A number of exciting new attractions will be developed at Beamish over the next few years, including:

Lamp Cabin  

The largest new development within Beamish will be the construction of a replica colliery Lamp Cabin. All collieries required one of these buildings in order to maintain and distribute safety lamps to the men working underground and without one our colliery at Beamish is noticeably incomplete. A Lamp Cabin within the Colliery area will not only add to the accuracy of our period reconstruction, but will play several other roles as well, all of which will serve to improve the product we offer to all of the Museum's visitors. A project to recreate a colliery lamp cabin, built using appropriate period materials and techniques, will not only provide an exciting and important period exhibit when finished, but presents an interesting opportunity for visitors to see the process taking place within one of the period areas. The style of the Lamp Cabin is representative of early 20th Century colliery architecture across the region and is of a type that the Beamish Colliery does not yet represent and interpret.

Every building within the period areas at Beamish is intended to add to the Museum's aim of recreating living period exhibits. The Lamp Cabin will provide an exciting and accurate period exhibit, which will build on the current experience offered. Visitors will begin their tour of the Drift Mine by metaphorically “collecting their lamp” to take underground and “do their shift at the coalface”. The Drift Mine tour is as a walk to work in a coal mine: part of this walk for most miners was a visit to the Lamp Cabin. This display will realistically represent the experience of people in the past and relate that experience to our visitors.

The interior of the Lamp Cabin will provide another layer of interpretation for visitors, providing more contextual information about the coal industry and pit life. This area will also act as an orientation space for the Colliery, allowing visitors to understand the environment they are in and navigate their way around it. The orientation and interpretive display will enhance the current experience we offer and increase its effectiveness.