Wollaton Park Industrial Museum


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The mention of the beam engine at the Dungeon club reminded me of this burning question, what is to happen to the Industrial Museum at Wollaton Park.

When plans were afoot to restore Wollaton Hall, an enormous document was produced, still available on line, which stated that the Councils policy was to remove the museum from the site as it had no bearing on the historical history of Wollaton Park.

Well I'm not sure about that statement as I thought that Lord Middletons fortune was made from coal and it's associated industries.

Quite frankly, considering Nottinghams past as one of the centres of the Industrial Revolution in the world, I always found the lack of a really good museum reflecting this to be quite sad.

Wollaton Museum is OK, but I have to agree, it's not in a good place and obviously won't be considered for expansion.

So many historic items were lost because of their policies, the council were offered the Coronation Pacific 'City of Nottingham' for instance, but turned it down and settled for the nameplates instead, it was an easier option.

Why wasn't the last Nottingham trolleybus kept here, instead of now languishing up at Sandtoft in Yorkshire along with some of it's other stable mates.

What happened to the hosiery equipment, thrown down a well by Ned Ludd and his Luddites, discovered a few years ago.

Why hasn't an historic coal mine been preserved as other areas have done with their heritage.

Perhaps there is a cunning plan to develop something at Ruddington when the GCR gets linked together, though seeing how things were burnt and vandalised a year or so ago, it doesn't give you much hope does it.

Down here, they are centralising a massive Essex transport museum, they are cute enough to be setting it near to a popular local steam railway, it may be up the road and out in the styx, but near to one of the oldest medieaval castles in the country, and the amount of stuff that has been stashed away over the years is beyond belief, Nottingham Council, take note, they have entire trains here, what have you got.

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Why hasn't an historic coal mine been preserved as other areas have done with their heritage.

Not quite the same but there are plans to restore the winding house at the old Bestwood Colliery. I understand funding has hit a hitch however.

Papplewick Pumping Station is a valuable link with industrial history and well worth a visit, especially on a steaming date.

In general I think the answers to your questions lie in that Nottinghamshire appears to care little about preserving it's rich history over the years. There have been some shameful incidents of this right up to present day. I don't blame the public for that.

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There was a 'model mine', which was in fact full scale and used by new mining recruits.

Located beneath the Training Centre at the Bestwood No 6 Area HQ Offices, beside the Park Road clock tower.

Wonder if it still exists?

Cheers

Robt P.

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Interesting, Rob. I'd never heard of that.

Of course anybody wanting to view an old working mine can visit nearby Snibston Discovery Park. I understand that tours are conducted regularly by ex-miners. I'm not sure if this entails going underground though.

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You can go underground at the national mining museum at Overton near Wakefield.

http://www.ncm.org.uk/

Yes, but thats Yorkshire, similar, accesible mines exist in other places, but not in Notts.

Isn't Nottingham the origins of the worlds coal mining industry, weren't the first coal mines in the world here, wasn't the worlds first railway as we know it here, wasn't the origins of the worlds industrial textile industry created here, I'm not blaming the public. I recall when I lived in the city they couldn't be arsed to even bother to promote the legend of Robin Hood. I used to work above the Castle Gate Post Office in the 70's and they were inundated with foreign tourists, seeking Robin Hood artifacts, they had to buy postcards from the PO, thats all were available, they went into the Castle and nothing was promoted, they were too far up their own backsides showing everyone paintings by obscure artists, it was pathetic.

It doesn't look likely that with a mayor who's obligations lie in Mecca that anything will be done to remember Nottinghams great heritage, terrible situation isn't it.

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Hey Firbeck,

Funny you should mention the lack of promotional material at The Castle. As a very snotty teenager I remember writing a letter to the Evening Post on that very subject. The same evening the letter was published I got a phone call from the chairman of the civic society - the people who ran the gift shop - wanting to put their point of view. He got very short shrift!

Nowt's changed in the thick end of thirty years. Pop into the City's information office under the Council House and marvel at the shite they try to "sell".

If I were in charge I'd get some experts over from the USA. They do this kind of thing soooo much better than us.

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I actually worked at Snibston - the mine, that is! It is a good museum from the coal mining perspective, but there is no underground tour - it is of the topside only, mostly the lamp house. The baths there were across the road - the building is still there, but it is now offices!

The NCM Museum near Wakefield is the only underground tour I know of - it is worth a visit, but it is still nothing like the "real" conditions we worked in!

The old training areas (like the one mentioned) would make good "museum" pits, but it really is difficult to keep them open - you used to be able to go down the one at Chatterly Whitfield, near Stoke-on-Trent, but I think that is closed now.

