Big Pit - National Mining Museum of Wales (Blaenavon)

 museum, industrial heritage, interesting place, coal mine

www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/bigpit/

Big Pit National Mining Museum of Wales is situated on the site of Big Pit Colliery, a real coal mine which ceased production in 1980. It is now one of Britain’s leading mining museums. Big Pit is the main attraction within the World Heritage Site attracting over 140,000 visitors per year.

The shaft at Big Pit was sunk in 1860 as a coal winding shaft for the Coity Pits colliery which already existed on this site. Owned by the Blaenavon Iron and Coal company, the remaining shafts at Coity Pits were thereafter used only for ventilation purposes. In the late 1870s the shaft was deepened to 293 feet.

A visit is a 'must' for anyone wishing to experience a taste of what the conditions of a working miner were like - including a descent underground in a cage and some of the 'workings' and 'roadways' (though obviously, the temperature, humidity and dust are nothing in comparison with the actual conditions of an active pit).