An interactive mining experience that will give visitors to a Fife country park a sense of life at the coalface has taken a major step forward.
Scotland’s National Mining Museum has given its formal backing to the project as well as agreeing to supply various industrial items from its vast collection.
The attraction will include wagons, a coal cutter, buckets and even a lift cage and is to be set around the imposing Mary Pit Head winding tower in Lochore Meadows Country Park.
The project came about when former Fife miner, Iain Chalmers, discovered a miner’s lift cage in a rail yard in Leven back in 2019.
Pit cage found languishing in rail yard
A ‘Save The Cage’ group was initially set up to see the cage restored.
However the group’s ambitions quickly grew, developing into a three-year campaign for the introduction of an interactive mining attraction.
In its heyday, Fife Coalfield was one of the most active areas in Scotland.
At it’s peak over fifty collieries were in operation at various times between the middle of the nineteenth century and the industry’s demise with the closure of the last pit in 1988.
Iain told The Courier the museum’s backing has given the project credibility.
He explained: “It’s a huge step for us to not only have the backing of the National Mining Museum but also to have access to items within its vast collection that can be brought to Fife.
“At first we just wanted to secure the pit cage’s future but it’s grown arms and legs and become something a whole lot bigger.
“Fife is synonymous with mining and had a long and rich mining history.
“As a youngster I played among the coal bings at the Mary Pit and later became a miner – the fourth generation in my family to work in the pit.
Mining machinery to be displayed
“To have the opportunity to now have an instillation around the Mary Pit Head tower that stands as a lasting monument to Fife’s mining heritage is fantastic.
“Visitors to Lochore Meadows will be able to touch and interact with the various items to get a sense of what life was like deep underground and at the coalface.”
Nicola Moss, the museum curator, said the project gave them the perfect opportunity to display items from its collection, many of which have been in storage for years.
She added: “It’s a very good project that the museum is happy to support and what better location than in the shadow of the pit tower.
“It’s hugely important to be able to not only preserve all aspects of mining heritage but also for future generations to be able to access it in new and creative ways.
“It’s also a great opportunity to bring some of our items across to Fife from our base at Newton Grange.
“We are now working with the group and the museum’s collections trust to determine what items will be suitable.”
Lochore Meadows is Fife’s most popular park, attracting over one million visitors a year.
Fife’s rich coal mining heritage
Park Manager. Ian Laing said: “It’s a proposal we are happy to back and once installed will provide an added experience for those visiting the park.
“There is a bank of land around the Mary Pit Head which is ideal and we are already working out how the machinery could be displayed.”
The aim is to have the attraction installed in 2023 to tie in with the return of the famous pit locomotive, currently undergoing a restoration.
It’s also hoped the project will completed ahead of the 40th anniversary of the miner’s strike in March 1984.
With the backing of the museum, Fife Council and Lochore Meadow’s Country Park, Iain Chalmers says the work starts now to make the £35,000 project a reality.
He said: “This is a huge step forward for us and we can’t begin to thank everyone who has backed us enough.
“Mining is an integral part of Fife’s history and this project will be perfect way to teach future generations of how important it was to the region.”
