Monument record 14220 - Bell Pit and Spoil Heap near Longside Reservoir

<1> Historic England & Archaeological Research Services, 2017, Cheshire National Mapping Programme and Lidar Mapping Project: Sampling the Peak Fringe, Cheshire Plain and Mersey Valley, 1598441 (Digital Archive). SCH8172.

A coal mining site of probable post medieval date is visible as a complex of earthworks centred at approximately SJ 997 824 on lidar imagery and the latest 2011 vertical photography. The complex consists of a number of mining shafts and extractive pits, with associated spoil heaps, many of which are linked by associated trackways, also visible as earthworks. Small quarries of contemporary or later date are also present within the complex.

The trackways can be separated into at least four different groups, each linking groups of mine shafts within a large area to the east of Whaley Lane. Larger extractive pits or quarries are visible in the north of this area, particularly to the west of Diglee Farm. Outlying shafts and mounds, probably directly associated with the main complex, are visible at SJ 9940 8250 and SJ 9945 8296, to the west of the main concentration of earthworks. A number of braided trackways (CHER 14219) probably served the coal mining site and run for over 1400 metres in a north-westerly direction (2-3).

<2> Environment Agency, 2003-2020, Environment Agency LiDAR Surveys, SJ9982, 23/04/2006 (Digital Archive). SCH7819.

<3> Next Perspectives, 2011, Aerial Photography for Great Britain, Next Perspectives APGB Imagery (2011), SJ9982, 08/10/2011 (Aerial Photograph). SCH8291.

<4> Various, Various, Oral communication to the HER, Edwards R, 24/04/2018 (Oral Communication). SCH2330.

A bell pit and its associated spoil heap surviving as an earthwork. This is probably an outlier for the more extensive area of coal mining to the south-east at Diglee.