Description
Big Pit National Coal Museum is a unique mining museum set within a real former coal mine and UNESCO World Heritage Site. It offers an immersive experience into the history of coal mining and the communities it shaped in Wales. As one of Britain’s leading mining museums, it provides both educational and engaging experiences for all ages.
Visitors can explore exhibitions in the Mining Galleries and Pithead Baths, discover historic colliery buildings and learn about mining life through multimedia displays. The highlight is the underground tour, where visitors descend 90 metres into the mine wearing real mining equipment, along with experiences like the “King Coal” exhibition and interactive displays about mining technology and history. Additional features include historic machinery, a coffee shop, gift shop and opportunities to learn about miners’ lives, industry evolution and working conditions.
Entry to the museum is free, while the underground tour costs £5 on the day or £8 for a pre-booked timed ticket.
Big Pit National Coal Museum offers a powerful and memorable insight into industrial heritage. With its real underground experience and detailed exhibitions, it brings history to life in a unique way. It is an ideal destination for families, history enthusiasts and anyone interested in the story of coal mining.
Features
- Free
- Host birthday parties: No
Features
Big Pit is a real coal mine and one of Britain's leading mining museums. With facilities to educate and entertain all ages, Big Pit is an exciting and informative day out. Enjoy a multi-media tour of a modern coal mine with a virtual miner in the Mining Galleries, exhibitions in the Pithead Baths and Historic colliery buildings.
- King Coal: The Mining Experience: Enjoy an exciting audio-visual experience with exhibitions of modern mining equipment in the Big Pit Mining Galleries. Set into the hillside above the colliery, the galleries house simulated underground workings and a multi-media presentation telling the story of how the Welsh mining industry evolved. From the collier craftsmen into the sophisticated, mechanised modern industry of today, the story begins with a short film followed by three display areas. See how miners reach the coal by using explosives or large rock cutting machines.
- The Pithead Baths: The Pithead Baths building houses four exhibition spaces and uses objects and images to tell the story of coal mining in Wales. Themes include children in the mines, health, home life and the mining communities. See how the life and work of a Miner has changed from 1850 to 2000. Learn about the Geology and Uses of Coal, Mining Disasters and Rescue, discover the role and impact of Trade Unions and Nationalisation, and get a closer look at some mining memorabilia.
- Historic Buildings: You can see and interact with various buildings and machinery around the Museum site that would have been crucial to the mining operations at Big Pit. The Winding Engine house or ‘the winder’, as it is known, raises and lowers the cages carrying coal, men and materials up and down the shaft. Though the engine is over fifty years old, it has been fully modernised with safety systems and computers controlling and monitoring its operation.
- The Underground Tour: Prepare to be lowered 90 metres (300 feet) down the Big Pit mineshaft for our famous underground tour - a captivating journey around a section of original underground workings. Visitors wear the very same equipment – helmet, cap lamp, belt, battery and ‘self rescuer’ – used by miners. Take a seat in the miners Waiting Rooms before embarking on your journey. The attached offices were used by the colliery manager and his senior staff. Most are still used for their original purposes, with the timekeeper’s office restored and the officials’ lodge converted into a first aid room.
1.36 miles
