About
The Cleveland Ironstone Mining Museum — also known as the Tom Leonard Mining Museum in honour of the local historian instrumental in its creation — is one of the most distinctive industrial heritage sites in the North East of England. Located at Skinningrove, a small former mining and fishing village squeezed into a steep ravine on the Redcar and Cleveland coast, the museum takes visitors underground into actual ironstone mine tunnels to experience the industry that built Teesside.
The Cleveland Hills contain thick seams of Jurassic ironstone — a siderite and chamosite-rich oolitic ironstone that proved to be exactly what the Victorian iron industry needed. When these seams were first systematically worked from the 1850s onwards, the consequences for Teesside were transformative. Middlesbrough, then little more than a hamlet on the southern bank of the Tees, grew within a generation into one of the world's greatest iron-producing centres — a phenomenon so rapid and dramatic that Gladstone called it 'the infant Hercules'. The expansion of Cleveland ironstone mining fuelled this growth, with the ore travelling by railway from the mine heads in the Cleveland Hills to the blast furnaces of Teesside in quantities that would have been unimaginable a generation earlier.
Skinningrove itself exemplifies the communities that grew up around this industry. The village — built in terraced rows on the steep sides of the ravine, with a small harbour serving a combined fishing and industrial economy — is a remarkable survival of an industrial coastal settlement. The mining community and the fishing community coexisted here for over a century, and the museum documents both aspects of this distinctive dual economy.
The museum's great virtue is authenticity: visitors enter the actual mine tunnels used by Skinningrove miners, equipped with the same basic lamps they would have carried, and experience the confined, dark, and atmospheric reality of underground ironstone extraction. Reconstructed scenes with original equipment, wagon ways, pit props, and the sounds of a working mine create an immersive encounter with industrial history that no surface exhibition can replicate. The experience is accessible to most visitors and requires no specialist equipment or physical fitness beyond the ability to walk and stoop slightly.
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Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
📅 Best Times to Visit
Quietest: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
Busiest: Saturday, Sunday
💡 Tuesday to Thursday mornings during spring or autumn for a relaxed underground tour
💡 Visitor Tips
- The underground tour is the main event — allow at least an hour for it and the associated briefing; don't rush the surface exhibition in an effort to fit in more.
- Wear warm clothing even in summer — the underground tunnels maintain a constant low temperature regardless of the weather above ground.
- The underground sections have low headroom in places — those over 6 feet tall should be prepared to stoop significantly in some passages.
- Visitors with claustrophobia should think carefully before booking — the tunnels are genuinely confined in places, though the tour guide is experienced at managing anxious visitors.
- Book in advance if visiting during school holidays or on a summer weekend, as tour groups fill up quickly and you may face a wait.
- The museum is seasonal (typically April–October) and closed Mondays — always confirm opening before travelling.
- Skinningrove village is worth exploring after the museum visit — the cramped terraces, the small harbour, and the views from the cliff tops offer a vivid sense of what it meant to live in this community.
- Combine with a walk on the Heritage Coast cliff path south towards Staithes — one of the finest stretches of coastal scenery in the North East.
Highlights
Underground Mine Tour — Into the Ironstone Seam
The centrepiece of the Cleveland Ironstone Mining Museum is its underground experience: visitors enter the actual mine tunnels of the former Skinningrove ironstone mine, equipped with helmet lamps, and walk through the authentic workings where ironstone was extracted for over a century. The tunnels are original — not reconstructions — and the low headroom, narrow passages, and pervasive darkness create an immediate and visceral sense of the conditions that miners worked in every day.
Guided by experienced museum staff, the tour brings the history of ironstone extraction alive in a way that no surface exhibition can match.
This is one of the most authentic industrial underground experiences available in England.
Reconstructed Mining Scenes — Original Equipment in Situ
Throughout the underground tunnels, reconstructed scenes using original period equipment recreate the working reality of ironstone mining at its height. A drift mine heading with original pneumatic picks, wooden wagon ways with original ironstone wagons, pit props and timbering, and lighting arrangements authentic to different periods of the mine's operation are presented in their actual underground context.
The combination of original space, original equipment, and carefully researched reconstruction creates an interpretive experience that has a directness and authenticity not achievable in any conventional gallery setting.
Cleveland Hills Ironstone and the Rise of Teesside
The surface exhibition provides the geological and industrial context for the underground experience. The Cleveland Hills contain thick seams of Jurassic oolitic ironstone that proved to be the raw material for one of the greatest industrial expansions in British history: the growth of the Teesside iron and steel industry from the 1850s.
Within a single generation, Middlesbrough transformed from a tiny settlement into one of the world's great iron-producing cities — a phenomenon Gladstone described as 'the infant Hercules'.
The museum explains the geology, the ore extraction process, and the railway infrastructure that connected the mine heads to the blast furnaces of Teesside.
Skinningrove — A Coastal Mining Village
Skinningrove is one of the most remarkable surviving industrial coastal communities in England. Squeezed into a narrow ravine on the North Yorkshire Heritage Coast, the village's terraced rows of miners' cottages climb the steep valley sides, while the small harbour at the ravine mouth still serves a remnant fishing fleet.
The museum documents the twin economies — ironstone mining and sea fishing — that gave Skinningrove its distinctive character, and explores the tight-knit community that sustained itself through the difficult decades of industrial decline.
Historic photographs, oral history recordings, and personal accounts capture a community that adapted but never entirely lost its identity.
Collections
The Cleveland Ironstone Mining Museum's collections centre on the actual mine tunnels, original underground equipment, and surface plant of the Skinningrove ironstone mine, supplemented by an extensive archive of documentary, photographic, and oral history material relating to the mining communities of the Cleveland coast.
The underground collections — in situ in the original tunnels — include original wagons, pneumatic tools, pit props, and mining equipment from multiple periods of the mine's operation. Surface collections include winding gear, sorting equipment, and railway infrastructure.
The community collections hold photographic archives, wage records, union documents, and personal effects from mining families, as well as the Tom Leonard collection of oral history and local history research. The geological interpretation collection documents the Cleveland Hills ironstone seam and its role in the growth of the Teesside iron industry.
Underground — Into the Ironstone Mine
The guided underground tour through actual mine tunnels, with reconstructed scenes and original equipment in their authentic setting.
📍 Underground Mine
Cleveland Iron — From Seam to Furnace
Surface exhibition on the geology of Cleveland ironstone, the extraction industry, and the growth of Teesside iron and steel production.
📍 Surface Exhibition
Skinningrove — Two Industries, One Community
Community gallery on the dual mining and fishing economy of Skinningrove village and the social history of its residents.
📍 Community Gallery
Themes
Time Periods
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.