please empty your brain below
Had no idea this place existed (and the full title makes me wonder if there's a museum for Wales...).

dg writes: Indeed there is.

Would love to visit some day. I suspect many of us in London and the south would benefit from it.

Darryl | Homepage | 01.03.18 - 1:15 a.m. | #

I'm more than a bit nervous about pointing out possible errors but here goes...

The Miners Strike wouldn't have been played out in the Pithead Baths as the miners were on strike and not at work?

The lack of a phone etc will mean that you may lose track of time rather than having no concept of time?

Regards

zin92 | 01.03.18 - 6:29 a.m. | #

I went to visit last summer as I had always wanted to descend into a coal mine.
I also enjoyed the views of the Grade 2 listed 1,084 foot tall Emmley Moor TV tower not far from the site. The tallest freestanding building in UK.

Wales and Scotland have similar Coal mining museums and having enjoyed Caphouse Colliery I went later in the year to the Welsh one "The Big pit".

John | 01.03.18 - 7:11 a.m. | #

This place is not far from me yet I had never heard of it.Thank you for letting me know it is here in such an informative and entertaining way. The omission of a section on global warming is particularly well observed but the warmth and generosity of all staff you encountered shines through.
Now on my list of places to visit. Quite high on the list.

DannyR | 01.03.18 - 7:11 a.m. | #

Heaping coals of fire, as it were, when I've just posted about why I'm not currently striking and have already been taken to task by one former NUM member.

Sarah | Homepage | 01.03.18 - 7:49 a.m. | #

Why the comment about no digital watches being intriguing?, surely its another piece of equipment that may cause a spark, or is it a 'modern' requirement that didn't apply in the past?

Still Anon | 01.03.18 - 7:57 a.m. | #

If you like this, worth going to the Rhur valley museum in Essen & another abandoned but preserved industrial area near Duisburg , plus a number of other industrial heritage areas.

Chris | 01.03.18 - 8:02 a.m. | #

>>ore than a million people were once involved in its production. That said, it also kickstarted climate change, unleashed major industrial unrest..

I think you'll find that it was Margaret Thatcher who caused major industrial unrest!

Agent X | 01.03.18 - 8:21 a.m. | #

I have been and think it's one of the best museums I have visited

Simon Guy | 01.03.18 - 8:22 a.m. | #

Have to say that looks like an absolutely wonderful museum.

Kevin | 01.03.18 - 8:57 a.m. | #

I would like to apologise for using phrases that some readers would not have used if they'd written today's post.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 01.03.18 - 9:19 a.m. | #

There were coal strikes before Margaret Thatcher Agent X. Give the date of one of them.

And the Nottinghamshire miners did not strike in 1984-85

Mike D | 01.03.18 - 9:51 a.m. | #

I went a few years ago and remember it as a remarkable experience. Even without the dust and noise there must have been when the mine was working, I was most struck by the cramped passageways in which the miners worked. My guide was as excellent as DG's.

Well worth a visit.

Martin | 01.03.18 - 9:59 a.m. | #

mining is a very emotive subject, all the more so because of the strikes, the resulting unemployment, and the utterances of Scargill and his colleagues

I'm past being able to do the underground tour, but I must try and drag the kids there sometime so they can appreciate some of their coal mining ancestry

thanks DG

Caz | 01.03.18 - 10:04 a.m. | #

Mike D - Some of the Nottinghamshire miners did strike because they had a regular stall on Ipswich Cornhill for donations. So not all of them were blacklegs who went on to join the fake UDM union.

Anyway DG I'm glad you enjoyed your day out. It sounds like a very interesting place to visit.

milliem | 01.03.18 - 11:13 a.m. | #

Brought back some memories of a very enjoyable visit I made to the museum some 10 years ago.

It was a great day out, as I combined it with a visit to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, which is in the vicinity.

My Mum went not long after it opened and returned with a replica brass Davy lamp, complete with plaque acknowledging the miners strike.

Dave | 01.03.18 - 11:36 a.m. | #

I visited Caphouse a number of years ago. It's good but at only 150 or so yards deep it was nowhere near as hot and humid as a deep mine. At Hatfield we were 800 yards down and 5 or so miles in.

The air lock mentioned isn't to keep the oxygen in but to keep the fresh air (intake) and stale air (return) seperate on their underground journey.

SAM
ex Hatfield NUM, as mentioned by Sarah (hello Sarah!) in post 5.

Sam | 01.03.18 - 12:04 p.m. | #

I have not been to this museum but did visit a very similar one in Pennsylvania, USA. The ride down was is a train at a steep angle and was rather like riding an escalator down into the London Underground except it kept going the light dimmed and the air grew a lot cooler.

After the interesting tour guide finished the dust in the air was quite apparently and returning to the surface, fresh air never felt so good.

I left feeling a stronger affinity to why coal miners were so rightly belligerent politically. What an appropriate blog entry for St David's Day, as the miners in Pennsylvania were mostly Welsh.

BRIAN BERKE | Homepage | 01.03.18 - 12:46 p.m. | #

Living not very far away I've been to or through Middlestown, Overton and Netherton and never knew the story of their names, so thanks for that snippet. I particularly like the way Middlestown has kept the residual 's'.
The parish apparently adopted a radically different approach and dropped just their 'h' to become Sitlington.

2D53 | Homepage | 01.03.18 - 5:57 p.m. | #











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