Rutland Railway Museum – The Home of East Midlands Ironstone Quarry Heritage
We are an open-air Museum based in the heart of the rural East Midlands where the now extinct industry of home iron ore production is preserved for visitors. The industrial revolution and the subsequent development of the British economy relied on the presence of a number of basic raw materials, notably coal and iron ore. The history of coal production in Britain is now widely recorded and recreated in a number of dedicated industrial museums located across England, Wales and Scotland, often located in the heartlands of the former coalfields. Given that interest, it is therefore surprising that so little is recorded and that there are so few ways of investigating the story of the other great industrial mineral resource, iron ore.
Our Museum sets out to preserve and recreate the essential elements of a typical East Midlands ironstone quarrying operation as it may have been seen in its heyday during the 1950’s or 1960’s but with some additional artefacts and exhibits. As well as our central theme, we have also been able to preserve items from the other mineral industries located in the area, namely limestone, granite and the locally important industrial processes of cement and brick production. This is a living museum in which the social history, working practices and skills are as much valued as the use of original equipment in an authentic working environment. Our central aim is to provide our visitors and volunteers with the opportunity to witness these historic activities “first-hand”. We hope that you will enjoy these interesting and thought provoking experiences while you are visiting our Museum. Our ambition is to offer you authentic sights, sounds and images to give you a far more valuable insight into these historic industrial endeavours. It is after all, a valuable heritage that we all share. One of the most exciting projects in recent years has been the recreation of a rail connected ironstone quarry within the Museum where we now offer “experience tours” led by knowledgeable guides on operating days and where our collection of operational quarry machinery can often be seen in action. Our development plans include completion of our rural mineral railway, from quarry to exchange sidings, and to include engineering workshops and other specific and unique features found throughout the industry. Our intension is to recreate a typical and operational east midlands mineral “system” as it would have appeared in the mid to late 20th Century but with plenty of Victorian (and earlier) references! In the current “post-industrial age”, our Charity believes that it is important that the endeavours of our predecessors are recorded and that the opportunity to understand their economic and social contribution to history is available to a wide community. Our Museum has been established to allow this specific area of history to be discovered by visitors. Volunteers run the Museum as a not-for-profit Charity. All our proceeds are reinvested into running and developing the Museum, a process that is continually being pursued. We hope that if you have further questions you will ask one of our staff who will be pleased to assist, if they can! |
As recently as 1957, home production of iron ore was around 16 million tons per annum and the industry employed up to 5,500 people. This activity took place in otherwise rural areas of the East Midlands for generations of workers and where industrial scale production operated in relative harmony with the surrounding agricultural activity, the other major local employer.
