Minister to open museum furnace shaft
Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt will be at the National Coal Mining Museum for England on Thursday to open a newly-conserved furnace shaft following a £870,000 preservation scheme.
When the furnace shaft at the museum, near Wakefield, was found to be in danger of collapse in 2007, the Government provided partnership funding for a successful application to the Heritage Lottery Fund.
The furnace shaft – which is believed to be the only furnace shaft still in existence – would originally have had a fire lit at the bottom, to send warm air up the shaft, drawing in fresh air down the main riding shaft more than 100ft away and ventilating the pit.
The shaft now has a glass cover, which allows visitors to look down its full 400ft depth. The work has also seen the museum’s lamproom displays renovated.