Tours
Enjoy fascinating guided tours with our expert guides!
Discover how the Earls Fitzwilliam created a model village with bustling workshops, mighty ironworks and deep dark collieries. Find out what it was like to work here and what happened when Royalty and aristocrats came to visit.
Our Elsecar guides offer a varied programme of tours including our guided site tours that take place every Saturday and Sunday, leaving the Visitor Centre at 2pm. Elsecar Site tours cost £5 per person, and last for 60 minutes and should be booked in advance, by popping into the Visitor Centre or calling 01226 740203.
During our guided site tours you can find out how ‘The Earl’s Great Engine’ was rescued and restored. From 2014, it was almost a secret, its incredible significance only known by a few, and the colliery hidden by trees and undergrowth. Now it stands proudly, as one of the world’s most important monuments to the Industrial Revolution.
You’ll then be shown around the remains of a mighty Ironworks and the New Yard workshops built to support Elsecar industry, and Earl Fitzwilliam’s private railway station. Stand and imagine a time when our railway and canal were busy with coal and iron, and look at the cottage rows where our colliers, ironmakers and their families lived for generations.
On pre-organised dates the team also offer unique demonstrations and tours inside the Newcomen Engine House itself!
The demonstrations are a fantastic opportunity for you to witness the Earl’s Great Engine in Action, look down the shaft and find out more about the inventor himself Thomas Newcomen! Restores in 2014, the engine now runs using hydraulics. Demonstrations cost £6 and last approximately 45 minutes. Important to note there are some accessibility issues within the building such as two narrow staircases to head to the upper floors, and a deep step to enter the building. Please speak to a member of the Visitor Centre team to discuss any accessibility concerns and to book your place. Check our what's On Page for the latest demonstration dates!
Watch the video below created during the restoration of the Great Engine in 2014!
The Visitor Centre team offers a range of tours that include exploring the connections between Elsecar and the village of Wentworth where the Earl Fitzwilliam lived at Wentworth Woodhouse. The five-mile hike also highlights the follies built by generations of the Fitzwilliam family such as Hoober Stand, Needle’s Eye and Keppel’s Column. From hikes to walking tours we dig deeper into the development of the village of Elsecar with a two-hour stroll around the village. Please check for dates of these tours either on our event page, in our events brochure or on our social media pages.
Group bookings are also available, start by contacting the Visitor Centre and chatting to a member of the team and they will liaise with you to choose the best date and tour that works for you.
To book a place on any of our tours please contact the Visitor Centre by ringing 01226 740203 or email elsecarheritagecentre@barnsley.gov.uk. We look forward to seeing you soon!