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Museum Snapshots

King Edward Mine, Cornwall

King Edward Mine Museum interprets the history of Cornish mining on the site of a tin mine used by the Camborne School of Mines for training from 1897. The School moved to Poole in the 1970s leaving many of the buildings redundant. The King Edward Mine Preservation Group was set up in 1987 to preserve the buildings and collect, restore and display industrial machinery used by the Cornish mining industry by a group of volunteers (initially mostly staff from the Camborne School of Mines). The project has received major European and Lottery funding and is now part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site (2006). 

A private road leads to the mine complex, which is remarkably complete and includes an array of workshops and historic industrial buildings, several of which are now listed, and a popular café. Several buildings on the site have been converted for small business use. It includes an Edwardian lecture room, complete with rock samples and books, although this is not currently part of the public exhibition. 

Interior of King Edward Mine museum with displays

The museum first opened in 2005 and now has displays over several buildings. A stone-built Boiler House (1906) contains contextual displays on the people and land surrounding the mine, and covers social history, archaeology, geology and the history of tin mining, mostly with the use of illustrated display boards addressing questions about mining (e.g. “was it dangerous or unhealthy for children to work at the mines?”) with some related objects, mostly in cases and video/audio displays (one speaker is memorably installed in a Cornish pasty which can be lifted to the ear). The winder and compressor house contain displays on winding machinery and drilling, along with explanations of the various processes carried out to extract tin at the mine in the Edwardian period. The displays range from large machinery with detailed and illustrated explanation on information panels, to objects and models in cases, often making use of extensive archive photographs of the site and the machinery. A large corrugated iron clad mill building contains an array of working machinery, much of which has been restored to working condition and visitors can see it in action, including enormous stamping machines used to crush rock.

The founder of the museum Tony Brooks has published an illustrated history of the mine, including a section on the early preservation work King Edward Mine: An Illustrated Account of Underground and Surface Operations 1897-2001 (Cornish Hillside Publications, 2002).

Text and pictures by Toby Butler

Copyright: Mapping Museums

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Museum Snapshots

Datchworth Museum

Datchworth Museum sign
Datchworth Museum sign, 2007

This museum occupies an old blacksmith’s forge which had been unused since 1953. The collection was begun by Doreen Hodson-Smith, a local resident, but it had outgrown her home. The forge was seen as a suitable venue for a museum to house the collection, and after refurbishment it opened in 1991. The old forge and blacksmith’s bellows were retained and these remain a focal point. The museum illustrates Datchworth’s history with over 900 artefacts, and in 2009 the collection expanded to include the village telephone kiosk, still in situ on the Green.

Image via the museum.

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Museum Snapshots

Basket Museum

Basket Museum interior display

The Basket Museum is part of Coates, a willow business based on the Somerset Levels. Willow for basket making has been grown on the levels for centuries. The museum displays a variety of willow items including bushel baskets, tricycles and traps.

 

Basket Museum display including Red Cross baskets

Images via the museum.

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Museum Snapshots

Hopewell Colliery

Hopewell Colliery Museum sign

Hopewell Colliery Museum is in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire. Mining is an ancient tradition in the forest and those born there can exercise their rights to mine coal, iron ore, ochre and stone. The museum includes a working mine, through which visitors can take a guided tour.

Image via the museum.

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Museum Snapshots

Haxted Water Mill Museum

Haxted is the oldest mill in Surrey.  The west half dates from about 1680, being built on the foundations of the original 14th century mill; the east half was built in 1797. The mill ceased working in 1949 but was restored as a museum and opened in 1966. At the time of writing the museum seems to be closed.

Image via Mills Archive. See also Exploring Surrey’s Past.