IT is a great feat of engineering and another major attraction for the National Coal Mining Museum.
But the cost to renovate the furnace shaft at the museum near Grange Moor is quite eye-watering.
The shaft was found to be in danger of collapse in 2007 but the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department of Trade and Industry each chipped in £150,000.
This provided partnership funding for a successful bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund for the eventual cost of around £870,000 for conserving the shaft.
It is 120 metres deep – the height of Blackpool Tower – and will be something well worth seeing.
The museum is preserving our heritage and rightly so but it’s hard not to think of all the other ways such a colossal amount of money could have been spent in these tight spending days.
Let’s hope it’s well marketed to bring many more tourists into the area to boost the local economy.
