| New Fancy | |
|---|---|
 Roll of Honour sculpture | |
 | |
| Location | Parkend, Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, UK |
| Coordinates | 51°47′00″N2°32′28″W / 51.78335°N 2.5411°W |
| Operated by | Forestry England |
| Status | Open all year |
New Fancy was a colliery on the Forest of Dean Coalfield near Parkend in Gloucestershire, England. After the colliery closed its spoil heap was landscaped. The site has a picnic area, and viewing site from where goshawks can be seen. It is linked to the Forest of Dean Family Cycle Trail. [1]
New Fancy colliery was opened by Edward Protheroe in 1827, as part of the Park End Coal Company in the Forest of Dean. By 1860 it was owned by Sully & Company and in 1885 was sold to the Parkend & New Fancy Collieries Company. It remained in operation until 1944. [2] In 1880 the colliery produced 8,382 tons of coal. [3] In 1900 the colliery site contained a wooden headframe, a Cornish-type engine house with an external egg-ended boiler built in the 1840s and a hand-operated windlass for raising and lowering items in the shaft. [4] The winding gear was converted to electricity in 1916. Its site is a scheduled monument. [5]
The top of the old coal mine spoil heap has been converted into a viewing site for birdwatchers, and gives panoramas over an extensive forested area. It is best known for viewing raptors, especially goshawks, best seen from late morning onwards in February and March. [6] [7] In February 1998, a female two-barred crossbill was present in a crossbill flock, drawing birdwatchers from across Britain.
The Roll of Honour sculpture was commissioned by the Forest of Dean Local History Society to honour those who worked and were killed or injured in the mines and quarries of the Forest of Dean. It was constructed by Graham Tyler and John Wakefield and was unveiled in 2005. It consists of three elements - stone, iron (represented by rusted steel), and coal (represented by carved and blackened local oak) - and stands around 11 feet (3.4 m) high. Stainless steel discs set into the sculpture represent the tokens carried by miners to determine who was below ground in the event of accidents. [8]
The Forest of Dean Geomap, a 900 square feet (84 m2) sculpture of the geology and mines of the area, was unveiled at the New Fancy picnic site in May 2008. It was commissioned by the local history society, who received a grant from DEFRA’s Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund, and was constructed by sculptor David Yeates of Mitcheldean before being assembled on site. [9] The rock strata depicted are built from samples of the rock they represent. Metal discs represent the locations of the main iron and coal mines and quarries, with black lines to represent coal seams and white lines for railway routes. [10] It is flat and polished, but not shiny, and is intended to be walked on. [9]
The Forest of Dean is a geographical, historical and cultural region in the western part of the county of Gloucestershire, England. It forms a roughly triangular plateau bounded by the River Wye to the west and northwest, Herefordshire to the north, the River Severn to the south, and the City of Gloucester to the east.
Cinderford is a town and civil parish on the eastern fringe of the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, England. The population was 8,777 at the 2021 Census.
Parkend is a village, located at the foot of the Cannop Valley, in the Royal Forest of Dean, West Gloucestershire, England, and has a history dating back to the early 17th century. During the 19th century it was a busy industrial village with several coal mines, an ironworks, stoneworks, timber-yard and a tinplate works, but by the early 20th century most had succumbed to a loss of markets and the general industrial decline. In more recent times, the village has become a tourist destination.
The Dean Heritage Centre is located in the valley of Soudley, Gloucestershire, England in the Forest of Dean and exists to record and preserve the social and industrial history of the area and its people. The centre comprises the museum itself, a millpond and waterwheel, forester's cottage with garden and animals, art and craft exhibitions and workshops, and trails around the surrounding woodland. In addition, there are picnic tables, barbecue hearths, an adventure playground, a gift shop selling local produce and the Heritage Kitchen, a restaurant providing home-made food.
Milkwall is a village in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, England. It lies between the village of Sling to the south, and the town of Coleford to the north. Milkwall, strictly speaking, lies South of Station Rd in the parish of West Dean, whereas Tufthorn is North of Station Rd in the parish of Coleford.
The Severn and Wye Railway began as an early tramroad network established in the Forest of Dean to facilitate the carriage of minerals to watercourses for onward conveyance. It was based on Lydney, where a small harbour was constructed, and opened its line to Parkend in 1810. It was progressively extended northwards, and a second line, the Mineral Loop was opened to connect newly opened mineral workings.
