Summerlee Industrial Museum

Overview

The museum reopened in September 2008, after a two-year £10m Heritage Lottery Fund supported redevelopment.
Summerlee's 22 acres are based around the site of the 19th Century Summerlee Ironworks, a fore-runner in the use of the innovative hot-blast iron smelting process that led Coatbridge to fame and fortune as Scotland's 'Iron Burgh'.

Summerlee's main features are:

•A huge under-cover exhibition hall, with a variety of interactive exhibits, 'hands on' activities for children and working machinery to view.

•Re-created adit mine and miners' cottages. Guides take small groups down the mine, which is entered by a sloping track rather than a shaft. The cottages show the domestic side of their lives from the 1840s to the 1960s.

•An electric tramway gives rides on restored modern and Edwardian tramcars. A modest fee gives all-day rides (Discounted for children).

•The 'Summerlee Ironworks Photographic Workshop'. A brand-new community resource for the creative development of photographic skills in both traditional film and digital media. Information on classes and exhibitions available from Summerlee on (01236) 638463.

Within the main exhibition hall there are also toilets (including baby-changing and special access), a cafe and a shop with a range of heritage-themed gifts, toys and books.

The museum is open 10am to 5pm from 1 April to 31 October, then to 4pm until the end of March.