Subject: bestwood colliery nottinghamshire
I am Looking for Any old photographs of Bestwood pit, its railways etc or information on the above pit, or if you could point me in the right direction.

Hello
Your information came up when I was looking to see if there was any redevelopment at Bevercotes and was sorry to here about the Cupola, didn’t know what it was but it had caught my attention several times as I have driven past it. 
Do you know what its state is now?? and on my map it says there is training centre there do you have any information of what/who to contact, we are considering a project that would be sympathetic with this site, to re-develop the interest there and more besides, any information would help.

Many thanks

Mrs.Sarah Levran

Fionn,
The name of the contact at Bassetlaw D.C. is Nigel Huntston - it's actually on your website.
Joe.

Fionn,

I have no updates on the status of the Cupola - I just hope it is still there.

Sarah should pursue this matter through Bassetlaw District Council - certainly when I submitted the article the gentleman there I spoke to (in the development control dept, I believe) was very keen to preserve the cupola. I no longer have his name as the communications were via my then work email.

The Lound Hall site was formerly a mining museum (hence the cupola being relocated there), and also a regional NCB training centre, closed some years ago.

The hall, land and property is (or was) in private ownership - I don't know if this extends to all structures on site.

Let me know if there is anything else I can help with on this.

Regards,
Joe.

Hello,
I have been looking at your site, and I wonder if you could help me.  I am writing my final year dissertation on the effect that the closure of the mines, and especially the 1984-5 strike had on the communities and the families of miners.  If you have any information or anecdotes I would be very grateful. 

Thank you very much
Anthony Boden

University of Reading
Undergraduate Sociology

Dear Reader
I'm an American Studies grad student at Penn State Harrisburg doing a project for a Folk Art and Architecture class.  I ran across your site looking for coal mining art in relation to post-industrial America but have found very little.  I am surprised by your site and by the wealth of information I'm finding from UK sites concerning this craft.  Do you have a history on this subject, can you tell me more, how prevalent is this in England , or is it the surrounding countries, also? If you cannot help me, can you point me in the right direction?  Is this studied in your universiteis?

Thank you for any response you are able to give me.

Kelly Ohler

Hi Fionn - Hopefully you, or readers of your site, can you help me this time.

As you already know from the item on Wollaton I am part of a team researching aspects of the Elizabethan & Stuart period mining in the area. We are currently looking at some surviving mine accounts dating from the 1570's relating to the Westwood area near Selston. The Geological Survey Memoir for the area refers to the Westwood Bents & Wansley Hall open cast sites but only gives very vague grid references. Those works may/may not have destroyed any remaining archaeological evidence.

Does anyone know of any websites with information about them, including allocation description or site plan? Even a text answer may be enough. Were they anywhere near the bridge where Flats Lane/Barrows Hill Lane crosses the Bagthorpe Brook and the valley bottom for about half a mile either side of that?

Alternatively if someone who knows from personal memory of the area where they were located is able to do a rough sketch map to scan and send me that would be fantastic.

All the best, and thanks in advance to anyone able to assist me.

John New

Webmaster for
Stephenson Locomotive Soc.
York Model Rly Show
Waggonway Research Circle

From: Joseph Henshaw
Sent: 22 February 2005
Subject: Re: FW: Westwood Bents & Wansley Hall open cast sites

Identifying Open Cast Boundaries

I have limited information here, and am not particulaly familiar with the areas in question.  1) Westwood Bents site GR 462552, 2/3 mile South of Selston 2) Wansley Hall site GR 460514, 1 1/3 miles South of Selston The grid references are approximately the centre of the site, noting sites are often irregular in shape.  To find definitive information, you could consult the 6 inch to the mile geological map for the area, which may be available at your regional library, or can be obtained from the British Geological Survey at Keyworth - however these maps are very expensive - it may be possible to visit BGS just to have a look.  Note also that the survey date of the map needs to be later than these closure of these opencast sites, or meaningful details will not appear.  Be aware that additional opencast has often taken place in areas since these maps were produced, so the loss of remains may be considerable or usually total (yet another major reason for objecting to more opencast).

The other possibility is to contact the Coal Authority at Mansfield, who should have all relevent information - but yet again there may be a cost implication to getting it ,

Rgds
Joe Henshaw

From: John New
Sent: 25 February 2005
Subject: RE: FW: Westwood Bents & Wansley Hall open cast sites

Thanks for both sets of information supplied.

I have now been forwarded a couple of extracts from the Nottinghamshire County Council “ Nottinghamshire Minerals Local Plan Adopted November 1997 mineral constraint maps” and it looks like we have been lucky. There has been open casting around the site we are researching on both the northern and eastern periphery but it may not have got into the actual location of the old Elizabethan workings. The one open cast working NCC advised on to the north of the site I have discovered was called Inkerman. There appear to have been two to the east probably known as Wansley Hall and Bagthorpe respectively.

It has been interesting to note how different public authorities respond when asked a general question. Both have been helpful but one gets a 5:10 score the other an 8 or even 9:10 score.

If we need more I think it is a case of ploughing through the planning application records at Ashfield DC ’s offices, or at the Coal Authority’s offices in Mansfield , to find the actual site plans.

John New

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