Opening Hours

Monday: Closed
Tues – Sunday: 11am – 4pm

Educational visits by arrangement.
Group visits by arrangement.

Group Visits and Talks

If you are looking for a different experience for your group then why not come along and enjoy our informative tour of the Museum.

Guides

Your guide will often be an ex miner who will have a wealth of knowledge and be able to recount what life was really like underground.

Woodend Colliery

Woodend Colliery was one of the smaller pits in the Burnley Coalfield, it opened in 1912 and closed completely in 1959 and it was in fact the last vertical pit shaft to be sunk in the area.

Although there were a lot of pits in this area there is unfortunately very little left on the surface for us to see and so when Harry and Carole Johnson bought the old colliery site in September 2009 little did they know of the history it held. As the site was cleared small artefacts were discovered and as the saying goes “from little acorns do mighty oak trees grow” in this case from a few rusty tools has a small but superb museum grown.

Museum History

The site is now home once again to all manner of mining equipment dating from Victorian Britain to the recent past. Also in the collection are Social History items which serve to remind us all of the hardships endured by families not that long ago, in fact well within living memory for a lot of people.

Although most of the Museum is dedicated to the Burnley mines there are also artefacts from other mining areas and any donations of information or memorabilia will always be gratefully received.

Smithson Farm and Museum

Did you know the Museum adjoins our Caravan and Camping site?

Why not come and stay awhile.