Big Pit National Coal Museum
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| Data | |
|---|---|
| place | Blaenavon , Wales |
| opening | 1983 |
| Number of visitors (annually) | 149,000 (April 2018 - March 2019) |
| operator |
National Museum Wales
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| Website | |
The Big Pit National Coal Museum is an industrial museum in Blaenavon , Torfaen , Wales . After a hundred years of operation from 1880 to 1980, the former mine was opened to the public in 1983 and is now used as a visitor mine. This is now a reminder of the coal mining that was so important for Wales during the industrial revolution .
history
Big Pit was originally an iron mine that was dug into the mountain not far below the surface. This was done by hand around 1810. Dynamite was only used decades later in the coal mine that was then opened, for which the iron mine gallery served as an emergency exit. The first mentions of the coal mine go back to 1881.
Big Pit was part of a network of mines established in Blaenavon in the early 19th century.
After a long history, the mine finally ceased operations on February 2, 1980, as one of the last in Blaenavon. 250 people lost their jobs as a result. Some of them now serve as tour guides for the tours.
museum
A few years before the coal mine was closed, first plans were made to build an industrial museum there. Shortly after this was finally done, the Torfaen parish council bought the site for the symbolic price of £ 1 and then handed it over to a charity that was now responsible for building the museum. This originally cost £ 1.5 million. In 1983 the museum was opened with 71 jobs created.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Actual Figures for 2018-2019: Amgueddfa Cymru - NationalMuseum Wales In: museum.wales accessed on 01 December 2019.
- ↑ Big Pit - Blaenavon. A new chronology? The National Library of Wales, accessed December 1, 2019 .
- ↑ Big Pit National Coal Museum - Wikipedia. Retrieved December 5, 2019 .