Day 188/23. At a big pit.

We visited the Mining Museum at Woodhorn near to Ashington today (not far from where we are staying).
A fascinating place, and the location for one of the UK's largest coal mines.
At its peak, Woodhorn had over 2,000 people working underground at the site. A whopping 600,000 tonnes of coal was mined from the pit each year.
All production ceased in 1986 and its now Northmuberland's mining museum.
The extra picture today shows the top of the mine shaft with one of the lift cages (it's red) that carried 22 men up and down from the mine. The main shaft down to the main coal seam was a depth of 271 metres.
The nearby Ashington was at one time the worlds largest coal mining village, all houses owned by the mine.