Gedling Country Park and the former Gedling Colliery site :: Shared Description

.
Gedling Country Park was established as such by Gedling Borough Council in 2014 and opened to the public in 2015. It comprises the area of the waste tips of the former Gedling Colliery which closed in 1991.

The area of the colliery itself is excluded from the park and is not formally open to the public, although there are some unbarriered access points.

The park is largely open ground sloping steeply to the south west, resulting from artificial and natural seeding of grass and limited scrub woodland to maintain stability of the waste material.

Much of the open space is fenced off to provide protection for ground nesting birds such as skylark and lapwing which are already a feature of the Park. The result is that human activity is largely restricted to the extensive network of paths. These have been developed as multi-user routes, suitable for pedestrians, cyclists and, within the constraints of the steep nature of the site, wheelchair users. There are 4 defined circuits, of different lengths, named after the various seams mined by the colliery – High Hazles, Main Bright, Top Hard, Low Hazles.

There are three lagoons, one in the upper area and two at the foot of the Park. These are part of the overall drainage scheme for the tip, an essential feature to maintain the stability of the spoil. These lagoons are being managed as wildlife habitats for both birds and invertebrates.

As at the end of 2017, the following features have been established. An extensive children's play area was opened in 2016, including the Mining Tower, a slide feature reflecting the former winding headgear of the colliery.

A visitor centre with cafe, toilets and terrace opened in June 2017, and will eventually incorporate displays covering the history of the colliery. The cafe has the name 'Cafe 1899', reflecting the date when the colliery commenced operation.

A Memorial Garden on the slopes below the visitor centre opened in April 2017. This incorporates a pergola formed from a series of the rings used to support the roof of one of the main underground roadways of the colliery. In December 2017 a flame-shaped sculpture was unveiled, with cut-outs of various aspects of mining.

Two features of note are not within the park itself. On the highest part of the tip a large solar farm with an output of 5.74MW has been established as an enclave within the park, but not of it. Within its boundaries wildlife in the form of the ground nesting birds mentioned above flourishes. Within the old colliery area itself, a small generating plant has been set up, fuelled by methane tapped from the remaining coal underground.
by Alan Murray-Rust
More nearby... Related descriptions Selection is automatic and approximate, it might not always select closely matching descriptions

190 images use this description. Preview sample shown below:

SK6244 : Frost in Gedling Country Park – 11 by Alan Murray-Rust
SK6143 : Frost in Gedling Country Park – 5 by Alan Murray-Rust
SK6244 : View from the Northern Viewpoint, Gedling Country Park by Alan Murray-Rust
SK6143 : Frost in Gedling Country Park – 20 by Alan Murray-Rust
SK6144 : The Pit of Nations, Gedling Country Park by Alan Murray-Rust
SK6143 : Frozen run-off in the old colliery area by Alan Murray-Rust
SK6143 : Former colliery site below the Country Park by Alan Murray-Rust
SK6843 : Gedling Country Park – Can You See? by Alan Murray-Rust
SK6143 : Frost in Gedling Country Park – 3 by Alan Murray-Rust
SK6144 : Memorial Garden, Gedling Country Park by Alan Murray-Rust
SK6143 : Gedling Country Park Wildlife – 3 by Alan Murray-Rust
SK6143 : View over the colliery site to Mapperley Plains by Alan Murray-Rust
SK6144 : The Spring Lane entrance to Gedling Country Park by Graham Hogg
SK6144 : Grazing cattle, Gedling Country Park by Alan Murray-Rust
SK6244 : Frost in Gedling Country Park – 17 by Alan Murray-Rust
SK6144 : Lagoon in Gedling Country Park by Graham Hogg
SK6044 : Gedling Country Park Wildlife, 5/6/2020 – 12 by Alan Murray-Rust
SK6144 : Gedling Country Park Wildlife, 5/6/2020 – 3 by Alan Murray-Rust
SK6144 : Sculpted Squirrel, Gedling Country Park by Alan Murray-Rust
SK6144 : Phragmites in the upper lagoon by Alan Murray-Rust
SK6144 : Gedling Country Park by Graham Hogg
SK6143 : Gedling Country Park Wildlife – 10 by Alan Murray-Rust
SK6144 : Rough seas by Alan Murray-Rust
SK6143 : Yellow lichen on a wild rose by Alan Murray-Rust
SK6244 : Gedling Country Park, northern view point by Alan Murray-Rust

... and 165 more images.

These Shared Descriptions are common to multiple images. For example, you can create a generic description for an object shown in a photo, and reuse the description on all photos of the object. All descriptions are public and shared between contributors, i.e. you can reuse a description created by others, just as they can use yours.
Created: Sat, 30 Dec 2017, Updated: Wed, 27 Jan 2021

The 'Shared Description' text on this page is Copyright 2017 Alan Murray-Rust, however it is specifically licensed so that contributors can reuse it on their own images without restriction.

You are not logged in login | register