Designed around the archaeological remains of the Summerlee Ironworks, which emerged from under six metres of slag and industrial waste in 1830, the heritage park is a museum of social and industrial history.
Described as Scotland's noisiest museum the attraction houses an impressive exhibition hall, displaying a large collection of historic machinery, which operates daily! - Summerlee's engineers provide, where possible, demonstrations of the machinery and traditional skills whilst making parts for restoration purposes throughout the site.
Permanent exhibitions include reconstructed working environments such as a Tinsmith shop, a Brass Foundry, Brassfinishers Shop, Space Forge. Other exhibits include a Co-op Shop, a Bicycle and Radio Shop and a Photographers Studio.
The ironworks has been reconstructed to scale showing the blast furnace structure with a viewing balcony. One of the highlights of the museum is the excavated remains of the Ironworks showing the foundations of the furnaces and the heating kilns.
Sumerlee also operates an electric tramway on over half a kilometer of track and are in use on a daily basis. Also dotted around the museum are a number of stationary vehicles including three steam railway locomotives, two steam cranes and a bulldozer, as well as vintage cars.
Details
01236 431261
Described as Scotland's noisiest museum the attraction houses an impressive exhibition hall, displaying a large collection of historic machinery, which operates daily! - Summerlee's engineers provide, where possible, demonstrations of the machinery and traditional skills whilst making parts for restoration purposes throughout the site.
