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Monument Types

• COAL WORKINGS (Late Medieval to Late Post-medieval - 1401 AD? to 1850 AD?) + Sci.Date

Summary

Large area of earthwork and below ground remains relating to medieval and post-medieval coal mining. Some of the remains were excavated due to opencast mining in the 1990s, with pillar and stall workings recorded. Dated pit props came from trees felled in the mid C15th. Numerous finds were recovered including a C15th/16th woollen coat.

Additional Information

Scheduled Monument description:
The monument lies in Rough Park and Birch Coppice, around 1km north west of Coleorton village, and is within two separate areas of protection. It includes earthworks and buried remains of part of the Coleorton historic coal mining area, including medieval land boundaries whose character was determined by their proximity to mine workings. The area is well-known for early mining remains, some of which were exposed in the early 1990s by opencasting close to the site. Evidence recovered included early 14th and 15th century tools, textiles and unparalleled dendrochronological (tree-ring) dating of pit props, which led to a substantial revision of mining history.
Mining took place in the area from at least 1204 until the 1990s, and this is reflected in the density and complexity of the remains. From at least the 13th century, coal was picked up, or mined in shallow opencuts. The latter will survive as buried remains. The cuts were succeeded by the sinking of small closely-set pits, whose surface remains take, the form of dense clusters of hollows and small-scale earthworks. These are visible most clearly in the north part of the site, where hollows of up to 0.5m depth and mounds of similar height are seen in clusters. A deep boundary ditch of the same period survives as a linear cut of up to Im deep along the north eastern limit of the site. Further ditches are thought to survive in the southern part, and demonstrate the relationship between agricultural and industrial activities during the medieval period.
From the late Middle Ages coal was mined using pillar-and-stall workings, in which pillars of coal were left to support the roof as miners cut along the seam. Techniques were also developed to support the deepening shafts with timber props. It was from this type of working in the nearby opencast area that pit props were analysed, providing a mid-15th century date. It is believed that similar workings will survive in the southern area of the site. These methods were superseded by longwall mining, which allowed more coal to be removed, and by deeper shafts. Areas close to the site exposed by opencasting showed that the longwall technique, previously thought to have originated in Staffordshire in the late 17th century, was in use here by 1620. This period also saw the development of new techniques to solve the problems of underground drainage, winding and transport. The Beaumont family who owned the mines at this time introduced the earliest tramways to the area, and the remains of the tramway network employed at the site will survive as buried features. Drainage and winding were driven by horse-powered machinery, the horses walking on circular platforms or 'gin circles' which remain as earthworks. In the central area of the site gin circles around 3.5m diameter and 1.5m high are visible. From the 18th century atmospheric engines and steam engines were used for drainage and winding, including a pumping engine brought in by Robert Stephenson during the 1830s. Stephenson oversaw new developments in ventilation, drainage, transport and shaft cutting. A system of soughs (drainage cuts) was constructed, and a method of lining shafts with cast-iron bands introduced. Evidence of all these developments will survive in buried remains.

The wood is also dotted with the spoil heaps of C16th/C17th coal mines. The whole area surveyed in detail 1990 in connection with an application for open casting, which was rejected by the planning authorities. (RFH 22/09/93)

This reference has been extended to include underground remains of these mines exposed and destroyed by opencast mining June 1990-December 1991. Tree ring dating has provided a C15th date for these. (RFH 08/10/91)

This reference has been extended to include the area of C16th/C17th coal mines to the west and north of Birch Coppice, just noted as soil marks, and subsequently removed by opencasting in 1986-7 and 1992-3.

<1> Gilbertson, Peter, 1990, The North West Leicestershire countryside management project draft environmentally significant area - Coleorton: Area of Historic Mining Landscape (Unpublished document). SLE3754.

<2> Hartley, RF, 1991, Lounge Remainder Opencast proposal: A survey of the archaeological implications (Unpublished document). SLE2936.

<3> 1992, The archaeological investigation of working and proposed opencast sites in North West Leicestershire (Unpublished document). SLE5057.

Archaeological work was carried out as part of the open cast mining. Finds have included pit props, stools, iron and wooden shovels, picks, boots, haulage equipment and coal sledges. In 1990 medieval pillar and stall workings were uncovered. Artefacts found in the medieval workings included oak pit props, timber shaft frames, leather footwear, wooden tools and old garments (including a tunic believed to the oldest piece of working class clothing ever found in Britain). The oak pit props were dated using tree-ring dating to 1450-1463.

