Somerset Coalfield Life at Radstock Museum

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Somerset Coalfield Life at Radstock Museum Preserving the Social and Industrial Heritage of the Communities of the Former Somerset Coalfield. Discover the Somerset Coalfield at Radstock Museum.

We tell the story of coal mining; one of the world's most dangerous jobs, and life in the Victorian Era. Closed December and January; except for groups, room hire and Special Events. Please contact us to find out more. Closed Mondays except Bank Holidays. Bank Holiday Opening Hours are: 14:00-17:00

ANNUAL TICKET: Pay once and come back for FREE all year. Adults: £6
Concessions £5
Family (2 adults and up to 3 children) £13
Under 5s FREE. Annual tickets can also be bought in the form of a gift card ask at the admissions desk. Free council and alternative parking available within 100yards of the museum.

💦 WATER MILLS AND COAL MINING IN MENDIP 💦FREE Skinner Lecture and Museum Society AGM 2026 Watermills and Coal Mining in ...
15/10/2026

💦 WATER MILLS AND COAL MINING IN MENDIP 💦
FREE Skinner Lecture and Museum Society AGM 2026

Watermills and Coal Mining in Mendip will be the subject of this year's Skinner Lecture to be held at the museum on Saturday 12 December at 10.30am. Do make a note in your diary!

This talk, which is free to all, will be given by Steve Grudgings, Chair of the South Gloucestershire Mines Research Group who will present some recent research suggesting that water mills may have been an underrated source of power in early local mining.

The illustrated lecture will be part of the Museum Society AGM. Admission is free to all, but only Society members will be able to vote on AGM business which usually takes about 10-15 minutes. The lecture will be about 50 minutes.

Here are 2 pictures of the tunnel which brought water half a mile from Wellow Brook at West Clewes to power the waterwheel at Old Welton Colliery (which was situated where the industrial estate and recycling centre area off Radstock Road is today) at Welton Hollow, about 1790.

🤩 NEW AT RADSTOCK MUSEUM 👑🕊️📖 THE COLEFORD SUNDAY SCHOOL BANNER 👑🕊️📖Radstock Museum has a new addition to our displays: ...
06/10/2026

🤩 NEW AT RADSTOCK MUSEUM 👑🕊️📖 THE COLEFORD SUNDAY SCHOOL BANNER 👑🕊️📖

Radstock Museum has a new addition to our displays: a huge and colourful Victorian marching banner once used by a local Sunday School in parades on high days and holidays. The exhibit is the culmination of two years of work in which the museum volunteers have worked with professional designers and conservators to repair, restore and display the 140 year old painted silk banner. The display is supplemented with interactive digital interpretation which is packed with images showing the banner’s conservation story, the banner in use, the meanings of the painted images and the wider history of such banners. It even includes child friendly on-screen jigsaws.

A museum spokesperson says: “We are really pleased with the way this project has developed. We were able to raise thousands of pounds from Heritage charities combined with legacies from local people who wanted to leave something of quality and value to the community for the future. The result has exceeded our expectations.”

We hope you will find the banner another fascinating link back to our local past.

🖤🎩BYGONE DAYS TALK NOVEMBER 3RD 2026🎩🖤Richard Cooper-Knight "Death and Service" an illustrated presentation.With Novem...
26/09/2026

🖤🎩BYGONE DAYS TALK NOVEMBER 3RD 2026🎩🖤
Richard Cooper-Knight "Death and Service" an illustrated presentation.

With November being the month of remembrance, Richard will share stories of the lives of some of our local people, who perished in WWI. Richard has been all over Somerset seeking out First World War Commonwealth Graves and has researched the names carved into the granite. This has led him to a wealth of stories of family and tragedy each name brought to life with their own individual history. Many of you attended his first presentation on this subject in 2024 and as a result Richard returns with more fascinating histories behind the carved names.
Bygone Days Talks take place at Chilcompton Village Hall starting at 7:30pm until 8:30pm. £5 entry. Raffle Available.

