A world away from a traditional mining museum, Woodhorn is well-known for its fun and varied programme of exhibitions and events programme.
The museum is proud to house the Ashington Group Collection of artworks – commonly known as the ‘Pitmen Painters’. This iconic display showcases what daily life was really like for miners in and around Ashington from the 1930s. It is reputed to be the first collection of amateur art to go on permanent display anywhere in the world.
Did you know that at its peak, over 2,000 people worked underground at the site? A whopping 600,000 tonnes of coal was mined from the pit each year.
Come along and visit the North East’s last remaining coal mining built heritage and check out our winding houses – including the most powerful winding engine in the region and the ventilation fan which took a direct hit, but survived the German bombing of 1941.
Our modern Cutter Building showcases our impressive banner collection, Coal Town exhibition and, of course, our iconic Ashington Group Collection. The mixture of the historic and the modern is something you can expect from all Museums Northumberland sites.
Be sure to take a look at the wall of the Cutter Building which features a moving sculpture made up of 98 birds, fashioned from moulded miners’ gloves – each of which sadly represent a life lost at Woodhorn Colliery throughout its history.
With so much to see and do at Woodhorn Museum, it’s a hands-on experience to remember
