- 0191 3864034
- kemblegallery@gmail.com
We are an award winning specialist Gallery & Art Shop in the historic City of Durham, home to Durham Cathedral, a World Heritage Site. The Kemble Gallery has three floors of Fine Art, Prints, Gifts & Art Supplies. We also offer a bespoke framing service.
Our staff are a team of artists who can offer help and advice on Art Supplies, Art, Gifts & Framing.
We have a range of fine art paintings in our collection including the lovely original oil painting Durham Castle and Cathedral by Helen MacDonald Mathie, a signed original watercolour of Durham Cathedral by Lilian K. Tuke.
Part of our collection are the two Damien Hirst prints the limited edition Aurous Iodide and his Red Butterfly print. We also have a David Hockney, Glass Table and Objects, limited edition print, 1969.
Alongside the The Kemble Gallery Collection of Fine Art the Gallery exhibits work by local Artists and Craftspeople.
The Kemble Gallery & Art Shop has been in business for around 40 years. The Gallery is named after Stephen Kemble, Theatre Manager & Actor. The building itself is over 500 years old and is one of the last timber framed buildings left in Durham.
‘Behind No. 61 Saddler Street a theatre stood from 1792 to 1850. Stephen Kemble, who lived at “The Grove” opposite Durham School, was the manager for some years. His famous sister, Mrs. Siddons, is said to have appeared more than once at his theatre. He is buried at the east end of the Cathedral. He is said to have weighed 30 stone at one time and was able to play Falstaff without padding’
Text from A Short Tour of Durham by B. Colgrave and C.W. Gabby, first published, 1947.
The Kemble Gallery & Art Shop is situated next to the Shakespeare Pub, said to be the most haunted pub in Durham City. Our staff have experienced unusal and unexplained events whilst working in the gallery, such as hearing a man's voice whispering, objects have moved whilst the shop has been closed to the public, unexplained shapes appearing on the CCTV cameras, footsteps on the floorboards upstairs when the rooms are empty, and sensing a presence within the building.
The most unusual event took place when a member of staff was doing a stock check in the art department and heard someone going through the browsers on the mezzanine floor. When they went downstairs to greet a customer, they discovered the floor was empty. Upon returning to the the art department, they heard the same sounds coming from the ground floor and upon investigation discovered the ground floor was also empty.
We like to think these unxplained events are the ghost of Stephen Kemble or you may believe they can be easily explained by science, whatever you believe, rest assured that the spirit is a friendly one and not malevolent.
If you are interested in exhibiting with the Kemble Gallery, please email digital images of your work for consideration. If you are successful you will be invited by appointment only to come into the Kemble Gallery to show some samples of your work.
Please contact: Sophy Nixon, Manager | email: kemblegallery@gmail.com