I did write a short "essay" on what it is like to work a shift underground - complete with pictures. If anybody is interested, send me an e-mail and I'll send it to you.

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The winding engine at Bestwood was saved due to it being one of a few vertical winders as against the standard horizontal winders.

Coal mining only took off on an industrial scale in Notts, in the 19th century. The first "deep mine" in the concealed coalfield was Babbington.

There were plenty of old bell pits around Strelley, plus some shallow mines on the western edge of the coalfield.

The monks at or near Wollaton had a mine, they installed wood rails to sit coal tubs on to transport the coal from underground to surface. I think, though not sure, they were on the west side of Wollaton where the seams outcrop, almost on the Derbyshire border.

There used to be a diarama of Clifton Colliery, surface and underground on display at Wollaton Hall, it is now gathering dust in the basement. One of the staff sent me photos of it. It was made in 1947.

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There were also a lot of "Bell Pits" around Coleorton, near Ashby De La Zouch. The Doomsday Book mentions mining in the area at that time - and it is now believed they were "deep" mining to the west of Coleorton in the 15th century - the remanants of primitive room and pillar mines were found at the opencast site at Lount.

The PDMHS has an article about it HERE

Coleorton apparantly means "town over coal", or "Coal Overton".

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There used to be some sandstone paving slabs down near Strelley church that led down to Cossall church and I was told by the then churchwarden of Strelley about 15 years ago that the monks would push their trucks along these and that the worn grooves in the stones acted as guides for the trucks across the valley to Cossall and onto Dale Abbey.

I also remember the Clifton colliery diarama that was first in the castle and it always fascinated me how the underground roadways ran under the trent and out to Cotgrave, shame it's gathering dust in a darkened room now

Rog

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I only ever recall the diorama in Wollaton Hall Roger.

The Stonehead Drift and South Main Return drifts from pit bottom went under the Trent and reached the deep hard seam not too far from Clifton Bridge.

This winter when I get some time, I'll be scanning the abandonment plans for Clifton, as they are large, it will have to be done in sections. The are superimposed on the surface maps of Nottingham and out under Tollerton. The extent of the workings in three seams is unbelievable!

What I plan to do, is scan them, print a copy out and mark the main roads in blue and red, (intake and return) then re scan and upload to my site.

I'll also do Cotgraves Deep Hard, Deep Hard and the lower seam they drove roads into before closure.

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Yes, I remember that diorama of Clifton Colliery in Wollaton Hall, why the hell is it gathering dust in the basement, why can't it be taken over to the Industrial Museum, isn't that what it's all about. If they can't be bothered to carry the thing a few yards then there isn't much hope is there.

I had an uncle at Clifton Pit, he eventually died of pneumocosis. He once arranged for my father and brother to go down the pit, I wasn't allowed, too young. My brother remembers the pit ponies, poor things, though I know that they were much loved and treated with great respect, but weren't they even stabled underground.

My only experience of going underground was at Cotgrave immediately following the miners strike in the early 70's.

The powers that be didn't want us to go down on this prearranged trip, the lads, the one's that counted, wanted us to see how bad things had got underground during the strike.

It was pretty grim, in places the floor had risen up and the roof come down, Health and Safety would have died at the sight of us civvies picking our way through the mess.

I sat between the Dowty props on the face and watched the coal cutter in action, the amount of dust was incredible, I always had sympathy for the miners before, this merely strengthened my view.

This is why I can't understand why there isn't a properly dedicated museum to the memory of these blokes in Nottingham.

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You can go underground at the national mining museum at Overton near Wakefield.

http://www.ncm.org.uk/

Yeah,Zab,that's Caphouse Colliery - a brilliant day out with the tours being run by friendly ex-miners.It's the only mine in England where you can go down the pit in one of those cages - 450 feet.Highly recommended for those interested in our industrial heritage.

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Firbeck, the stables were just around the corner from the number two pit bottom, although when I was there from 64 to 68, very few were used, maybe a total of six ponies. Each year they were brought to the surface for the annual two weeks pit holiday and turned loose in the fields oppositw the pit on the south side of the river.

Cotgrave was always noted for it's soft floor and floor heave or as we called it floor lift! The north side, which was in the deep soft seam, was abandoned because of very poor floor conditions and "heavy roof" before I was transferred there in 1968.

Even in the deep hard seam we had full time maintenance crews working on all the main and tail gates to keep them open, five faces in all.

If anyone is interested, Cleveland Potash Ltd do organise tours at their Boulby Mine in North Yorks with a minimum number of people and no more than so many folks. I must warn you, that mine is very hot and is the deepest in Europe. The shafts are about 1.25kms deep.

