RARELY-SEEN antique photos taken in the region by a 19th Century photographer will go on show next week.

The pictures, by Elijah Yeoman, are part of the collection belonging to Bowes Museum, in Barnard Castle.

They have been painstakingly restored on computer by Keith Orange, the owner of Vintage Graphics, a print and photograph gallery in Barnard Castle.

The photographs include scenes of towns, rural villages and dramatic landscapes from across the North.

Yeoman took many pictures in Barnard Castle and Teesdale, but his collection also features scenes from places such as Spennymoor, in County Durham, Whitby, Richmond and Middlesbrough.

Mr Orange, who has worked in photography for more than 30 years and last year opened his gallery, said: "The good thing about these pictures is that they were printed directly from the glass plates, which are quite small, so when they are blown up, there is a huge amount of detail, which is interesting from a social history point of view.

"When these photos were taken, cameras were still very much a novelty, so on many of the prints, people are actually coming out of shops or houses to look at what Yeoman was doing.

"The majority of the prints are held in the museum archive and are not currently on display, so this is a wonderful opportunity to see them."

Bowes Museum director Adrian Jenkins said: "We are delighted to be involved with Vintage Graphics in this project and wish the exhibition every success."

Parkin Raine, who has written a short biography on the photographer, said: "Yeoman was a young farmer's lad from Bedale way who first started doing photography with his brother.

"He came up to Barnard Castle and had a studio on Galgate, where Addison's Auctioneers are now. He took a variety of pictures, but was a real master of landscapes."

More than 30 examples from the Yeoman collection, together with other prints and photographs, will be on display at Witham Hall, in Barnard Castle, from July 5 to July 11. Entry is free.

Limited edition prints of the photographs are on sale at Vintage Graphics and at Bowes Museum.

The museum is planning its own Yeoman exhibition for the spring next year.