170 - Former Snibston Discovery Museum, off Chiswell Drive, Coalville, Leicestershire

170. Former Snibston Discovery Museum, off Chiswell Drive, Coalville, Leicestershire Located in the car parking area of this former science-based attraction are four 8 m tubular steel columns; three of which support Thorn Gamma 3 post-top lanterns of unknown lamp type and wattage. The attraction opened in 1992; being constructed on land previously occupied by the Snibston Colliery, which closed in 1983. With the Museum, sadly, having closed at the end of July 2015 (a decision made by the Local Authority in an effort to reduce costs, prompting considerable outrage from local people), the site was given a partial redevelopment as Snibston Country Park a few years later, with the surviving colliery buildings and headstock being retained. The area occupied by the former Discovery Museum is now vacant, while the car park serves as accommodation for a housing developer working on the land opposite. In due course, these areas will be redeveloped too, meaning that these relatively modern installations (although the Gamma 3 is a 1950s' design; hence, the inclusion of these installations) are likely to disappear in the not-too-distant future. When I last visited the site in July 2009, and went on a tour of the surviving colliery buildings that was led by one of the former workers, I spotted a GEC Z9464 90 Watt SOX lantern, and a GEC 'Clearmain' Z8128 250 Watt mercury lantern. At the time, a number of 1980s' Thorn-branded fluorescent lamps were also still installed (and working) in various fittings in the colliery's main administration building.

The three Gamma 3-topped columns are pictured below. The fourth column (located out of sight to the left) is fitted with an Abacus AM 490 lantern; a replacement for a Gamma 3 at some point.

The middle lantern is pictured first.

The left-hand lantern's base casting has retained more of its matte black paint than the other lantern's has. SONPak floodlights have been attached to the columns, in order to provide illumination across the front of the Museum building.

The canopy was missing from the third lantern when pictured in November 2023.

The installations again; this time, pictured from further down Chiswell Drive.

With the opening of the Country Park site, the area around the former colliery buildings can now be explored with ease. Two 8 m British Steel columns supporting Z9464s, along with a steel wall bracket supporting the Z8128, are seen upon entering the complex.

A small amount of water appears to have gathered in the Z8128's bowl.

This 8 m column, again fitted with a Z9464, is situated by the roadway leading into the Country Park.

Although probably a 1970s' / 80s' installation, a much newer Royce Thompson S300PT photocell is employed to switch the lantern.

A Benjamin 'Duoflux' shovel-shaped floodlight is fitted to one of the former colliery buildings.

Another exists on the opposite side to this area.

Information boards are placed around the site - this one caught my eye in particular, with the middle archival image (taken in the 1970s) showing a Stanton 6B concrete column supporting another Z8128 (albeit, with the later tapering bowl), while a 1980s' view shows a similar setup, but the bowl is missing from that example. An identical (but not the same) installation survived on a slither of land adjacent the Asda supermarket car park until some point after 2018; alas, I wasn't aware of its existence until it had gone! The bottom-right image shows a Thorn Alpha 3 lantern installed on a column near to the railway level crossing on Belvoir Road.

This 8 m column and Z9464 overlooked the railway that led into the colliery from the above level crossing.

The lamp looks very worn, and probably doesn't work any longer.

This is the column seen earlier, but from the opposite direction.

An impressive floodlight tower also survives from the colliery days. The signal box seen behind it does not, however - this was moved to its present location by British Rail in 1986. It had been built by the Midland Railway in 1907 as a replacement for a lower signal box that offered restricted visibility to the signaller, and was situated in the centre of Coalville.

For saying that the floodlights may not have worked in many years, most remain free from dirt and water ingress. Notice that the tower is able to accommodate considerably more individual floodlights if required.