New Eco-Museum of Scottish Mining Landscapes

The Scottish Geology Trust are delighted to be involved in the creation of the first industrial eco-museum in Scotland! The ‘Eco-Museum of Scottish Mining Landscapes’ is a fantastic new project lead by Dr Catherine Mills from the University of Stirling, supported by funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The Eco-museum takes inspiration from the Landscape Legacies of Coal app, previously created by Dr Mills, which enabled users to follow a series of co-produced and curated heritage walks, primarily across Stirling and Clackmannanshire, that narrated the story of Scottish coal through the rich and extensive medium of landscape and the lens of local communities.  

For this new project SGT has teamed up Dr Mills, along with the National Mining Museum Scotland, the Museum Friends, the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland, and community artist Yvonne Weighhand Lyle to create 15 new ‘landscape journeys’. 

These routes will include a focus on geology, ecology and landscape inspired art, as well as emphasising the role of former colliery sites in combatting the use of fossil fuels, through the redevelopment for geothermal, wind and solar farms and the forestation of bings for carbon sinks. 

The virtual museum will focus on the Scottish Midland coalfield which spans an area from Fife to Ayrshire, with visitors able to download new cycling and walking routes created by local communities to both commemorate their mining history, heritage, and a sense of place. 

The project will be officially launched at the National Mining Museum Scotland in late Spring. The National Lottery Heritage Fund is supporting the Eco-Museum project with £63,784 thanks to National Lottery players.

More information can be found on the University of Stirling website www.stir.ac.uk/news/2024/february-2024-news/new-museum-to-celebrate-scottish-mining-landscapes/ and you can keep up to date via the Landscape Legacies Facebook page (www.facebook.com/landscapelegaciesofcoal) and twitter/X (x.com/coal_legacies?s=21).

Any community groups or individuals interested in participating in the project should contact Dr Catherine Mills: c.j.mills@stir.ac.uk or Dr Katie Strang: engagement@scottishgeologytrust.org