There is also "Big Pit" the Welsh mining museum centred around a colliery, I don't know if they go underground.

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Ayupmeducks

I'm sure that in the neglected Clifton diaroma that the pit ponies were shown in their stable at the bottom of the shaft.

My missus is horse mad, she has 3 Shetlands and a Percheron, what a beautiful beast is our Percheron, Jess, descendant of the French knights horses at Agincourt. Madam cannot work out that horses only exist because they were bred to serve man, it's only pykies and race horse owners that mistreat them, she is horrified to think that they were employed down the mines, but can't understand how much they were so loved, appreciated and neccessary, it must have been a privelage to walk back up to the lift and find a pal on the road home, a little friend to give the remnants of your snap to.

In my opinion, coal miners were/are the salt of the earth, I've known many, it's in the family blood and they have always been special people to me, I consider that, whatever you think about it, Thatcher should be put up against a wall and shot because of her attitude towards them.

Nice to see that Notts Council can't put funds into restoring Bestwood Colliery, it's a disgrace, perhaps if it was building a mosque it might be a different story, perhaps that nice Etonian Mr Cameron has more specialist knowledge of such matters, he seems to suggest to us that he does.

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  • 8 months later...

That is the most disgusting, appalling decision I've ever heard.

They can't afford £44000 a year to run an industrial museum sited in arguably one of the centres of the origins of technology in the entire world, I can't believe it.

I bet they pay out more than that to keep illegal immigrants going and infiltrate themselves into the system, or fund Friday bum lifters and their various dodgey activities, or pykie camps or whatever sad social service wasters they chose to cherish.

They've just spent a fortune on restoring the Hall, I started this thread off by saying that they want the Industrial Museum out, it's clearly all part of the plot, they know damn well it's going to cost a lot of money to relocate the place and therefore they have come up with the easy option, lets just shut it down.

Our local council has a small museum, they would love to develop it, as Braintree too has a an interesting industrial heritage. The council has lost a lot of money through the Iceland crash, but I know from talking to various people that shutting the place down is not an option, it would destroy the heritage of the area. Have the dickheads in the Nottingham Council any idea what they are doing to themselves, or has 'ethnicity' taken completely over, well, Victorian exploitation, thats what the museum is about isn't it, can't upset the illegal immigrants from the Sudan, they're more important in the scheme of things after all, mustn't forget the Battle of Omdurman.

Sorry I'm rambling, but I find this a terrible decision. Wouldn't it be nice if 1m residents threatened not to pay their council tax for this month unless something was sorted, but it ain't going to happen, they will get their own devious way.

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I remember when all the Baskerville Coaches , old pushbikes and a lot more were in Nottm Castle, then they all vanished and a small selection of them turned up at the Industial Museum at Wollaton....Now where are they gonna go ?....The Tip ??

5'4" of Tramway.....oh thats alright then....thort fer a minute it would be wasted.............................PFAH !!

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No offence meant chaps and chapess's , but when did any of you in the locale last visit it ?? I went about a year ago with the family and thoroughly enjoyed it.

When we were kids (And had no transport of our own) we used to go regularly on a Sunday afternoon (" and 2 halfs to Wollaton Park please!! then the usual squable over who kept the tickets ), a walk round the lake ,and then a quick nosey round one of the museums . The police horses where kept there at that time.

If more of you were to use these facilities they would find it harder to close them !!

AS I SAID NO OFFENCE

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You're right Beefsteak, but unlike other great industrial heritage sites in this country like Ironbridge or Beamish, the ruling authorities with their heads up their backsides called local council oficials, are too involved with other 'important' social issues to bother to promote or fund it. They obviously daren't take the so called risk, why this is so is beyond me, but they've had nearly 40 years to improve the place, take note of the situation with regard to other projects around the country, but they have done nothing to either promote or improve things, it's almost as if they've treated it as an embarrassment.

Like I said, the attitude to Robin Hood in the 70's when I lived and worked in the city was beyond belief, people came to the Castle to see things about the legend and were offered nothing.

Like you, the last time I was in the City, I took my son over there to see the industrial museum, but for some reason it was closed, how pathetic was that.

Perhaps they'll sell it all off cheaply to the Pykies in order to fund a mosque, it wouldn't surprise me.

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Am I right in thinking it's free to get in? if so why not make a nominal charge for tourists they seem quite happy to rip the English off whenever we go abroad..... I take it then the over expensive cafe will be going too? which will leave the ice cream van the only refreshment outlet in the grounds...no doubt if that happens his prices will hit the roof too..

PS.. where's the money going that goes into the parking ticket machines?

Bip.

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