Hopewell Colliery Museum

In a nutshell

Gauge:        2' (non passenger carrying)

Length:      unknown

Opened:     1823 (as a museum in 1997)

Location:

Prosper Lane
Lacinda Coalway
Coleford
Gloucestershire
GL16 7EL

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Web:      http://www.fweb.org.uk/local-activity/6-Hopewell_Colliery_Museum

Tel.        01594 810706 

 

Date of visit: 22 September 2012

 

Key Facts

• The Hopewell mine is linked to the Phoenix mine underground but are worked as separate pits
• The mines are worked as 'free-mines'. The Free Miners have mined coal for over 700 years unhindered anywhere in in the Forest of Dean by royal decree.
• These are now the only full-time mines operating in the forest 
• During the winter-months (October - March) the mines are worked using traditional methods of pick and shovel but they operate as a Museum in the summer months.
• Visitors to the Hopewell mine walk through some of the mine workings to see exhibits of mining equipment and techniques.
• The coal is extracted from the mines in railway tubs hauled by cable.

 

My Impressions

Unfortunately, the museum had closed for the winter on the day I visited, it seems that the museum opens during the summer school holiday season. However, as one of the miners was present, working on a mechanical coal loader, I was able to take a few photos and discuss the mining operations (and the state of the economy) with him.

Normally, I only include accounts of visits to passenger-carrying narrow gauge railways in this blog, but as this museum provides an insight into one of the last remaining operational mines of its type, I feel it deserves specific mention.

 The first thing to catch the eye on the edge of the car park is the pithead winding wheel

..... and the pithead gantry ........

....... together with its portable hand-winch and a coal tub.

Beside the car park is the rope-hauled incline down to an adit shrouded in trees.

This wasn't operating while I was there but it is clear that this is one of the means by which coal is extracted from the mine. The mechanical loader on the other side of the car park suggests that during the winter months, the car park becomes a coal yard for the mine.

Talking to the miner who was repairing the loader, he told me that although the coal is of very good quality, it is presently very difficult to make a living from mining the coal alone, and hence the miners have to diversify into other trades. However, there is a determination to keep the tradition alive and hopefully there will be another generation of free miners to assure the future of this piece of industrial history.

I intend to revisit the museum during the next season and hopefully fill in some of the blanks.

For more information see:

• http://www.minersadvice.co.uk/phoenix_hopewell.htm
• http://www.fweb.org.uk/dean/deanhist/miners.htm
• http://www.hows.org.uk/personal/rail/incline/hope.htm

National Coal Mining Museum for England

In a nutshell

Gauge:     2' 6" and 2' 3" 

Length:   750 metres

Opened: 1988

Location:

National Coal Mining Museum for England,
Caphouse Colliery,
New Road,
Overton,
Wakefield
WF4 4RH

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Web:   http://www.ncm.org.uk/

Email. http://www.ncm.org.uk/contact
Tel:      01924 848 806 

 

Date of visit: 9 September 2012

 

Key Facts

• The museum was formerly the Caphouse Colliery which dates back to the 1770s
• The timber headgear at Caphouse and the wood framed building at Hope Pit date from between 1905 and 1911
• The colliery closed in 1985, re-opening in 1988 as the Yorkshire Mining Museum
• The museum became the National Coal Mining Museum of England in 1995
• There are free guided underground tours where visitors can experience the working conditions of miners and view their tools and machines
• The visitor centre houses exhibitions including the artwork of former miners
• It is also possible to view the pit-head baths, steam winding house, boiler house, coal screening plant and pit ponies
• A battery powered 2 '6" gauge 'paddy train' takes visitors on a short journey around the park
• There is also a 2' 3" gauge cable (funicular) railway showing how coal tubs were raised from the drift mine

¼  ½  ¾

Route

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Red = Cable powered funicular railway (2' 3" gauge)

Blue - Battery powered 'Paddy' train (2' 6" gauge)

My Impressions

My first impression was that it was a great pity there were not more people at the museum. There is so much there to see and the museum depicts in good detail what was for many years a key industry in the history of the country. What's more, the café is well stocked and serves a very nice cup of coffee.

There was a modest fee (£1.00 return) to travel on the railway and the staff manning the former pit railway were extremely helpful and knowledgeable. The battery powered Bo-Bo locomotive was very powerful and very well turned-out.

We boarded the converted miners' coaches (the roofs of which have been raised to improve comfort for non-mining passengers).

At a sedate pace the train clanked its was across the park .....

 .... passing static exhibits of impressive-looking mining machinery.

 Before long we arrived at the furthermost terminus of the railway .......

.... where we alighted to explore some of the outdoor exhibits .........

.... such as the pump houses and winding engines.

There are also some intriguing remnants of the past such as this drift mine or adit ......

...... and a scrap yard of former mining equipment which is slowly and sadly rusting into decay.

Returning to the main station, it's possible to explore the main exhibition hall and descend into the mine for an accompanied tour - all of which is free!!

Beside the paddy train is the rope-hauled funicular railway, showing how wagons were extracted from the drift mines in the past. This exhibit wasn't operational when I was there, but the museum has special events during the year when sometimes this railway is working.

 What a fascinating place this museum is and on my initial visit I hardly scratched the surface of what can be done and seen. Another visit is certainly on the cards and when one compares what's freely available here with what has to be paid for at other so-called visitor attractions, they bear no comparison.

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