Overview of the Florence Mine Capital Project

The project aims to improve the current arts centre building for participants and visitors by:

opening up unused spaces so that there are more studio and workshop spaces; providing an introduction to iron ore mining in west Cumbria; enlarging the cafe and shop and reorienting the performance space; providing sustainable energy sources; removing asbestos ceilings; providing consistent heating and hot water; re-landscaping including: a new entrance, improved parking, enhanced outdoor spaces.

The new facility will offer a better community hub for local people by:

Caring for an important local mining heritage site and maintaining free access; making the building comfortable, accessible and attractive for local groups and individuals; allowing more free and low cost activities for families, young people, schools, creative wellbeing and creative enthusiasts and artists and providing space for local groups to meet. We are guided by a Community Advisory Group to ensure we are working towards local priorities.

It will also be accessible for visitors from further afield:

Just off the A595, with new and improved facilities and a permanent heritage offer, we will be able to serve visitors to the area as well as local people. Florence Mine will act as a signpost to other facilities and activities within Egremont so that the town benefits as well as the arts centre. Income generated will subsidise the centre’s services for local people.

The project will also conserve the mining buildings for future access and use:

Florence Mine is the only visible remains of the iron & steel industry which dominated the west coast for over 100 years. The visible shaft (Florence No.2) operated from 1951 to 2007 when it was the last deep iron ore in the UK and western Europe. There were once over 200 shafts like Florence stretching from Beckermet to Lamplugh bringing hundreds of thousands of tons of haematite out of the ground each year and employing thousands of miners, blacksmiths, engineers, carpenters, surveyors…

Florence Mine will become an important living legacy for the people who populated the former industry. The first step is to make all the listed mine buildings safe and weatherproof for the next generation to enjoy.

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