Radstock Museum

The Radstock, Midsomer Norton and District Museum Society was founded in 1985 to preserve the social and industrial heritage of the communities of the Somerset Coalfield. The first issue of 'Five Arches', the Journal of the Society, appeared in 1986. The Society's Collection was first put on permanent display at Barton Meade, Haydon, in 1989.

In 1996 the old Radstock Market Hall was acquired and three years later, on 10th July 1999, Radstock Museum opened its doors and became the new home of The Society's Collection.

Run by a team of dedicated volunteers who have searched history books, archives and memories of local people, the Museum has been described as the jewel in the West Country's crown.

Radstock Museum celebrates the lifestyle of the typical Somerset coal miner. The Museum illustrates not only the home life of the mining families, but also the vibrant social, commercial and industrial structure of the past two hundred years.

Dedicated areas demonstrate the coal face and the miner's hard, dangerous working conditions. Shop at the Co-op as his wife did over 70 years ago, relive the trepidation felt by his children in the strict Victorian Board School, see how the community life centered round the twin pleasures of the church and the pub.

His sporting activities focussed on football, quoits and pigeon-racing ဓ all well documented within the Museum. The Friendly Societies formed the safety net for the mining community in times of need and pit disasters. The Great Western Railway and the Somerset & Dorset Railway, which superseded the Somersetshire Coal Canal, impacted greatly on the community, with Radstock/GWR Station adjacent to the Market Hall.

Radstock Museum, Waterloo Road, Radstock, Somerset. BA3 3EP