Another project 😉

This one has been touched on before, it was suggested we compile a list of all mining museums around the country.

At the time the idea was well received, but I didn't progress it.

Is it worth pursuing?

As with the essential reading list I'd suggest it starts off as a forum thread and then when it's built up to a useful list I will create a web page and file it away under 'Information & Resources'.

And again as with essential reading, I'm not asking for a massive amount of information. Perhaps something along the lines of:

Museum Name
Address
Telephone
Web address (each entry will get a link)
Brief Description

Thanks!

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Haig Colliery Mining Museum
Solway Road, Kells, Whitehaven, Cumbria, CA28 9BG.
01946 599949
http://www.haigpit.com/page1.html 

Perched on the cliff tops at Whitehaven, this museum is essential for any vistor to the area interested in mining history. Its primary focus is coal mining, especially in the vicinty of Whitehaven. Entry is free (though a donation is welcome) and it is open all year round.

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Just a small point but many museums will already have been added both here and overseas.

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wanlockhead mining musem
wanlockhead
ML12 6UT

1065974387

guided tours,miners library,resturant and gift shop

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peak district mining museum
The Pavilion
Matlock Bath
DE4 3RR
Derbys.

01629 583834

collection of mining artifacts and mining equipment,mine tours, gold panning for children

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Keswick Mining Museum
Otley House
Otley Rd
Keswick
Cumbria
CA12 5LE

017687 80055

mineral collections for all to see.

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Just a small point but many museums will already have been added both here and overseas.

Agreed, but in the normal database, I think they justify a web page in their own right. It'll be a useful resource for anybody looking for a family day out or an introduction to mining in an area of the country.

Thanks for the submissions to date - can people include a brief description with the details please. Just enough so people reading the page can get an idea what the museum is about. Thanks :flowers:

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Woodhorn Colliery Museum
Queen Elizabeth II Country Park
Ashington
Northumberland
NE63 9YF

Tel: 01670 52 80 80

Local colliery museum, holds various events and exhibitions, holds lots of events for kids too and also is home to county archives.
Has a few nice bits of gear including a steam winder (electrically operated now though for demo's), an excellent fanhouse and also more modern stuff such as coalcutters etc.

Entry is £1 (parking charge)

http://www.experiencewoodhorn.com/welcome.htm 

National Coal Mining Museum for England.
Wakefield.
Yorkshire
01924 848806
http://www.ncm.org.uk/ 

Has four zones. Visitors, museum, learning, corporate.
...........................................................
Geevor Tin Mine and Museum
Pendeen
Penzance
01736 788662
http://www.geevor.com/ 

Until 1990 Geevor was a working mine, now a museum, with many surface buildings, a guided underground tour through 18th / 19th century workings, a shop and a cafe.

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Thanks for the submissions to date - can people include a brief description with the details please. Just enough so people reading the page can get an idea what the museum is about. Thanks

I'll let this run for a couple of weeks, with occassional bumping, and then compile it into a web page.

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Reigate Caves
Reigate
Surrey
enquiries(at}wcms.org.uk
http://www.wcms.org.uk/pages/club/reigate_caves.shtml#dates 
The caves in Reigate are open four times a year. This includes a tour around a nineteenth century sand mine, and access to display material covering other stone and mineral extraction, and early railways, in East Surrey.

I think this is an excellent musuem, run by friendly, enthusiatic staff which covers the social and industrial heritage of the
communities of the Somerset Coalfield:

Radstock Museum
Waterloo Road
Radstock
BA3 3EP


[http://www.radstockmuseum.co.uk/]

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The NAMHO handbook includes details of a number of mining museums.

The list of NAMHO member organisations is available on the NAMHO website http://www.namho.org/ , and although this does not say which organisations are museums, it's fairly obvious from the name of some of them. Most names are linked to the individual organisation's website.

Dave

Yorkshire Dales Mining Museum
Old Grammer School
School Lane
Earby
Barnoldswick
Lancs
BB8 6QF

01282 841422

largest collection of mining relics in the world.collection of minerals. tea room

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Big Pit Mining Museum
Blaenafon
Torfaen
South Wales
NP4 9XP

descend 300ft underground. Cafe and Welsh Crafts

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Dean Heritage Centre

Dean Heritage Centre
Camp Mill
Soudley
Glos
GL14 2UB

tel no: 01594 822170

Home page http://www.deanheritagemuseum.com/index.html 
(http://www.deanheritagemuseum.com/index.html)

A general museum/heritage resource of the FoD. Several exhibits relate to mining history and the centre is a resource for historic document research.