🖤LES SPRAKE - A TRIBUTE🖤Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Les Sprake (15th August 1946 – 26th July 2026)The Trustees, s...
26/09/2026

🖤LES SPRAKE - A TRIBUTE🖤
Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Les Sprake (15th August 1946 – 26th July 2026)
The Trustees, staff, and volunteers of Radstock Museum wish to express their deepest gratitude and pay tribute to Les Sprake, a dedicated volunteer who passed away on 26th July 2026. For many years, Les volunteered in several areas of our Museum, working alongside his beloved wife, Audrey.
Les’s contribution to the Museum was very varied. As a member of the Museum Friends, he worked to raise vital funds. He also served as the Treasurer of the Museum Society, which owns the Museum collection of local artefacts.
But for many, Les will be most fondly remembered as an indispensable star of the Museum’s Education team. With a wonderful ability to connect with visitors of all ages, Les brought history to life. In our replica coal mine, he stepped the boots of a Victorian coal miner, imparting his rich knowledge of local coal mining history to captivated school groups.
Les was also our ultimate Master of Ceremonies for children’s events, embracing every role with enthusiasm, humour, and a wonderful collection of costumes. He was our unforgettable Father Christmas for Victorian Christmas events, a fantastic Scarecrow for Autumn Fest, and he delighted visitors in his stripy Victorian bathing costume and straw boater for our Victorian Seaside days.
Beyond the costumes, Les possessed a real warmth. He was fantastic with children and parents alike, always offering a helping hand—whether he was organising pram parking, directing families to arts and crafts, or guiding them toward the tearoom with a welcoming smile.
Les will be deeply missed by everyone in the Radstock Museum community. Our thoughts are especially with Audrey, who remains a cherished part of our volunteer team.
Thank you, Les, for your many years of service, and for leaving our Museum a brighter place. Your legacy will live on in the history you helped preserve and the countless smiles you created.

🧡🤎🐞OCTOBER HALF TERM CHILDREN'S TRAIL🐞🤎🧡Saturday 24th-Saturday 31st October 2026. Trail is included free with your admis...
26/09/2026

🧡🤎🐞OCTOBER HALF TERM CHILDREN'S TRAIL🐞🤎🧡
Saturday 24th-Saturday 31st October 2026. Trail is included free with your admission ticket. Every child completing the trail will receive a small prize.

🖤OCTOBER BYGONE DAYS TALK: THE FASCINATING FOLLIES OF SOMERSET🖤Architectural Historian Jonathan Holt will give an illust...
16/09/2026

🖤OCTOBER BYGONE DAYS TALK: THE FASCINATING FOLLIES OF SOMERSET🖤
Architectural Historian Jonathan Holt will give an illustrated presentation on Somerset Follies. Jonathan has extensively researched these unusual and usually beautiful buildings which are built for visual appeal rather than practical use. There are many follies scattered across Somerset, some of which can still be seen, many fully restored to their former glory and some which are ruins or have completely collapsed now vanished from view. Jonathan will show us many images, some photos from historical archives even showing construction of the follies. He will share historical facts about the follies and tell of some local myths related to them. Come along to Chilcompton Village Hall on Tuesday 6th October. Doors open at 7pm, Talk is from 7:30pm- 8:30pm. £5 admission and raffle raising funds for Somerset Coalfield Life at Radstock Museum Charity no 11515783. Jonathan will be selling books he has written on local follies available by card payments on the night.

