This museum inside the Lady Victoria Colliery – the former heart of Midlothian's mining industry, 9 miles south of Edinburgh – paints a vivid, moving picture of the lives of miners in a space that's eerily unchanged since the colliery's 1981 closure. Ex-miners lead hourly tours exploring the pithead, the huge winding engine and a recreated underground mineshaft, and there's also a brilliant audiovisual tour for self-guided exploring. 'Big Stuff' warehouse tours of humongous equipment run on Wednesday and Sunday (adult/child £4.50/free).
National Mining Museum Scotland
Scotland
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