Next opening days
Purbeck Mining Museum will be open 11:00 – 16:00, last entry 15:30 as follows:
Throughout August 2026, Purbeck Mining Museum will be open 7 days a week.
During September, we will be open Tues, Weds, Sat and Sun, then weekends only in October.
Our last opening day of the year will be 1 November, after which the museum will close for the winter.
Extra opening days:
Friday 11 September – autumn steam gala
Weds – Fri 28 – 30 October – school half-term
Any changes will be posted our Visit Us page.
See also our Events page for special event information.
Please visit our Facebook page for the latest information on opening dates.
Narrow Gauge Railway running dates
Please visit our Facebook page for the latest information on the Narrow Gauge Railway.
22 Aug 2026
Another successful guided tour! Contact us if you would like a special tour for your group.
18 Aug 2026
Woodland Clay Trails now open.
(Photo: Andrew P M Wright)
26 Jun 2026
Thanks to Paul Abbott for the donation of the chimney from the historic steam locomotive Tiny.
19 May 2026
A warm welcome to the Traction Owners Club on their visit to Purbeck Mining Museum.
14 May 2026
Thanks very much to the National Trust South Dorset Association for inviting Purbeck Mining Museum to present a talk on the history of clay mining in Purbeck.
12 April 2026
A great weekend at Purbeck Mining Museum including guests from the Swanage Railway model railways exhibition.
31 Mar 2026
Thanks to Swanage WI for their visit. We really enjoyed meeting you all and hope that you can visit us again soon.
27 Mar 2026
Purbeck Mining Museum thanks Mrs Stockley and the family of Len Stockley for the beautiful ceramics in ball clay which we have been able to return to display.
Feb 2026
Engine Shed experiences at the Swanage Railway Community Weekend 14/15 Feb 2026. (Photo: Andrew PM Wright)
8 Jul 2025
New exhibition of clay shipping by local artist Barry Cobb opens today at Purbeck Mining Museum
12 Jun 2025
Our visitors from the Romsey U3A Industrial Heritage Group brought the sunshine with them today!
5 Jun 2025
Thanks very much to the Railway Ramblers for their visit to Purbeck Mining Museum, despite the rain!
29 Mar 2025
Purbeck Mining Museum's Narrow Gauge Railway demonstrations proved very popular alongside Swanage Railway's Steam Gala weekend.
22 Feb 2025
Narrow Gauge Railway running at the Swanage Railway Community Weekend
8 Feb 2025
Thanks very much to the Swanage Railway Sygnets for helping Purbeck Mining Museum with winter maintenance!
22 Nov 2024
The Purbeck Mining Museum team of volunteers celebrated our Arts Council England Accreditation which was awarded in July 2024. (Photo Andrew P M Wright)
7 Sep 2024
The new Bachmann T3 made a fleeting visit to the model of Furzebrook ball clay works at the Purbeck Mining Museum. Then PMM hosted 150 visitors to the museum as part of the Bachmann launch event of their new model on the Swanage Railway today. (Photo P Sills)
14 Aug 2024
Chat with former miner Brian every Wednesday in August and September at Purbeck Mining Museum
10 Jul 2024
PMM Chairman Peter Sills welcoming a group of Swanage Railway stakeholders to a guided tour (photo: Andrew P M Wright)
10 Jul 2024
Guided tour for the Purbeck Society.
8 Jun 2024
Thanks very much to the 226 visitors from Bournemouth District Scouts. We had a busy day!
23 Mar 2024
Narrow Gauge Railway at Swanage Railway Victorian Weekend. Photo: Andrew P M Wright
9 March 2024
Thanks very much to the Swanage Railway Sygnets for a great day's work at Purbeck Mining Museum helping us get the site ready for the 2024 season.
18 Feb 2024
Some of our 200 visitors to the first day of Purbeck Mining Museum's 2024 season.
17 Feb 2024
Narrow Gauge Railway demonstrations at the Swanage Railway Community Weekend. It was great to see so many visitors.
26 Aug 2023
Great day for our Narrow Gauge Railway and lots of interested visitors.
16 Aug 2023
Thanks very much to the Owen family from Stoke on Trent for their visit. One of them was our 4,000th visitor this year!
3 Aug 2023
PMM were part of Channel 5's Dorset Countryside & Coast series. If you missed it, you can see it on-demand on MyFive. Thanks to everyone who helped out on the day and made it happen.
24 June 2023
Thanks to all our visitors to the Narrow Gauge Railway today. We hope to see you all again soon!
8 June 2023
Great visit from a TV production company at Purbeck Mining Museum last week. They are making a short promotional video for the ‘Purbeck Community Rail Partnership’ and it features various things to do on a day out to Purbeck traveling by SWR from London, and then using the Swanage Railway link from Wareham to Corfe Castle and Swanage.
23 May 2023
Thanks to the lovely group from Jollydays Holidays for their visit today.
9 May 2023
Thanks very much to Stacey and George from Imerys Furzebrook office for their visit. We're looking forward to more discussions with Imerys over the next few months.
7 Apr 2023
Lovely weather to be running Purbeck Mining Museum's narrow gauge railway. Lots of visitors to the museum also.