<4> Vernacular Architecture Group, 2016, Dendrochronology Database (Digital archive). SLE4697.

Tree-ring dating gave a felling date of 1450-1463 (pit props).
"The Lounge site is an opencast coal mine approximately 2500m by 800m, worked during the period 1986-91. The samples for tree-ring dating come from the main coal seam (High Main, Top & Bottom Main and Upper Main). The seam slopes from the surface down to a maximum depth of 30m. The site is in the north part of the parish of Coleorton, adjacent to the hamlet of Lount. This work was financed by a generous grant from Leicestershire Museums and Records Service and was instigated by John Crocker, a retired Coal Board manager. "
(Information from VAG Dendrochronology Database, 'http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/vag_dendro/full_record.cfm?id=403', accessed 02/12/2016.)
Collection doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.5284/1039454

<5> Elkin, Kathleen (ed), 2015, Medieval Leicestershire: Recent Research on the Medieval Archaeology of Leicestershire, p195-204, "Coal mining in medieval Leicestershire" by RF Hartley (Bibliographic reference). SLE5149.

"On the earliest phases of the opencast site (1988-1990) we were able to make observations and retrieve finds, and also find storage space for them and commission some conservation work. A most important discovery from this period was the Coleorton Coat, a woollen coat which, on stylistic grounds, appeared to date between the 15th to the 17th centuries. There were also several single-ended picks, wooden shovels, three-legged stools, and parts of small sledges which we presumed had been used to move baskets of coal underground.
"In the extension area (Area C) we found well-organised pillar and stall workings 30m below the surface. Descending to them through the overburden were timber-lined shafts with jointed oak frames. There were large numbers of pit props made from complete sections of oak tree trunks… the oak trees from which the props were cut had been felled in 1450, 1453 (two), 1455 and 1463. These dates led us to reinterpret the importance of the Coleorton Coat, which had been found in workings not far away, and probably dating from the 1530s at the latest. It could now be seen as one of the earliest pieces of working clothing ever found."
Finds from the Lount Opencast Mine included...
L.T58.1989 finds from Area "B":
1) Probably from old workings in Upper/High Main; wooden spade, 2 wooden hooks, sycamore bowl, 5 single-ended picks, 5 parts of wooden sledges (corves), parts of 5 wooden stools.
2) Probably from Middle Lount seam and associated with early 19th century Spring Wood Colliery; 2 double-ended picks, one double-ended sledge hammer, two sections of shaft curbing.
3) Probably from 1920s adit working - small mine tub.
L.T64.1990 finds from Area "C": Upper Main pillar and stall workings - numerous shaft timbers, pit props (some dated to 1550-1563 period), parts of coal basket, wooden hook, leather boot.
L.T3.1991 wooden spade.
L.T10.1991 19th/20th century spade.
L.A30.1992 woollen coat, 16th century.
L.A31.1992 boots and other pieces of leather.
T.C.1603 fragments of fabric.
L.A113.1992 finds from Area "F": 66 pieces of wood, including shaft frames, pegs, wedges, parts of stools, 25 parts of corves, 40 wickerwork samples, 2 wooden spades, 3 wooden hooks, 1 handle from wooden hook.
L.A114.1992 finds from Areas "F" and "J" including 8 timbers from possible sough.
L.A115.1992 finds from Area "H" including corf runners and several parts of stools.
L.A116.1992 finds from Areas "C" and "D", shoes etc.
L.A62.1994 late 17th century long coat.
X.W62.1998 24 pieces of wood and 2 bricks.

<6> Hartley R F, 1984, The Medieval Earthworks of North West Leicestershire, p21 (Bibliographic reference). SLE326.

"Small coal pits with the characteristic form of a central hollow and surrounding heap of spoil survive as earthworks or show from time to time as cropmarks over a broad area of Coleorton Moor (SK 4117), Rough Park, and Birch Coppice (SK 3918). Rough Park in particular is densely covered with these features."

<7> 2016, National Record of the Historic Environment (NRHE) accessioning (Website). SLE4981.

SUMMARY: "Cropmark and earthwork coal mining shafts of Post-Medieval date mapped from air photographs. Excavations in the Coleorton area have indicated that some of the mines possibly date to the 15th century."
URL: 'https://nrhe-to-her.esdm.co.uk/NRHE/RecordDetail.aspx?pageid=45&he_uid=927035', accessioned 18/01/2024.

<8> RCHME: National Forest Project (Archive). SLE7281.