Outwood Colliery was a coal mine in Outwood, near Stoneclough in the historic county of Lancashire, England. Originally named Clough Side Colliery, it opened in the 1840s and was the largest colliery in the area. It was owned by Thomas Fletcher & Sons, Outwood Collieries, Stoneclough, Manchester. There were two pits. Coal was transported by a tramway to a depot west of Outwood Road, in Radcliffe, and also by tramway through Ringley Wood to the nearby Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal. A railway sidings from the nearby East Lancashire Railway Line was located nearby, from the northern end of the colliery. In its heyday the colliery employed over 2000 workers. Outwood Colliery exploited the coal seams of the Manchester Coalfield and was noted for its Trencherbone Coal.
Whitecroft is a village in the Forest of Dean in west Gloucestershire, England. It is located in-between Bream and Yorkley. Whitecroft comes under the postal district of Lydney.
The Bullo Pill Railway was an early British railway, completed in 1810 to carry coal mined in the Forest of Dean Coalfield to a port on the River Severn near Newnham, Gloucestershire. It was later converted to a broad gauge steam line by the Great Western Railway, and was closed in the 1960s.
The Forest of Dean Railway was a railway company operating in Gloucestershire, England. It was formed in 1826 when the moribund Bullo Pill Railway and a connected private railway failed, and they were purchased by the new company. At this stage it was a horse-drawn plateway, charging a toll for private hauliers to use it with horse traction. The traffic was chiefly minerals from the Forest of Dean, in the Whimsey and Churchway areas, near modern-day Cinderford, for onward conveyance from Bullo Pill at first, and later by the Great Western Railway.
The Forest of Dean Central Railway was a mineral railway line designed to connect certain collieries in the central part of the Forest of Dean to a new dock at Brimspill on the River Severn. It was authorised by Parliament in 1856, but serious difficulties were encountered in raising the money to build it. It opened in 1868 by which time the principal colliery intended to be served had ceased operation. It was unable to finance the construction of the dock at Brimspill and relied on transfer of traffic to the main line of the South Wales Railway.
The Bicslade Tramroad was a wagonway built by the Severn and Wye Railway (S&WR) in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England. The first section of the line was opened in 1812 as a branch of the S&WR plateway from Lydney to Lydbrook, which had opened in 1810. It was expanded over time to serve the collieries and quarries in the Bixslade valley ; the last stretch, to Bixhead Quarry, opened in 1855. Stone traffic ceased in 1944 and coal followed in 1946.
Nagshead is a woodland reserve, located on the western edge of Parkend, in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, and is home to RSPB Nagshead. The site is listed in the 'Forest of Dean Local Plan Review'.
Forest of Dean Cycle Centre is a small woodland cycling centre, comprising mountain bike trails, a visitor centre, car parks and uplift service. It is located on the former site of Cannop Colliery in the Cannop Valley, Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire. The nearest village is Parkend, 3 miles (5 km) away.
Tufts Junction was a junction on the Severn and Wye Railway between Lydney Town and Whitecroft, England. The junction is now on the Dean Forest Railway between Norchard and Whitecroft.
Hatfield Colliery, also known as Hatfield Main Colliery, was a colliery in the South Yorkshire Coalfield, mining the High Hazel coal seam. The colliery was around 1 mile (1.6 km) northwest of Hatfield, South Yorkshire, adjacent north of the railway line from Doncaster to Scunthorpe northeast of Hatfield and Stainforth railway station.
The Forest of Dean Coalfield, underlying the Forest of Dean, in west Gloucestershire, is one of the smaller coalfields in the British Isles, although intensive mining during the 19th and 20th centuries has had enormous influence on the landscape, history, culture, and economy of the area.
Speech House Road railway station is a disused railway station opened by the former Severn and Wye Railway in 1875, it remained open for 88 years until the line, north of Parkend, closed to freight in 1963. Passenger trains on the Severn and Wye Railway, north of Lydney, were withdrawn from 1929.
Bonc yr Hafod is a country park, on the former site of Hafod Colliery, near Johnstown and Pentre Bychan in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. The country park is centred on a former spoil tip hill, known locally as "Picnic Mountain", rising up 150 metres (490 ft). The country park is 90 acres (0.36 km2) in size of mainly woodlands and grasslands. The park is home to one of the largest community woodlands in North East Wales.
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