The choice of position for the mine was a little unfortunate since there were problems with water and hard rock, and the Stephensons were probably not entirely happy with what was to be named Snibston Colliery No.

John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1872) described Snibston as a 'hamlet in Packington parish, Leicester; near the Swannington railway, 4½ miles SE of Ashby-de-la-Zouch.

Many of the historic mining buildings are now very rare survivals of this once-widespread industry[7] and have been designated as scheduled ancient monuments by the Government.

It was constructed by Robert Stephenson between 1833 and 1836 to connect the colliery with the Leicester and Swannington Railway on the east side of Coalville.

It consisted of an award-winning interactive museum, alongside the scheduled ancient monument colliery buildings, the Century Theatre, and a 100-acre (0.40 km2) country park and nature reserve, located within the National Forest.

In January 2015, the Conservative-controlled Leicestershire County Council announced that it could not afford the £900,000 per annum running costs of the museum and with declining visitor numbers it would be closed.

[13] The scheduled ancient monument buildings and headstocks of Snibston Colliery are not affected by the closure and demolition of the Discovery Museum except that the regular guided tours have now ceased.

[15][16] From 1974 until 1997 the Century was used as the town theatre of Keswick in Cumbria, and then, thanks to support from the Heritage Lottery Fund, it was saved from the scrapyard, refurbished and brought home to Leicestershire, where it is located next to the buildings and headstocks of Snibston Colliery.

[15][16][14][17] The theatre was run by its own company expressly created to take quality drama to communities throughout Britain and helped greatly with post-war cultural reconstruction.

It was brought home to Leicestershire on the back of four low-loaders and was renovated and reassembled on a purpose-built site between the museum gallery and the historic mine buildings of the former Snibston Colliery.

It re-opened in October 1997 and since then has been part of the cultural life of North West Leicestershire as a venue for a range of arts activities including classic drama, music and dance.

A new 2-storey front of house was added in 2011 giving the venue an extra dimension and mezzanine lounge bar, toilet facilities and full disabled access.Snibston Colliery Park was opened in late 2020.

[18] In April 2022 the first guided tours of the colliery buildings for many years were inaugurated, hosted by Snibston Heritage Trust in collaboration with Leicestershire County Council.