Opening 2018
Built on the site of Kent’s last working coal mine, Kent Mining Museum will share and celebrate the story of energy in Kent – from coal mining through to sustainable energy.
The Museum will include exciting, interactive displays telling visitors how coal was discovered, how it was mined and about the day-to-day lives of the miners who worked at the collieries and the communities that surrounded them. The unique collection includes captivating photographic records, fascinating personal stories and memories, formal records and documents plus remarkable artefacts. The Museum will also provide a focus for the four Kent collieries and their communities; Betteshanger, Snowdown, Tilmanstone, Chislet, Mill Hill, Aylesham, Elvington and Hersden.
Providing opportunities for formal and informal learning, skills sharing, volunteering and co-curating, the Museum will enable a wide range of people to participate in, and learn about, the largely untold story of Kent’s rich coal mining heritage.
Funding
Kent Mining Heritage Foundation (KMHF) is a registered charity (charity no. 1165403) working in partnership with Betteshanger Park, Hadlow Group, Aylesham and Elvington & Eythorne Heritage Centres to collect care and promote East Kent’s coal mining heritage.
The project has received a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £1.3m for development and operation of the Kent Mining Museum.
On announcement of the grant, Stuart McLeod, Head of HLF South East, said: “Kent’s mining heritage isn’t as well-known as other parts of the country but it was of national importance and changed the social and economic make-up of the region. East Kent is the only coalfield without its own regional museum and our committee felt that this project is a fitting way to celebrate and preserve this industrial past.”