Detail from Web Site.

A significant part .... is dedicated to the Dean's coal mining industry, from stories of mining disasters and rescues to the everyday tools and objects that belonged to the miner's life. The gallery is also home of Sopwith's unique geological model of the Forest of Dean showing the mineral deposits and underground workings.

Gallery 5 focuses on the large-scale collieries of the Forest and the deeper shafts that were made possible by the advent of steam power. The gallery features a working Beam Engine, which was made at Hewlett's iron foundry at Camp Mill - the site of the present Museum."

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BLACK COUNTRY LIVING MUSEUM
Tipton Road
Dudley , DY1 4SQ

0121 520 8054

Home page
http://www.bclm.co.uk/index.htm 

Mine page
http://www.bclm.co.uk/map6.htm 

An open air museum relating to all aspects of Black Country heritage. The museum has created a coal mine to enable visitors some (limited) experience of conditions underground.The museum also has a large canal exhibition which affords access to the Dudley Canal Trust's trips into Wren's nest quarries. (See seperate entry).

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Dudley Canal Trust

01384 236 275
The Dudley Canal Tunnel is on the A4123 signposted to Dudley from from Junction 2 of the M5 and is about 1 mile north of Dudley Town centre

Web site http://www.dudleycanaltrust.org.uk/Trips/index.html 

The Trust operates boat trips into the Dudley Canal tunnel and from there access the Dudley limestone mine workings via the first all new canal tunnel dug in over 200 years.

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Hopewell Colliery Museum

Cannop Hill, Coleford.
B4226 Coleford to Speech House Road
01594 - 810706

An actual freemine (one of only four mines that still exists) that operates as a commercial mine during the winter months and as a tourist attraction in the summer.
No web page available

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Clearwell Caves - Ancient Iron Mines
Near Coleford
Royal Forest of Dean
Gloucestershire
GL16 8JR
ENGLAND

Phone: 01594 832535

Web site
http://www.clearwellcaves.com/index.html 

See also AditNow DB entry
http://www.aditnow.co.uk/mines/Clearwell-Caves-Iron-Mine/ 

The tourist mine Clearwell Caves is the tip of an iceberg of mines interlinked in the vicinity.

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The Tom Leonard Mining Museum

Deepdale
Skinningrove
Cleveland
TS13 4AP

Tel: 01287 642877

The Museum offers visitors an opportunity to experience the underground world of a real ironstone mine and to explore the skills, customs and life of the Cleveland miner. It was these miners that helped make Cleveland the most important Ironstone mining district in Victorian and Edwardian Britain.

http://www.ironstonemuseum.co.uk/sitemap.htm 

🙂

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The North of England Lead Mining Museum

Killhope
Cowshill
Upper Weardale
Co Durham
DL13 1AR (A689)

Tel: 01388 537505

A visit to Killhope, the North of England Lead Mining Museum, is a unique and unforgettable experience. Killhope is a fully restored nineteenth century lead mine, where you experience for yourself the life and work of the lead mining families of the Pennine dales.

Killhope winner of the Family Friendly Museum of the Year, Most Welcoming Experience and Outstanding Customer Service Siver Award, will make sure you get the most from your visit. Killhope is famous for its huge working waterwheel, but there is much more to Killhope than a waterwheel. You experience the "mineshop" where miners lived for the week and slept three and four to a bed. You work as a "washerboy" separating lead ore from waste. You see the working machinery which Fred Dibnah admired in the "jigger house". But above all, Killhope's award-winning mine tour is unique.

http://www.killhope.org.uk/killhope08/usp.nsf/pws/killhope+-+killhope+homepage 

🙂

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Nenthead Mines Heritage Centre

Nenthead
Alston
Cumbria
CA9 3PD

Tel: 01434 382726 or 382037

A museum dedicated to both showing and telling the 'story' of the mineral mining past of the North Pennines. Prepare to launch on a voyage of discovery at Nenthead Mines, learning more about the people, places, tools, lifestyle, and legacy of the mining industry that at one time completely dominated the landscape of the North Pennines!

http://www.npht.com/nentheadmines/ 

🙂

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King Edward Mine Museum
Troon, Camborne Cornwall, TR14 9HW,
Tel. 01209 614681
http://www.kingedwardmine.co.uk/index.html 

King Edward Mine is the oldest complete mine site left in Cornwall and is situated in the World Heritage Area. All the buildings are Grade II* Listed and are of national importance.
Opens May-Sept.

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