At noon this Wednesday the Lord Mayor of Newcastle will unveil a plaque celebrating the 200th anniversary of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The plaque will be on the corner of the Bigg Market and Grainger Street in the city centre, on the site of the Turk's Head Inn, where the Society was founded. The inn also had a popular cock pit, but it is unknown whether local bookseller John Bell and the 16 other men who decided to establish the Society will have also paused to enjoy a cock fight – although the society's collection does include spurs for fighting cocks.

The Society's original statutes allowed for up to 100 members, all of them men, and paying a guinea a year membership - numbers have increased since then, as has the annual subscription. Bridget Atkinson was the society's first honorary member in 1813, but women were not admitted as full members until 1877, when Julia Boyd was the first woman elected. She was the author of the Bewick Gleanings and owned over 400 original Bewick woodblocks, as well as etchings by Durer, but sadly didn't leave them to the Society.

Their first president was Sir John Swinburne, grandfather of the poet Algernon Swinburne and owner of 30,000 acres of Northumberland. Sir John, who had been painted by Gainsborough, remained as president until his death in 1860.

In a book published on Wednesday to celebrate their first 200 years, the Society of Antiquaries' current president, Lindsay Allason-Jones writes:

without the Society the North of England would be a poorer place, lacking many of its iconic monuments and buildings and without the two centuries of research that underpin our knowledge of the archaeology, history and folk music of the region.

From the earliest days, the Society was concerned to preserve Newcastle's antiquities, campaigning vigorously and effectively against the demolition of the surviving sections of the town's walls – of which John Leland wrote in the 16th century:

the strength and magnificence of the walling of this town far passeth all the walls of the cities of England and most of the towns of Europe.

With the arrival of railways, Newcastle's Norman Castle Keep itself was under threat, but the Society successfully campaigned to preserve both it and the neighbouring Black Gate from destruction – for over a century the society and its collection were housed there. The "Edwardian" (in this case, Edward I) Plummer Tower was also saved from demolition – from a road widening scheme - with the city council of the time being reminded by the Society that councillors

were the trustees for the citizens and the nation of places of historic interest and should do their utmost for their preservation.

The Society was also an early campaigner for the preservation of Hadrian's Wall. Indeed its collection includes the Milecastle 38 inscription, which proved that Hadrian built Hadrian's Wall – previously it was usually referred to as the Pictish Wall or the Roman Wall.

Its eclectic collection also includes a lock of Grace Darling's hair, the last gibbet to have been used in Britain (in 1832, in Jarrow), a whaling harpoon, a 30,000 volume library, a set of "early and rather horrific mousetraps", thousands of coins and the best collection of Hadrian's Wall inscriptions in the world. It is also responsible for promoting traditional music from the north - John Bell, one of its founders, published The Rhymes of the Northern Bards and his collection of ancient music and songs is an important part of the library. In addition, a huge collection of Northumbrian pipes and related musical instruments belong to the Society and are housed in the Morpeth Chantry Bagpipe Museum.

The bicentenary celebrations include the exhibition Tales of Antiquarian Adventure and a series of lectures at the Great North Museum (which houses the Society's library and many of its aretfacts), a Northumbrian Minstrelsy concert at the Sage music centre in Gateshead, and many other events.

Lindsay Allason-Jones concludes her introduction to the publication celebrating the Society's first 200 years with the words:

Who knows what changes the Society will witness and what challenges it will face in its next 200 years. What can be anticipated is the enthusiasm and knowledge that its members will bring to any developments.

Alan Sykes is the Guardian Northerner's arts guru, and far from antique.