What You Will See!

Welcome to National Mining Museum Scotland, a 5 Star visitor attraction and twice winner of the Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions “Best Visitor Experience” Award. The museum provides a great day out for all ages! We’re based at one of the finest surviving examples of a Victorian colliery in Europe, the Lady Victoria Colliery at Newtongrange, just nine miles south of Edinburgh. Visitors to the museum will marvel at the sheer size of the place, be astounded by the engineering brilliance behind all the machinery and retrace the footsteps and struggles of the thousands of miners and their families before them.

What you will see during your visit:

The Story Of Coal

Your experience begins with coal’s creation in the Carboniferous period 360 million years ago and follows human efforts to extract it from the earth from the 13th century through to modern times.

A Race Apart

Find out exactly what life was like, at home and at work, for the miners and their families in Scotland’s mining communities. Activities include Find the Colliery Cats and Dress up as a Victorian.

Pithead Tour

Take a guided tour of the pithead and experience the atmosphere and noise of a working pit with the personal insights and anecdotes of our guides, all of whom are ex-miners. Tours are available throughout the day.

Scotland’s Largest Winding Engine

Drive the massive winding engine – the largest steam engine in Scotland – which hauled men and coal up and down the pit shaft for nearly 90 years and is still in working order.

The Victorian Power House

This fantastic function room, which has many original features, can be used for weddings, parties, conferences, seminars and exhibitions.

National Mining Memorial Centre

The space is open to anyone who wishes to reflect on those who worked in or lost their lives in the coal mining industry. There is an opportunity to record names and memories of anyone or anything they wish to be remembered. There is a small amount of interpretation about the danger of mining and the ways in which various people strove to improve conditions over many decades.

Archives & Reference Library

Our reference library houses mining books, journals, trade catalogues and periodicals as well as the archive of the Lothian Coal Company. We also have a collection of over 17,000 photographs covering the history of the Scottish collieries and their communities. The library is open to researchers by appointment on Thursdays.

The Scottish Mining Museum Trust is registered in Scotland. Registered Office: Pagan Osborne, 55 Queen Street, Edinburgh EH2 3PA. Registered No. SCO88361