Tom Leonard Mining Museum

The Tom Leonard Mining Museum in Skinningrove has just launched an exciting new product, which will appeal to people interested in finding more out about their past, and the past of this area. Its production came about by chance, as Sarah Browning, a local Brotton photographer, dropped in one day to visit the Museum, and became interested by the many images of the mining era that the Museum has in its archives. Said Sarah:

'When I saw the old archive mining photographs, I suggested producing greeting cards using these images. This was something that the Museum had fought shy of before because commercial printers required such large print runs. I however work to much smaller numbers, and was very keen to use my skills to help the local museum in this way…Things snowballed when I was shown another seven albums of images that the Museum had not had the space to display before, or that were too old and delicate to provide open access to. As I scanned these images, I was also able to provide a back-up for the Mine's archives. From this work the idea of producing a CD ROM of the 100 most interesting images was born. It has proved a fascinating, albeit time-consuming winter project for me, and the other volunteers at the Museum who put in so much time and effort to help with the process. I am really pleased with the results.'

Sarah is now looking for her next CD ROM project to work on during the coming winter.

The CD ROM contains 100 Photographs from the Archives of The Tom Leonard Mining Museum: Photographs of the old ironstone mines, the ironstone miners and local photographs from the surrounding area. The oldest photograph on the CD ROM is dated 1880, most are from the early 1900's. Some of the images have been improved digitally, but the majority are unedited; most appear in good condition, others show their age as tears and blemishes. It is priced at a reasonable £10.99, and is available from the Museum or directly from Sarah at Beachcomber Photography: 01287 676 362.

The Museum today offers visitors an opportunity to experience the underground world of a real ironstone mine and to explore the skills, customs and life of the Cleveland miner. It was these miners that helped make Cleveland the most important ironstone-mining district in Victorian and Edwardian Britain.

While visitors are waiting for the next tour, they are able to browse the Museum Gallery. This displays some of the images from the Museum's photographic collection: photographs of Loftus Ironstone Mine (where the Museum is located) the Miners and the local area during the mining era.