An historic Leicestershire colliery is being reopened to the public for the first time in seven years by a group of volunteers and ex miners, who will be giving tours of the facility.
Coalville’s Snibston Colliery, which is the last colliery in Leicestershire – was part of Coalville’s Snibston Discovery Park, which closed in 2015.
Since 2020, the Snibston Heritage Trust has been working with Leicestershire County Council to ensure the public can access the colliery.
Now, former miners will be giving guided tours of the pit from April 10, which will tell what it was like a day in the life of a miner.
“Some of the stories that the public will hear from the former colliery guides are both hard – it was a hard job and it was tragic in some instances, but it was always full of humour, with all the camaraderie,” said Stuart Warburton, the former curator at Snibston, who met with the Leicester Times on site.
“We wanted to get that story across to the public again.”
Although people aren’t able to go underground at Snibston anymore, as the shafts have been capped, tourists will be able to see how Snibston’s coal-mine operated in the 1960/70s/80s, back when it was a ‘Super Pit’.
“It was one of the first pits to turn 100 million tonnes of coal a year”, explained Mr Warburton, who’s been associated with Snibston since 1987.
“For me this is reopening something which is incredibly important, not only for me but for the community as well, so I’m extremely proud”, he said.
“Although mines have gone, people in Coalville have still got mining blood in them – and not only Coalville, places like Desford and Measham. So for them it’s very important that their personal family heritage is kept alive”, he added.
From April 10, Snibston Heritage Trust is planning to run tours at the site every weekend depending on demand.
Colliery tours are priced at £2.50 per adult, with children and young people under 16 free.
All proceeds will be given to the Snibston Heritage Trust, and will be put back into restoring rare items of mining machinery. More information about the tours is available by calling the Snibston Heritage Trust on 01530 833521 or by emailing stuart.warburton@outlook.com.
