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Summerlee Heritage Park
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Summerlee closed on Sunday
22 October 2006 for a major
Heritage Lottery Fund
supported redevelopment.
It will remain
closed until spring 2008
while the main exhibition
hall is completed renovated
with new interactive
displays and working
exhibits.
The main exhibition hall has now been completely stripped out and a ground-up refurbishment is now underway. The original hall, created in the late 1980s out of the site of the former Hydrocon Crane works, provided a superb space for the museum's collection of industrial machinery, much of which could be seen in working condition. However, over the past 20 years, the displays and general visitor experience had become in need of a thorough
upgrade.
The new hall will provide a modern and environmentally sustainable setting for some of Scotland's most important displays of social and industrial history, including many 'star' items from the collection hitherto hidden from view in the stores.
The new setting will also provide the visitor with a much more logical flow through the displays, moving from the pre-historical period to the dawn and rise of the industrial era and into Lanarkshire's massive contribution to Scottish - and world - engineering. Interactive displays will explain the iron-making process and a kid's Discovery Zone will allow youngsters to explore the world of science through hands-on activities and simple
experiments.
The redevelopment project will also see:
- The creation of a new entrance for the hall, including a café, shop and toilets
- The establishment of an education and life-long learning suite
- And the refurbishment of the conservation workshops.
- New meeting and general activity spaces for conferences and events.
On reopening, Summerlee's other attractions will once more be welcoming visitors. These include:
- An operational electric tramway, with a selection of historic and European cars that run year-round. A small ticket charge gives visitors all-day rides.
- A recreated addit mine (a mine entered by a slope, not a shaft) shows the working conditions of miners in the days of the underground pits. Opposite the mine is a row of miners' cottages, which display how miners lived from the 1840s to the 1960s. Tours of the mine are free, but need to be booked at busy periods such as on event days.
- There is also a fine age-segregated playpark, with a range of different play and adventure equipment to suit tots to teens
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In the
meantime why not visit the
Trams on line? See them AND
hear them MOVE.
Click below
Summerlee Transport Group
(The Trams) |
The Summerlee Heritage
park is a museum of social and Industrial history.
"The aim of
the Museum is to preserve and interpret the history of the local Iron,
Steel, Coal and engineering industries and of the communities that
depended on them for a living"
Facilities and Services
- Ironworks Gallery
- Tramway with
Passenger Stops
- Exhibition Hall
- Mine and Miners' Row
- Summerlee Branch of
the Monklands Canal
- Children's Play Area
- Site of former
Summerlee Ironworks
- Site of Steam-driven
Sawmill
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As the history of the Monklands is
inextricably linked
with the Industrial Revolution, it was
deemed
appropriate that
the heart of Coatbridge, "The Iron
Burgh" should be
the site of Scotland's most exciting
museum project.
Summerlee Heritage Trust is a
major museum on a once
derelict
25-acre site on the banks
of the Monkland Canal, centred on the
archaeological
excavations
of the Summerlee Iron Works.
The park is designed around
the archaeological remains of the Summerlee Ironworks which emerged from
under six metres of slag and industrial waste.
Summerlee Ironworks was put
into blast in 1835. It was served by a branch of the Monklands canal which has now been restored. Howes Basin - built
for shipping coal from the railway to the canal - has been uncovered.
Part of the site had been used since the 1950s by a crane manufacturer -
Hyrocon Cranes -the framework of their factory was stripped, repaired
and reclad to form the Museum's impressive Exhibition Hall.
Summerlee has been described as "Scotland's Noisiest Museum"
and the massive exhibition hall houses a large collection of historic
machinery operating daily!. Whenever possible,
Summerlee's engineers provide public demonstrations of machinery and
traditional skills whilst making parts for other restoration
projects. Permanent exhibitions include reconstructed working
environments such as a Tinsmiths Shop, a Brass Foundry, Brassfinishers
Shop, Spade Forge. Other exhibits include a Co-op Shop, a
Bicycle and Radio Shop, a Photographers Studio. Summerlee
Ironworks in the 1880s is reconstructed to scale - showing the blast
furnace structure with a viewing balcony.
The most interesting part of the Museum is the excavated
"remains" of the Ironworks - its all outdoors and shows the
foundations of the furnaces and the heating kilns. The Ironworks was demolished
in the late 1930's and some six feet of soil had to be removed to find
the old iron workings.
Tramway
Summerlee operates an electric tramway on over half a kilometre of
track.. A number of trams are
operational on a daily basis including one from Austria and one from
Belgium. An open topped Lanarkshire Tram was first unveiled to the
general public in 1995. Many of the trams are both driven and restored
by the Summerlee Transport Group. The only reconstruction
that is missing is the 1950's conductress shouting "Come oan -
Git aff".
Historic Vehicles
Dotted around the museum are a
number of stationery vehicles including three steam railway locomotives,
two steam cranes and a bulldozer c1930. There are some vintage or
classic cars including a Model T van and an Austin A40 pickup van.
Mines and Miners Row
Local mines once fired the furnaces of ironworks such as
Summerlee. A small mine has been re-created where you can
experience the miner's dark, damo and cramped working conditions
as they battled to win a day's pay for their families. The nearby
row of miners cottages shows a little of how they lived. They take
you from the basic living conditions of the 1860's to the relative
comforts of the 1960's.
ALL ENQUIRIES to:
Summerlee
Heritage Park
Heritage Way
Coatbridge ML5 1QD
Tel : 01236 431261
Click on Summerlee
Heritage Park for a local map
We have also added directions from
Glasgow and Stirling -
| From Glasgow take M8 |
| Continue straight ahead onto COATBRIDGE ROAD |
| Continue straight ahead onto GLASGOW ROAD |
| Bear left onto BANK STREET |
| Bear left onto A89 |
| Turn left onto WEST CANAL STREET |
| Turn right onto HERITAGE WAY |
| Continue straight ahead onto HERITAGE VIEW |
| Arrive at Summerlee
Heritage Park |
| From Stirling area - straight
ahead onto M80 |
| Straight ahead onto A80 |
| Bear right onto M80 |
| Bear left onto A73 |
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After STAND village - Bear right
onto COATBRIDGE ROAD B803
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Continue via WAVERLEY STREET and
BURNBANK STREET
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Continue straight ahead onto
SUNNYSIDE ROAD
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Bear left on SUNNYSIDE ROAD
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At COATBRIDGE FOUNTAIN bear right
onto WEST CANAL STREET
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Turn right onto HERITAGE WAY
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| Continue straight ahead
onto HERITAGE VIEW |
| Arrive at Summerlee
Heritage Park |
ALL ENQUIRIES to: Summerlee
Heritage Park 01236 431261
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Leisure
