Heritage Open Weekend

The National Coal Mining Museum for England will once again allow access to visitors to see inside the Screens Building – a rare survivor of what was a very common structure across the English coalfields.

The Heritage Open Weekend allows public access to specific restricted areas of museums and cultural sites throughout the UK, and the tour of the Screens Building by former miners will allow visitors to enjoy and experience a fascinating ‘behind the scenes’ look into the museum.

In addition to the Screens Building opening, the museum's displays will be open as normal and underground tours in the 140m deep New Hards coal seam will also be running throughout each day, including the furnace shaft display; a glass walkway over a 140m deep mine shaft.

The Screens Building can only be accessed via a number of steep, narrow metal walkways, and the Museum therefore regrets that there is no wheelchair or pram access to this building. The Museum otherwise has excellent access facilities, and wheelchair access can be granted on the underground tour with prior notice.