Heritage Open Days (HODs) are Englands largest festival of history and culture, when usually hidden places are opened up for people to visit and explore.
The Chatterley Whitfield Heritage Open Days will be on the weekends of the 9th, 10th, 16th and 17th of September in 2023.
Tours are free but by ticket only and, sorry, all the places have already been taken for 2023. It is a very popular tour. Coal mines of this size are few and far between nowadays and there is always a lot of interest.
However there are other open days during the course of the year, often on the first Saturday of the month.
And, if you are a member of Chatterley Whitfield Friends, a bargain at £5 only per year at the moment I believe! the heritage centre and, often, the site itself is manned on Thursday and Saturday mornings.
Tours of the site last between one to two hours, following a safe route agreed with Stoke-on-Trent City Council who are the owners.
The tour is completely above ground. All the shafts at Chatterley Whitfield and everywhere else in the north Staffordshire coalfield are flooded now.
You need to wear suitable footwear, such as walking boots or steel-capped boots, if you have them. The ground in places is uneven. Hard hats are supplied by the Friends.
The HOD tour usually starts with booking in at the Enterprise Centre, at the entrance to the complex, and takes in the Deployment Centre within the Pit Head Baths (listed grade 2 star) where the Friends are indexing and photographing the Chatterley Whitfield archived collection of maps and plans; the Lamp House; the so-called “Area Shaft” building; walking along the line of headgears of the Winstanley, Institute, Platt and Hesketh shafts, all within then Scheduled Ancient Monument Area; the newly opened Ken Salt Building containing artefacts from the mine; the Memorial Garden; and the Heritage Centre itself.
All the tours are guided with a group size of 20 to 25. In addition to the tour leaders there will be other Friends on each tour, who will be more than pleased to answer any of your questions. Feel free to talk to them at anytime.
©️ copyright Geoff Owen
This is a very worthwhile tour. The guides have excellent knowledge about Chatterley Whitfield and mining, and are very approachable.