SHINING A LIGHT ON MINING HERITAGE

The history of the mining industry is to be illuminated with a £303,500 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Beamish, The North of England Open Air Museum, in County Durham, will create a Lamp Cabin in The Colliery Village to house the Museum's nationally important and unique collection of miner's lamps and other mining artefacts. Up until now these historic items have been unable to be seen by the public other than by appointment.

HLF Regional Manager Dr Keith Bartlett commented on the importance of the award,

“Mining is such an important part of our heritage in the North East, and rescue and safety is a vital and often overlooked part of that story, but one that really captures the imagination. The lamp cabin will really bring the social history of mining and the fascinating stories that surround it to life today.”

The history of the safety lamp has a particular resonance in the North East, where it was developed and tested by George Stephenson and Humphrey Davy and is recognised by generations of mining families as a familiar part of their heritage. The Lamp Cabin exhibition will delve into the development of these important safety tools and the techniques that accompanied them over the last 250 years, as well as interpreting the social and industrial heritage of mining.

Visitors to the Lamp Cabin will be able to follow the normal work day of a miner from The Colliery Village through to the lamp room and on to the drift mine, which is already an attraction at Beamish. The Cabin itself will be filled not only with lamps illustrating different periods of rescue and safety, but will form an important part of the existing reconstruction of a working colliery at Beamish.

In addition to being able to view artefacts never before on display, visitors will be led through the story of mining history, including stories of disasters and rescue efforts, using exhibition information provided by the lottery funds. The lamp cleaning room will give an exciting opportunity for visitors and school groups to view demonstrations of cleaning techniques from the period using a traditional lamp cleaning machine.

Chris Scott, Curator of Industry at Beamish said “We are extremely grateful to the Heritage Lottery Fund. This grant provides Beamish with the scope to add to the story we tell our visitors about their coal mining heritage. The Lamp Cabin project will allow visitors to see artefacts from our extensive mining collections which are, at present, in store. Now we will have the opportunity to display them to everyone.”

The building will be created using the traditional period design of the buildings from 1913 and using traditional materials. Especially exciting is the incorporation of the original veranda from Boldon Colliery. This has been in storage waiting to be included in the final building, alongside other reclaimed authentic features which will make the visitor experience as real as possible.

Within the award two positions will be created to train apprentices in traditional building techniques, skills which are in sharp decline across the UK. Another exciting aspect of the Lamp Cabin is that it will be fully accessible for all visitors, ensuring that as many people as possible can feel the benefit of the lottery funding and have access to their heritage.

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Media contact : Jacki Winstanley, Publicity Manager at Beamish, Tel. 0191 370 4024

Email: jackiwinstanley@beamish.org.uk

Issued 26.03.07