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.
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.
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.
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.
Marvel at the 40ft coal shearers, the massive winding en from Frances Colliery in Fife, underground carriages, cages, locomotives and much more!