Peak District Lead Mining Museum

Peak District Lead Mining Museum

Discover the life of a Derbyshire Lead Miner. Investigate the equipment the miners used to extract the lead ore from the ground, clamber and crawl through our tunnels or visit Temple Mine, a real mine, on a guided tour and then pan for minerals.

The mining museum offers something for everyone in the family from the youngest, who love the mouse hunt and dressing up, the more adventurous children (and adults) who clamber through the tunnels, through to those with a special interest in industry, engineering, geology and mining.
The museum has artefacts ranging from a simple tallow candle up to huge water pressure engine originally designed by Richard Trevithick. These help to tell the story of the old lead miners who have mined this area from Roman Times through to the 1980s.

A guided tour of Temple Mine, a 20th Century lead and fluorspar mine, provides an underground experience where hard hats are needed and most people have to bend down in the lower passages! Your guide will explain about the equipment the miners used and about the geology of the hillside you are in. After the mine tour there is a chance to pan for minerals – you may even find something that glitters like gold.

The Museum also houses the Matlock Bath Through Time exhibition which explains how the village changed from a Georgian Spa Town to a popular Victorian day out, through to an almost sea-side-like village nestled in a beautiful valley.

Review

Here at the Peak District Lead Mining Museum, your not just visiting a museum in the true sense of the word, along with the visit down the Temple Mine, your visiting what is fast becoming a must see attraction when visiting this region. Some people think, that they have seen all of what Matlock has to offer when they’ve been across the Heights of Abraham, well I would like to disagree with that comment and set them straight, you’ve not even scratched the surface. Situated within the museum firstly, is a treasure trove of mining artifacts that will amaze you from the start, far too many to mention within my small review! Then there is the trip down the mine, which it has to be said, is a really awe inspiring journey of both industrial and engineering ingenuity. The staff are friendly, admission isn’t extortionate and the whole place has just a good feel about the place!