📗🖤NEW BOOK ON SOMERSET CANALS🖤📗AVAILABLE FROM RADSTOCK MUSEUM SHOP. The Museum Shop is open during usual museum opening ...
27/08/2026

📗🖤NEW BOOK ON SOMERSET CANALS🖤📗AVAILABLE FROM RADSTOCK MUSEUM SHOP. The Museum Shop is open during usual museum opening hours check www.radstockmuseum.co.uk for opening times. You can purchase items in the Museum Shop without visiting the Museum. For mail order send your name and address and phone number by email to: [email protected] ☺️

🎩🕰️🧸🖼️🪞VALUATION DAY with Paul Martin AT RADSTOCK MUSEUM on Wednesday September 16th, 10.30am- 3.00pm FREE ENTRY & FREE ...
14/08/2026

🎩🕰️🧸🖼️🪞VALUATION DAY with Paul Martin AT RADSTOCK MUSEUM on Wednesday September 16th, 10.30am- 3.00pm FREE ENTRY & FREE VALUATION.🪞🖼️🧸🕰️🎩

Bring your antiques and collectables along to Radstock Museum for Paul Martin to value. Free valuation, The Museum Tea Room will be open for refreshments and donations to the Museum would be greatly appreciated.

📆DATE FOR YOUR DIARY: TUESDAY 1ST SEPTEMBER 2026 📆UNSUNG WOMEN IN SOMERSET - AN ILLUSTRATED PRESENTATION BY HELEN PUGH- ...
28/07/2026

📆DATE FOR YOUR DIARY: TUESDAY 1ST SEPTEMBER 2026 📆
UNSUNG WOMEN IN SOMERSET - AN ILLUSTRATED PRESENTATION BY HELEN PUGH- 7:30PM CHILCOMPTON VILLAGE HALL. £5 entry. Raffle available raising funds for Radstock Museum charity no 1151573. We look forward to seeing you.

Radstock Museum's Bygone Days Team have invited Helen Pugh to come and talk about her book entitled Unsung Women in Somerset. Unsung Women in Somerset is a book of real-life and legendary women who lived, loved, worked and made a difference in the county of Somerset, England. Often, these women were erased from the narrative, both when they were alive and after they died in terms of how their stories were overlooked.
Starting in pre-Roman times, we go right through to the mid-20th century. The book is made up of 23 chapters that generally consist of a short story followed by historical notes, a chapter bibliography and shorter sections on other women of note from the same era.
As well as gender discrimination, some of the women encountered discrimination due to ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, social standing and so on.
Examples of the women in the book include an African princess who survived and thrived despite the odds, a woman who had two funerals and an enslaved Roman woman who married a priest.
Helen explains that, “The title, Unsung Women in Somerset, refers to how many of these women have been marginalised in the past. They have not often been celebrated, mainly because most people nowadays have not heard of most of them. And I chose “in Somerset” rather than “of Somerset” because not all the women were born or raised in Somerset. Some of them came into the county later in life and so I felt the word “in” conveyed this idea better.

🐷🐮🦆🐏🐂🐖🐑OLD MAC-DONALD'S FARM CHILDREN'S SUMMER TRAIL🐐🐄🐥🐕🐈‍⬛🐓🦃Children, bring your adults along to Somerset Coalfield Lif...
16/07/2026

🐷🐮🦆🐏🐂🐖🐑OLD MAC-DONALD'S FARM CHILDREN'S SUMMER TRAIL🐐🐄🐥🐕🐈‍⬛🐓🦃Children, bring your adults along to Somerset Coalfield Life at Radstock Museum this summer holidays from 23rd July until 1st September (inclusive) for the Summer Children's Trail entitled Old MacDonald's Farm. Hunt around the museum and find all the different farm animals and work out where they live on Old MacDonald's Farm and claim a small, free prize. The trail is available during usual Museum opening hours and is included with your admission ticket. For opening times and admission charges, please go to www.radstockmuseum.co.uk All tickets are annual, so you can return as many times as you like all year for free. Other children's trails are available at the museum all year around including the Amy Ammonite Trail and Bob the Miner Trail. The Museum Volunteers look forward to welcoming you.

Address

The Market Hall Waterloo Road
Radstock
BA33EP

Opening Hours

Tuesday 2pm - 5pm
Wednesday 2pm - 5pm
Thursday 2pm - 5pm
Friday 2pm - 5pm
Saturday 11am - 5pm
Sunday 2pm - 5pm

Telephone

01761 437722

Website

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