but has examples of pipes from all over Europe.The differences between the various pipes are very well explained,as is the history and technical developments over the centuries. Of particular interest to readers of this forum would be a set of u. pipes, made by Robert Reid of North Shields in the early 19th century,which featured a DOUBLE chanter with a D sharp key.There was also a set dated 1830-50, Liverpool and Dublin, which had brass regulators by Michael Egan and chanter and other parts by Brown.The display commented on the growth in popularity of all kinds of pipes worldwide,a happy state of affairs,as piping was dying out in many regions for various reasons in the not so distant past.There is a small gift shop downstairs to the displays,selling c.d.'s,tapes and books.I came away with postcards of some of the exhibits which I’d love to show if only I had a scanner.Well worth a look,if any of you are ever in the Northeast of England(or en-route to edinburgh).
There’s an old fiddle tune we use to play at the fiddle tunes festival called “Morpeth Rant” which must have originated here.
Kevin,
If you enjoyed the chantry you would LOVE to meet Mr. Lance Robson. A dear man, player of NSP’s, lives in Hartburn, just outside Morpeth, which is indeed a wonderful town. I used to live in Alnwick, and spent a great deal of time with Lance. Lance is has an EXTENSIVE collection of bagpipes, some modern..MANY VERY old sets as well. He has a few R. Reid UP sets that I have been able to take measurements from and duplicate. Lovely sounding sets actually. He has 2 double bore UP chanters, which I was never able to successfully reed…unfortuneately, being made of Boxwood, they had gone banana some time ago.
LAnce is very open to visitors to see his collcection. He can be reached through the Northumbrian Musical Heritage Society. Or through Robson house. There is a small gift shop down the street that knows Lance, and can give you his phone # if you’d like to stop in for a visit!
DB
Yes Lorenzo,that’s a tune from these parts.Another fine tune is the reel ‘Jamie Allen’* named after the infamous Northumbrian piper.The museum showed old engravings from a highly romanticised biography of this character,who’s piping got him in and out of trouble- it mentioned that he played the pipes at a fair to attract a crowd,whose pockets were subsequently picked by his accomplices! His playing got him a pardon!I hope you don’t think that I’m casting doubt on the morals of pipers by mentioning this story! 
*this tune can be found on J.C.'s tunefinder.
It’s a small world Davey! Mr. Robson sounds like a very interesting fellow,and his collection sounds wonderful! I just may attempt to contact him, if he is as open to visitors(by pre-appointment of course)as you say he is. 
Hi Kevin,
There’s a little bit about Mr Robson on Davy Stephensons website, look for the section titled “archives” on the homepage. Not that I’d try to encourage you to browse a pipemaker’s site
Cheers, Mac
Hiya Mac,how are the pipes going?Is it week 3 now? I intended having another look at that Archives page,because I’d looked there before and remembered that it was a fellow in Northumberland that had the pipes- I wondered if it might be Lance Robson.Some lovely workmanship on display there! Well it costs ‘nowt’ to look I suppose!
On 2003-02-07 17:39, kevin m. wrote:
Well it costs ‘nowt’ to look I suppose! >
Are you sure about that?
The pipes are going okay, 4 weeks today, I got my first tune to learn Monday past, I think my wife could sue me for cruellty (hope my piping’s better than my spelling). I’ll mail you.
Cheers, Mac
I’m tempted!