National Coal Mining Museum for England

National Coal Mining Museum for England
National Coal Mining Museum
Established	1988
Location	Overton in West Yorkshire, England
Coordinates	53°38′36″N 1°37′16″W / 53.6433°N 1.6211°W / 53.6433; -1.6211
Type	Heritage centre
Website	National Coal Mining Museum

The National Coal Mining Museum for England is based at the site of Caphouse Colliery in Overton, near Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. It opened in 1988 as the Yorkshire Mining Museum and was granted national status in 1995.

History

Caphouse Colliery was sunk in the 1770s or 1780s and the Hope Pit in the 1820s. Sir John Lister Lister Kaye of Denby Grange took over James Milnes' leases the mineral rights in 1827 and his pits became the Denby Grange Colliery. The boiler house and stone and brick chimney at the museum are Grade II listed structures^[1] built around 1876 for Emma Lister Kaye along with the steam winding engine house, boiler yard, heapstead and ventilation shaft which are Grade II* listed.^[2] The boiler house has two Lancashire boilers and powered the winding engine. The timber headgear at Caphouse and the wood framed screens building at Hope Pit date from between 1905 and 1911. Pithead baths and an administration block were built between 1937 and 1938.^[3]

Lockwood and Elliott who owned Shuttle Eye Colliery had acquired the colliery by 1942.^[4] The colliery was nationalised in 1947 and a drift mine opened in 1974. The colliery closed in 1985.^[3]

The Yorkshire Mining Museum opened in 1988 and the museum became the National Coal Mining Museum in 1995.^[3]

Museum

Headstock

The museum offers guided underground tours where visitors can experience the conditions miners worked in and see the tools and machines they used as the industry and the mine developed through the years. Above ground there is a visitor centre which houses exhibitions on the social and industrial history of the mines. The extensive library and archive contains issues of "Coal News" and details of collieries throughout England. Other features include the pit head baths, steam winding house, boiler house and coal screening plant. It is possible to see former working pit ponies, ride the paddy train and follow the nature trail near to Hope Pit and water filtration tanks.

The museum is an Anchor Point of ERIH, the European Route of Industrial Heritage.^[5]

Location

The museum is situated on the A642, in Overton near Middlestown between Wakefield and Huddersfield. It is signposted from the M1 motorway. There is free car and coach parking. It is accessible by public transport, local bus services run within walking distance. From Wakefield or Huddersfield, the Yorkshire Tiger 232 service stops at the Reindeer pub with a short walk to the museum. The Arriva Yorkshire 128 service from Wakefield to Dewsbury passes the Museum.^[6]

The NCM has occasionally featured in television programmes. In June 2005, Most Haunted Live! visited the location on Summer Solstice.

References

Footnotes

↑ Historic England, "Chimney and attached boiler house at Caphouse Colliery (1135481)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 31 December 2014
↑ Historic England, "Winding house, heapstead and headstock at Caphouse Colliery (1135482)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 31 December 2014
1 2 3 Historic England, "Caphouse Colliery (765996)", PastScape, retrieved 31 December 2014
↑ Taylor (2001), p. 62
↑ National Coal Mining Museum for England, European Route of Industrial Heritage, retrieved 31 December 2014
↑ "Map and Directions". National Coal Mining Museum for England. Retrieved 2009-07-25.

Bibliography

Taylor, Warwick (2001), South Yorkshire Pits, Wharncliffe Books, ISBN 1-871647-84-3

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to National Coal Mining Museum for England.

West Yorkshire museums

City of Bradford museums	Baildon: Bracken Hall Countryside Centre and Museum Bradford: Bolling Hall Museum Bradford Industrial Museum Cartwright Hall National Media Museum Peace Museum Haworth: Brontë Parsonage Museum Ilkley: Ilkley Toy Museum Manor House Museum Keighley: Cliffe Castle Museum East Riddlesden Hall Keighley and Worth Valley Railway Museum of Rail Travel Saltaire: Salts Mill

Calderdale museums	Brighouse: Smith Art Gallery Halifax: Bankfield Museum Dean Clough Eureka! The National Children's Museum Hebden Bridge: Gibson Mill Heptonstall: Heptonstall Museum Shibden: Shibden Hall

Kirklees museums	Batley: Bagshaw Museum Birstall: Oakwell Hall Dewsbury: Dewsbury Bus Museum Dewsbury Museum Gomersal: Red House Museum Huddersfield: Castle Hill Colne Valley Museum Rugby League Heritage Centre Tolson Museum Marsden: Standedge Tunnel Visitor Centre

City of Leeds museums	Aberford: Lotherton Hall Leeds: Abbey House Museum Armley Mills Industrial Museum Bramham Park Harewood House Henry Moore Institute in Leeds Kirkstall Abbey Leeds Art Gallery Leeds City Museum Leeds College of Art Middleton Railway Museum Royal Armouries Museum Temple Newsam Thackray Museum Thwaite Mills Museum Otley: Otley Museum

City of Wakefield museums	Netherton: National Coal Mining Museum for England Nostell: Nostell Priory Pontefract: Pontefract Museum Wakefield: The Hepworth Wakefield Wakefield Museum

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