National Coal Mining Museum Christmas starts on Saturday 21 November 2026 with a free lantern festival at the old Caphouse Colliery near Wakefield, and runs to Christmas Eve.
Most people think of the National Coal Mining Museum as a school trip or a day underground. A serious place, with serious history, and not an obvious choice for Christmas.
That is the point. For five weeks the museum at Caphouse Colliery runs a festive programme that most Yorkshire guides skip. It opens with a lantern parade across the pit yard, and carries on with Santa in a blacksmith’s workshop, a pantomime and festive afternoon tea.
It is free to get in, and the opening night is free to join.
Region: Overton, near Wakefield, West Yorkshire
Best for: Families with children, anyone who likes industrial heritage with a festive edge
Getting there: National Coal Mining Museum for England, Caphouse Colliery, New Road, Overton, Wakefield, WF4 4RH
Time needed: Half a day for a normal visit, an evening for the Light Up Festival
National Coal Mining Museum Christmas: What Is On in 2026
The museum’s programme, listed as Christmas at Caphouse, runs from 21 November to 24 December 2026, according to the museum’s events page. The museum says it is free to enter and is open Wednesday to Sunday until 5pm.
Four things sit at the centre of it. The Light Up Festival opens the season on Saturday 21 November. Santa’s Magic Workshop runs from 21 November to Christmas Eve. A Christmas pantomime, Pinocchio, is listed from 19 December. And Festive Afternoon Tea starts on 21 November, with further dates through the season.
Around those sit smaller events for children and adults: wreath and floral workshops on 5 December, a screening of The Muppets Christmas Carol on 6 December, the Calderdale Big Band on 13 December and a Christmas bath bomb workshop for children on 21 December.
A colliery in December has its own look. The headframe stands against an early dark sky, and the lights go on around it before the day is over.
Where to Stay: Wentbridge House Hotel is on the Great North Road at Wentbridge, Pontefract, WF8 3JJ, with 41 bedrooms and two restaurants, according to its website.
Worth Knowing: The museum gives the address as Caphouse Colliery, New Road, Overton, Wakefield, WF4 4RH, which is the postcode to use in a sat nav.
The Light Up Festival: Saturday 21 November
The festival is free, and the museum’s Light Up page says it takes place at The Hub and Hope Pit on Saturday 21 November 2026. The headline is a live projection and soundscape called Villagers, by the artist Fabric Lenny and the musician Nick Lewis, made with schools and community groups and inspired by the museum’s exhibition Villagers: Sculpting the Community.
The day has two halves. From 12pm to 4.30pm there is a lantern-making drop-in at the Makers’ Shed, in the Learning Space next to Reception in the Hub. The page also lists pop-up activities, living history performances, a Light Up Trail, Christmas food stalls and festive shopping in the Museum Shop.
Then the pit yard takes over. The museum’s schedule, subject to change, runs as follows: Hade Edge Brass Band from 4pm, the Bradford Belles at 4.30pm, the Villagers projection at 4.45pm and again at 5.30pm, a second brass set at 5pm, a fire artist from 5.45pm, and the community lantern parade from 6.15pm to 7pm, led by Hade Edge Brass Band.
The car park closes once it is full, and the museum says no vehicles can leave the site during the lantern parade. Arrive early and plan to stay to the end.
Wakefield has a second lantern parade a week earlier, on Saturday 14 November, in the city centre. Our guide to the Wakefield Lantern Parade covers both.
Where to Stay: Wentbridge House Hotel has two restaurants, Fleur de Lys and The Brasserie, and says it holds two AA Rosettes.
Worth Knowing: A pit yard is an unusual place for a brass band, and the museum’s own page describes the Hade Edge band as leading the parade.
Santa’s Magic Workshop
The workshop runs from Saturday 21 November to Thursday 24 December 2026 in the Blacksmith’s Workshop, according to the museum. It is a group experience of up to about 50 minutes, plus a festive trail of about 10 minutes to reach the Pony Discovery Centre.
Children meet Father Christmas and his elves in their toy-making workshop, hear a Christmas story at the Pony Discovery Centre, make a wooden memento on the trail, and take home a gift from Father Christmas.
A child ticket is £14 and an adult ticket is £5.50, rising to £15 and £6.50 on Christmas Eve. A £2.40 booking fee applies per booking. Children under six months go free, though no present is included.
The rules matter. Children must be accompanied by an adult, and an adult ticket must be booked alongside the child tickets. A booking covers a maximum of three children and an order a maximum of five people. Arrive at least 20 minutes before your slot and check in at Reception, even if you booked online. Booking is through the museum’s ticketing site.
The museum’s pit ponies are part of the story here. The Pony Discovery Centre opened in 2021, according to the museum’s own history.
Where to Stay: Wentbridge House Hotel lists two accessible bedrooms among its 41, according to its website.
Worth Knowing: The museum says there is no minimum age for the workshop, and gives no maximum.
