Our Mission

We are the only museum in the world dedicated to the once vital ironstone mining industry. Without the ironstone from East Cleveland there would not have been the transport infrastructure, railways, bridges and iron ships, which played such an integral part of the growth of the British Empire. The museum is based in the former mining village of Skinningrove and is very much a part of the local community relying on local volunteers to lead guided tours, for maintenance, looking after our collection etc. Based on the site of a mine, the Museum’s, guide led, underground experience acts as a tourist attraction in an otherwise economically challenged area of Teesside.

How we do it

The next 18 months will be exciting times for us at the Museum. We have obtained funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Coastal Communities Fund to build a new extension, modernising the museum’s archives and providing more exhibition, education and office space.

During the period that we will be closed for this project, we will be taking the museum on the road, having had a pop-up museum built with a grant from the North York Moors National Park and matched with museum core funding. This will be set up in local village and church halls, town halls, local fairs and fetes throughout Teesside and North Yorkshire. This will be free to visit with a donation box which we hope, but cannot guarantee, will raise enough to cover the fuel and any venue hire costs.

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