Snibston Colliery Tours – A Coal Miner’s Story

Follow in the footsteps and experience the day in the life of a Leicestershire coalminer with guided tours of the historic Snibston Colliery.

The tour led by experienced former miners will take you through the colliery from the miner collecting his lamps in the lamp room and his tally in the control room, which also monitors the whole pit, to the powder magazine to collect his ‘shot’ i.e. explosives (note no live explosives are used on the tour or kept on site) and onto the pit top and the ‘cage’ ready to go underground as well as the winding house and winder which raises and lowers the cage. The tour also takes in the medical centre, the one room miners’ did not want to experience! The tour is of the surface buildings as it is not possible to go underground at Snibston Colliery.

The historic colliery, sunk by George Stephenson in the mid-1830s is a schedule monument and is the last surviving ‘modern pit’ of the 1960/70s.

Tours are £5.00 adults and children under 15 free. The tours are about 1.5 hours long start and finish at the Colliery Café. The tour includes some steps onto the pit top and winding house and sensible shoes are recommended. The tour is suitable for children over the age of 6, but very young children are welcomed, but all children must be accompanied by a responsible adult.