Afternoon Tea, Pantomime and Workshops
The wider programme suits a longer visit. Festive Afternoon Tea starts on 21 November and is listed on ten dates, and Pinocchio, A Christmas Pantomime, is listed from 19 December with two further dates.
The museum’s events page does not publish times or prices for either on the listing, so book through the museum’s ticketing site once you have chosen a date.
The adult workshops are a different pace. A Family Festive Floral Workshop and a Christmas Wreath Workshop both run on 5 December, and the Calderdale Big Band plays on 13 December.
Pair the day with something outdoors. The museum is on a former colliery site with a pit railway, according to the European Route of Industrial Heritage, and a walk round the yard is a good way to use the hour between a workshop and tea.
For a wider day-out list, our guide to Yorkshire family events 2026 covers seven autumn and Christmas days out.
Where to Stay: Wentbridge House Hotel has a Fleur de Lys restaurant that also serves afternoon tea, according to its website.
Worth Knowing: The museum lists the pantomime as a Christmas production, with three dates in all.
A Colliery Before It Was a Museum
The museum is on a working colliery that closed in 1985. The museum’s history says a plan dated 1791, covering workings from 1789 to 1795, shows a shaft on the Caphouse site, and the museum describes it as probably the oldest coal-mine shaft still in everyday use in Britain.
The European Route of Industrial Heritage agrees on the 1791 plan and gives the rest of the timeline. The oldest surviving surface building dates from 1876, a mining company took the colliery over in 1917, it was nationalised in 1947, the steam winding wheels stopped in 1970, and it closed in 1985 as unprofitable. It reopened as the National Coal Mining Museum for England in 1988.
The surface buildings are still there. The European Route of Industrial Heritage lists the wooden headframe, the pithead baths, the forge and the engine house with its historic steam winch, plus a permanent exhibition on everyday life in the pits and on miners’ families, including sports clubs and brass bands. The brass bands at the festival are part of that story.
The museum adds that entry became free in 2002, and that the neighbouring Hope Pit was added in May 2005. Its underground galleries are no longer open to the public, but the pump house and compressor house are on display.
The Light Up Festival is held at The Hub and Hope Pit, so the lanterns and projections sit among the colliery’s own buildings.
Where to Stay: Wentbridge House Hotel takes bookings online through its Book a Room page, or by phone on 01977 620444.
Worth Knowing: The museum says admission has been free since 2002.
Practical Tips
- The museum is free to enter and open Wednesday to Sunday until 5pm. The Light Up Festival on Saturday 21 November is also free.
- Arrive early for the Light Up Festival. The car park closes when full, and no vehicles can leave during the parade from 6.15pm to 7pm.
- Book Santa’s Magic Workshop online. Arrive 20 minutes before your slot, and book an adult ticket with every child ticket.
- Use the AllTrails app if you want a walk round Wakefield before or after your visit.
- Wrap up warm. The pit yard is outdoors, and the parade stands still as much as it moves.
- Book afternoon tea and the pantomime through the museum’s ticketing site.
- For a workshop party larger than the booking limits, call Reception on 01924 848 806.
Responsible Visiting
The site is a museum and a former workplace, so follow the signs and stay on marked paths. Keep children close during the parade, because lanterns and a crowd fill the pit yard. Leave the car park clear for the cars already inside.
Reader Q&A
Is the National Coal Mining Museum free at Christmas?
Yes. Entry is free, and so is the Light Up Festival on Saturday 21 November. Santa’s Magic Workshop, afternoon tea and the pantomime are ticketed.
When does Christmas start at the museum?
Saturday 21 November 2026, with the Light Up Festival, and it runs to 24 December.
How much is Santa’s Magic Workshop?
A child ticket is £14 and an adult ticket is £5.50, with a £2.40 booking fee per booking. On Christmas Eve the prices rise to £15 and £6.50.
What time is the lantern parade?
From 6.15pm to 7pm on Saturday 21 November, led by Hade Edge Brass Band.
Is there parking?
Yes, but the car park closes when it is full, and no vehicles can leave during the lantern parade.
Is it open every day?
No. The museum is open Wednesday to Sunday, so plan around that.
Where to Stay
Wentbridge House Hotel, Pontefract. On the Great North Road at Wentbridge, WF8 3JJ, with 41 bedrooms and two restaurants, Fleur de Lys and The Brasserie.
When the lanterns go out, the pit yard goes quiet, and the old colliery is dark again until the next morning.
IMAGE GENERATION PROMPT
A cinematic photorealistic wide-angle photograph of a former colliery pit yard in West Yorkshire on a cold November evening at dusk, a wooden headframe silhouetted against a deep blue sky, glowing paper lanterns on poles gathered in the yard, warm light spilling from brick buildings, no identifiable faces, dramatic natural twilight.
WORDPRESS TAGS
National Coal Mining Museum, Mining Museum Christmas, Wakefield, Overton, West Yorkshire, Light Up Festival, Santa’s Magic Workshop, Yorkshire Christmas events 2026, Christmas in Yorkshire, Secret Yorkshire
