South Gloucestershire Museums Group

South Gloucestershire Museums Group is an unincorporated association whose group members are museums and heritage centres that are open to the public and whose collecting area is wholly or partly within South Gloucestershire.

The aims of the group is to promote inspiration, learning and enjoyment through the exploration of museum collections for the benefit of local communities and the general public.

The group meets about four times a year at different museums.

For more information visit www.southglos.gov.uk/leisure-and-culture/museums-and-galleries/south-gloucestershire-museum-development/

Group members:

• Acton Court
• Aerospace Bristol (Bristol Aerospace Collection Trust)
• Avon Valley Railway (Avon Valley Railway Trust)
• Dyrham Park (National Trust)
• Frenchay Village Museum (Frenchay Tuckett Society)
• Kingswood Heritage Museum (Kingswood Heritage Museum Trust)
• South Gloucestershire Mines Research Group
• Thornbury and District Museum (Thornbury and District Heritage Trust)
• Rolls Royce Heritage Museum (Rolls Royce Heritage Trust)
• Winterbourne Medieval Barn (Winterbourne Medieval Barn Trust)
• Yate and District Heritage Centre (Yate Town Council)

Museum development in South Gloucestershire

Whose mission is to support museums in the region to be ambitious, develop excellence and resilience, increase audiences and support community engagement

The museum development officer for South Gloucestershire, South West Museum Development Programme attends museum group meetings.  Information available at www.southwestmuseums.org.uk/

Read the latest newsletter : March 2022

To subscribe www.southwestmuseums.org.uk/join-our-newsletter/

South Gloucestershire Mines Research Group

South Gloucestershire has a rich and varied mining history. The date of the earliest mining in the area is now lost in antiquity but coal was worked in this area up until 1963. Other forms of open cast mining continued later still.  The remains of mining cover a vast area from South Bristol, Easton, Kingswood to Coalpit Heath, Yate and Cromhall – and even Filton.  Most of the mining was for coal, but ochre, celestine, iron, lead and stone were also mined in the area.

The South Gloucestershire Mines Research Group (SGMRG) was set up by local people to understand, record and where appropriate preserve the remains, of what was once an extensive industry, for the present community and future generations. SGMRG is a voluntary organisation that relies on grants and donations from local people. Our membership is made up of archaeologists, surveyors, historians, engineers, cavers and those simply interested in finding more about what lies under their feet. We have regular meetings, walks and talks including the opportunity to get involved in exploration, archaeology and restoration work. 

Our most recent meeting was the AGM on Wednesday 30 March followed by a talk by Steve Grudgings “A Mining Miscellany”.

Meetings and talks are usually held in the Miners Institute (aka Coalpit Heath Village Hall), 214 Badminton Road, Coalpit Heath

The next two talk dates for 2022 are Wednesday 28 October and 7 December, subjects and speakers to be confirmed soon. keep an eye on the events page for more information Diary of Events - SGMRG Website

If you would like to join us, please visit our Membership page for further information.

Tytherington

We are always interested to hear about new finds, old buildings or artifacts from the mining era.  Do you have relatives who were involved in mining?  If you have any information to share with us, please let us know.

If you wish to enquire about new or existing projects, please contact our Projects Coordinator.  If you’d like to get in contact with us for any other reason, please contact one of our members. 

Contact details of SGMRG key contacts can be found on our Contact Us page.