National Coal Mining Museum for England

After the Caphouse Colliery closed in 1985 it found a new lease of life as a museum about the history of mining in England.

This mine was sunk in the 1770s and was the last deep coalmine in the country when it shut down.

Building and machinery like the coal screening plant, boiler house, steam winding house and pit head baths are all in situ.

Guided by an ex-miner with fascinating anecdotes, you’ll put on a hardhat and go 140 metres underground, and get to ride on a paddy train and see the ponies that were bred to work in the mines.

Being a national museum, there are exhibitions about the industrial and social history of coalmining across England at the visitor centre.

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