Heritage Open Days

Since 2001, the Friends of Chatterley Whitfield have organised and led tours round the surface buildings as part of the national Heritage Open Days initiative each September. This event is the highlight of our year, and requires as many members of the Friends as possible to help out in various ways.

Tours set off every hour, lasting about one and a half hours, and led by members of the Friends acting as guides and stewards. Places are strictly limited, and must be booked in advance. We also sell light refreshments and a selection of booklets and postcards.

Up until 2005, visitors could see the Pithead Baths, the Lamphouse, the Hesketh Powerhouse and the Hesketh Winding Engine. In the engine room we even played a recording of the winding engine in operation which was very atmospheric.

Sadly, in 2006, the only buildings we could take tours into were the Deployment Centre and the recently-refurbished Main Offices. This restriction put some people off, but we still had about 100 visitors, which was near the maximum number allowed.

In 2007, however, the Lamphouse and the Pithead Baths were back on the itinerary, and, for the first time ever, we could show people inside the rebuild of the Middle Pit Winding House. Not surprisingly, comments from visitors were clear that being able to see inside buildings meant that the tours were much better than the previous year.

We hope to continue holding Open Days long into the future, but we must wait for confirmation each year from Stoke-on-Trent City Council that we can go ahead.