Back to top  
Text size
Community Directory
About Promote your organisation Login or Register

Free Mines Coal Faces - exhibition of photographs at the Mining Museum

About this activity

From Wednesday 13 September 2023 to Sunday 21 January 2024 during Museum opening times. (open Wednesdays to Sundays)

Today’s Forest of Dean Coal Free Mining Community.
Photography by Nick Hodgson FRPS.

Discover the world of the free miners through powerful photography by Nick Hodgson, on display in our café and entrance ramp area (The Hub).

The exhibition tells the story of some of the mines still working today in the Forest of Dean (Gloucestershire), by a small free mining community mining coal for sale mainly to the local population. They are very proud of their heritage and long link back to when free mining rights were granted by Edward III.

The photographs document both the landscapes of one of Britain’s oldest forests and the personalities and work of this unique community. The images were taken from 2019-22, and a book of these and other photographs is available in the museum bookshop.

Nick Hodgson is a documentary landscape photographer and a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society (FRPS). He made this project because his maternal great-grandfather was a free miner.

Contacts

National Coal Mining Museum

Caphouse Colliery New Road, Overton, Wakefield, WF4 4RH

01924 848806

Dates and venues

  • Wednesday 17 January 2024 - 10:00am, Runs from Wednesday 13 September 2023 to Sunday 21 January 2024 (open Wednesdays to Sundays)
  • Thursday 18 January 2024 - 10:00am, Runs from Wednesday 13 September 2023 to Sunday 21 January 2024 (open Wednesdays to Sundays)
  • Friday 19 January 2024 - 10:00am, Runs from Wednesday 13 September 2023 to Sunday 21 January 2024 (open Wednesdays to Sundays)
  • Saturday 20 January 2024 - 10:00am, Runs from Wednesday 13 September 2023 to Sunday 21 January 2024 (open Wednesdays to Sundays)
  • Sunday 21 January 2024 - 10:00am, Runs from Wednesday 13 September 2023 to Sunday 21 January 2024 (open Wednesdays to Sundays)

Further information

Documents