What a smashing day on all counts! A good turn out and convivial company, one of the best February days ever and a most interesting walk.

Richard Matthews introduced us to what was an area heavily involved in coal mining going back to the 1600’s in places.   We had a good look around the Fox Clough coal mine pumping engine site and visited the Waterside and Carry Bridge areas of Colne and also the mining areas of Trawden. Ruins of the ‘pit head’ were seen however it won’t be long before they’re no longer there.   Richard has done a lot of work in uncovering what can now be seen. Amongst other interesting features, we also viewed the remains of round tunnels which were probably robbed out by local folk for building. We also had a bird’s eye view of bonny Colne and could see the mill where the coal would have been taken to, on tracks that are no longer visible…

A most interesting feature was the forge in what would have been the ruins of the smithy.   A huge and solid oblong shape with the marks of the smith scored on the stone and the centre filled with ash.

This outing provided us with a flavor of what life would have been like for the locals in past centuries, although the mine is very sheltered and indeed very hard to find without a guide, the workers would have been very exposed to the elements as they walked across the fields to work.

Along our journey we spied the diamond shaped scorings on gate stones guiding the people who could not read to work.   We saw and heard the first curlews and lapwings and saw our first Peacock Butterfly!

And what could be better than ending the day be a visit to the Admiral Lord Rodney!

Banner Image: Scored marks on the gate posts to guide miners who could not read, to the right mine. Attribution: C. Rousseau Jones