The photographic interpretation carried out by the RCHME's National Forest Project, using good quality AP's, revealed extensive areas of Post Medieval earthwork and cropmark
coal mining shafts. The extent of the area of the numerous shafts were defined, with only a representative number of shafts individually drawn (see AP transcription). These
areas were centred at:-
SK 3852 1973
SK 3949 1959
SK 3889 1855
SK 3964 1882
SK 3998 1748
(Morph No. FR. 140.6.1-5)
R. Hartley's (Leicestershire Museums Service) research following excavations at Coleorton indicated that some of the mines in the area were dated to the fifteenth century. (See SK 41 NW 11 for record of thirteenth and fourteenth century mining).

<9> Scheduled Monument List/Amendment, 24-Nov-00 (Scheduling record). SLE7368.

SK 3927 1862 and SK 3925 1814. Coal mining remains at Birch Coppice and Rough Park, part of the Coleorton historic coal mining area. Mining is known to have taken place in the area from at least 1204 until the 1990s, and the site contains earthwork and buried remains dating from the medieval through to the post-medieval periods. These include 17th century gin circles and small pits, dating from the medieval period, surviving as clusters of hollows and small-scale earthworks. Scheduled.

<10> 2016, National Record of the Historic Environment (NRHE) accessioning (Website). SLE4981.

SUMMARY: "The remains of organised deep coal mining workings dating from around 1450 were uncovered by opencast mine workings at Lounge in 1990. Wooden framing that formed part of the lining of a single deep shaft was excavated and sections of the framing were removed to the Leicester Museum of Technology at Snibston."
URL: 'https://nrhe-to-her.esdm.co.uk/NRHE/RecordDetail.aspx?pageid=45&he_uid=930112', accessioned 18/01/2024.

<11> Field Investigators Comments, Andrew Williams/07-MAR-1995 (Website). SLE3488.

SK 407 178: The remains of organised deep coal mining workings dating from c. 1450 were uncovered by opencast mine workings at Lounge in 1990. Wooden framing that formed part of the lining of a single deep shaft was excavated and sections of the framing were removed to the Leicester Museum of Technology at Snibston.

<12> Leicestershire Industrial History Society, Vol 13 (1990/1), p18 (Journal). SLE3152.

See <11>

<13> 2016, National Record of the Historic Environment (NRHE) accessioning (Website). SLE4981.

SUMMARY: "Area of coal working. Post medieval in date."
URL: 'https://nrhe-to-her.esdm.co.uk/NRHE/RecordDetail.aspx?pageid=45&he_uid=930738', accessioned 18/01/2024.

<14> Palmer, M and Neaverson, P, 1992, Industrial Landscapes of the East Midlands, p25 (Bibliographic reference). SLE86.

SK 393 189: A series of coal pits (possibly bell pits) depicted on John Priors 1" to 1 mile map of Leicestershire, surveyed between 1775 and 1777. The individual pits form a group of centered around the point SK 393 189.

<15> RCHME: National Forest Project, Andrew Williams/10-MAR-1995 (Archive). SLE7281.

See <14>

<16> 2016, National Record of the Historic Environment (NRHE) accessioning (Website). SLE4981.

SUMMARY: "Area of Mediaeval wood banks and low shaft mounds for coal working at Rough Park, some with evidence of cog and rung gin circles, now mostly under conifer plantation. Some of the workings have been dated by dendrochronology to 1450-1600."
URL: 'https://nrhe-to-her.esdm.co.uk/NRHE/RecordDetail.aspx?pageid=45&he_uid=1481265', accessioned 23/01/2024.

<17> 1994, Monuments Protection Programme: The Coal Industry (Step 3 Report), Leicestershire 6 (Unpublished document). SLE7292.

Sources

Associated Finds

• PICK (Early Medieval to Late Post-medieval - 1067 AD to 1899 AD)
• SHOE (Late Medieval - 1401 AD to 1539 AD)
• STRUCTURAL TIMBER (Late Medieval to Late Post-medieval - 1401 AD to 1899 AD)
• TUNIC (Late Medieval - 1401 AD to 1500 AD)
• SHOVEL (Post-medieval - 1540 AD? to 1899 AD?)
• STOOL (Post-medieval - 1540 AD? to 1899 AD?)

Designations

• Registered Park or Garden (II*) 1000959: Coleorton Hall
• Scheduled Monument 1018463: COAL MINING REMAINS 600M SOUTH WEST OF SMOILE FARM
• Scheduled Monument 1018462: COAL MINING REMAINS AT BIRCH COPPICE AND ROUGH PARK, 950M AND 1.5KM SOUTH OF SMOILE FARM

Associated Images

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