Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland

Very happy to see The Lady winning this award, I worked there from 1969 -1974 some of the happiest days of my life.

Congratulations on maintaining this hugely important part of your industrial history and keeping the memories of all who laboured there alive. A deserved winner of the Treasured Places title.

I worked underground at Lady Victoria during university vacations in 1960 and my father worked there as a university student in 1923. It is good the old pit is being preserved as there are fewer and fewer of us left who worked in the underground coal industry in Scotland.

The Lady is a magnificent monument to what was the life blood of this village. I am very proud to come from 9 generations of miners, and I am glad that Newtongrange was chosen to represent the brave men from all over Scotland, who slaved in sometimes dreadful conditions ,to put a 'heat in oor hearth'.

As a member of the Jewel Retired Miners Branch ( Jewel Miners Club ) we raised funds to take the local primary school kids, 42 in total , to the Mining museum for a day trip, it was very educational for the kids and their teachers as many of them had grandads that worked in the mines and could relate to the stories their grandads tell them. The letters we recieved from the kids was very rewarding and we intend to raise funds to do this again for the local school

I worked at the Lady Vic, as the Scottish Mining Museum, for a long number of very interesting years, and it means a great deal to me. How many visitors realise this is only the very tip of the iceberg, sitting on top of literally miles of underground workings that reached out under the Midlothian countryside? Workings where men slaved to provide fuel in physical conditions and under management regimes we would not accept today. The stories that these buildings are a symbol of cannot be allowed to be forgotten.

The Lady Victoria Colliery was always important in my life and that of my family as many of them worked there till it finally closed. We were delighted that it should be preserved for posterity as a fitting monument to all those men who slaved and laboured for so long for King Coal to bring up his treasured black diamonds from the very bowels of the earth. May their memory live on!

This is one of the best museums I have been to for many years. A fascinating place and would recommend anyone who has an interest in British social or industrial history.

You have to admire Midlothian which managed to divide itself in equal parts between wild country, manicured estates and imposing industrial structures. This lasting reminder of what once was is an essential part of our shared past. Archaeology that rises from the ground and Architecture both grand and functional. A National Treasure.