Underground Tours
Journey 140m underground and discover 180 years of history with one of our charismatic former miners.
Every tour ‘darn pit’ is led by an ex-miner with a ‘reyt’ broad accent and loads of experience under his somewhat heavy tool belt. He’ll unhand you of your ‘contraband’, and talk you through 180 years of mining, explaining why he has every right to tell you to ‘shut tha’ trap’ and when you are ‘done and dusted’ you can carry on exploring life above ground.
- Get kitted out with your hard hat and battery lamp then step into the ‘cage’ to descend
140m underground to discover the harsh realities of coal mining through the centuries. - Our tours are led by our captivating Mine Guides. Hear all about your guide’s working life and experiences in the coal mine.
- Discover the different ages of mining, from Victorian times when women and children worked underground alongside men, find out about the role of pit ponies and how modern machinery changed coal mining.
We’re hoping to get our tours up and running again as quickly as possible so you can once again enjoy a totally unique experience travelling down England’s last deep mine. Although tours aren’t ready to commence just yet, we will be letting you know shortly when they will be available – so stay tuned.
Underground Tours Reopening FAQs
Are the Underground Tours currently taking place?
After careful consideration, we have made the decision to pause bookings for our underground tours for the time being, while we review our offer to ensure a memorable and engaging offer on your next visit.
Is there an alternative offer?
While the tours are paused, we are pleased to offer exciting alternative experiences, which include our immersive Time Tunnel tour, Pit Head Bath tours, talks, object highlights and site-wide tours led by a former miner. This will provide valuable first-hand insights into the mining industry and its history.
This summer we also have an action-packed line up. Get ready for weeks of amazing entertainment with interactive family shows, hands-on craft workshops, pop-up beach with music, and classic giant holiday games, special events and performances, creative trails, horsekeeper talks plus much, much more.
When will underground tours commence?
We are looking forward to reintroducing our underground tours as soon as possible, bigger and better than ever!
Is the pause in tours related to safety?
Absolutely not. The safety of our staff and visitors remains our highest priority, and the mine is in no way unsafe.
Due to a number of recent retirements and colleagues moving on to new opportunities, our Museum Guide Team is currently experiencing some staffing changes. While we continue to offer the very best experience possible, we want to ensure that we never disappoint visitors by being unable to deliver a pre-booked tour due to capacity. This is the reason we are taking this opportunity to review, refresh, and enhance our guided tour offer. This will allow us to introduce exciting improvements that will make future visits even more memorable, engaging, and enjoyable for all our visitors.
We remain deeply committed to the future of the Museum and to preserving and sharing the remarkable stories of coal mining for generations to come. Our underground experience sits at the very heart, offering visitors a unique opportunity to step into history, connect with the lives of those who worked underground, and gain a truly hands-on understanding of our mining heritage.
As we shape the next chapter of our visitor experience, our focus remains on delivering inspiring, authentic, and unforgettable journeys into the past.
What is the best way to find out more information?
To keep up to date on everything happening at the Museum, including the reintroduction of our Underground Tours sign up to our monthly newsletter.
For safety, we have the following measures in place:
- Underground tours are only available for children 5 and over. Anyone under the age of 5 is NOT allowed underground.
- Party sizes will be limited to 15 visitors per tour. Please note, you may be on a tour with people outside of your household/group.
- Warm clothing and sensible footwear are recommended.
Book Now
We recommend pre-booking your Underground Tour online, to avoid disappointment.
There are on-the-day bookings, but these will sell-out so we advise arriving early to guarantee your space on a tour.
When booking the Underground Tour you’ll get a traditional miner’s ‘check’ and be asked for a £7.50 donation. After your tour you can keep the check and donate the £7.50 to help us keep the mine running, or you can return it. If you are a UK taxpayer, please help us further by Gift Aiding.
Please note that even if you pre-book online, you will still need to report into Reception upon arrival to be issued your timed miners ‘check’. We cannot admit you underground without this.