What if I told you that Rotherham was home to one of Britain’s best science museums? Well, it is, in the form of the Magna Science Adventure Centre. I feel like it’s somewhere that I would’ve written about before, but can’t find a previous blog post about it. We’ve been a few times – I went with my parents when it first opened, and I’ve taken our little one several times, including last weekend.
History of Magna
Magna was one of a number of visitor attractions funded by the Millennium Commission, to mark the turn of the Millennium. It opened in 2001, with high expectations – further down the Don Valley, the Earth Centre in Conisbrough had opened in 1999 and was already struggling to meet its visitor targets. The Earth Centre ultimately closed in 2004 – a shame, as I’d enjoyed my visit there and felt it was perhaps ahead of its time.
Anyway, the good news is the Magna was more popular, and is still open today. Indeed, it had something of a refit in 2022, so if you’ve been before, there are some new things to see. Magna essentially fills two roles: a history of the area and, in particular, steelworking; and as a more general science museum.
Magna is housed in the former Templeborough Steelworks, or ‘Steelo’s’ as it was known colloquially. This steelworks used electric arc furnaces to recycle scrap steel – relatively new technology at the time, and allowed a significantly higher throughput than coal-powered furnaces. It did require a lot of electricity, however – a staff member commented that, if it was still running today, the steelworks annual electricity bill would be around £100million.
Templeborough Steelworks was massive – housed in a building around 1/3 mile (530 metres) long. Most of the building is still there now – it’s not quite as long as it once was, but it’s still massive. The site closed as a steelworks in 1993, with much of the massive industrial equipment remaining behind in situ, and it wasn’t long before it re-opened as Magna.
Four pavilions
The main ‘sciencey’ bit of the museum is split into four ‘pavilions’ – air, fire, water and earth. The Air pavilion is in what looks like a blimp, suspended from the ceiling; fire is at the main level of the museum, water is on the ground floor and earth is underground. Almost everything is hand’s on, in the way that the best museums for kids are these days, so there’s lots of things to press, push and twist. In the Fire pavilion, there’s a demonstration of a fire tornado approximately every 10 minutes, and at weekends there’s also a forge demonstration where you can see how a piece of steel can be melted and shaped.
The water pavilion teaches the water cycle, and lets visitors compare different ways of moving water upwards. Down in the earth pavilion, you can control a digger and learn about quarrying and archaeology, and up in the air pavilion, you can see how wind energy and vacuums work.
The other major indoor attraction is The Big Melt, which runs on the hour four times a day. It’s a big light and sound show, which simulates how the electric arc furnace would have worked in its heyday.
Outside, there is a huge adventure playground, and in summer, there’s Aqua-Tek, which is a small waterpark. Obviously, this being February, it was shut.
Our nine-year-old pretty much demanded a return trip to Magna, hence our visit, and it’s one of their favourite places to visit. I agree.
Accessibility
Having been opened in 2001, mobility access to Magna is pretty good – there are lifts between the different floors and no stairs to manage. That being said, there are some uneven floors in the Earth pavilion in places.
If you experience sensory issues, it may be worth brining ear defenders. Some parts, like The Big Melt, are very loud. Also, on a practical note, it’s worth bringing a change of clothes and some swimming gear for kids, as they will get wet in the Water pavilion and/or Aqua-Tek.
Tickets are cheaper if booked online, and automatically become an annual pass for free repeat visits.
There is a car park on site, but be aware that Magna also has a huge events space, and so the car park may be full at weekends. When we went, there was a junior boxing competition, and this weekend it’s the Camra Great British Winter Beer Festival, so you may need to park some way from the entrance if you’re driving. It’s not far off the M1 junction for the Meadowhall Shopping Centre.
If you want to get there by public transport, then you can catch the X3 bus from Sheffield, Meadowhall or Rotherham, and it drops you outside the back entrance to Magna. In the near future, you’ll also be able to get to Magna by tram, as the Supertram Tram-Train service from Sheffield to Rotherham passes by the site.
