Woodhorn colliery museum

Just a fantastic place: I didn't know it even existed until we stopped nearby on the way from Edinburgh to London.

Apparently it was policy to raze collieries completely when they closed (Woodhorn closed in 1981); some of Woodhorn's structures survived because it was connected to Ashington pit underground & it was still used to ventilate Ashington after 1981.  Some clever person then realised it should be a museum and bought the site for  a pound.

Coal-mining had to end as anyone who cares about climate & environment will tell you (coal is just dreadful: burning coal emits something like twice as much CO2 per unit of energy than burning natural gas, coal ash is radioactive & generally horrible, mining coal is a horrible, dangerous job &c &c), but the wilful destruction of communities is not easy to forgive, and I think that more of the structures should have been left: trying to erase the memory of how people made their living in quite recent history is a nasty thing to do, I think.

Extra: sunlit headgear later in the day.