Rothwell Country Park

Rothwell Country Park is a park, which is situated on the site of the Rothwell Colliery (Fanny Pit) and was redeveloped in the mid 1990s. The park opened on 24th of June 2000 and is managed by Leeds City Council, in partnership with the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and the Friends of Rothwell Country Park.

History

Roman Britain

In 1977, a well dated to Roman Britain was discovered on land near Fanny Pit, with 4th century pottery, wooden tools such as spades and bowls and animal bones being found. A human skull was also found but this was thought by archeologist to be from a burial site unrelated to the Roman Period.

Middle Ages

In the Middle Ages, Rothwell Country Park would have been part of a large wooded area that nobility used for hunting, such as wild boars. Nobles such as John of Gaunt would have hunted regularly in this area.

In 1530, the Royal Hunting Park of Rothwell was de-parked and hunting would have subsided, while cattle grazing and eventually coal mining would have increased.

19th Century

Around 1867, the Charlesworth family sank a shaft on the site, named Fanny Pit, after the daughter of one of the Charlesworths. Despite millions of gallons of water needing to be pumped out of the shaft every week, the shaft was highly profitably.

20th Century

Subsequently, in 1921, a second shaft was sunk and, which was deepened in 1924/25. In 1922, 160 ponies were kept in underground stables at Fanny Pit.

In 1947, the pit was nationalised and it began to focus on producing coal quickly for the power stations. This led to the introduction of an underground locomotive system.

Fanny Pit, as photographed in 1984.

On the 9th December 1983, the last of the Rothwell Colliery's shafts were closed. They had produced over 75 million tons of coal during the time they were open.

In the mid 1990s, local people, Leeds City Council and Groundwork Leeds, entered a partnership to transform the disused industrial site. Over the next five years, the site had woodland, wetland and meadow planted. Groups and individuals, such as local schoolchildren and local conservationist, contributed to the work. The park was supported by the Millennium Commission, and funding came from the National Lottery's Changing Places programme, Yorkshire Forward, Leeds City Council, the European Commission and the Forestry Commission.

21st Century

On the 24th June 2000, Rothwell Country Park was opened by television presenter and journalist Richard Whiteley. There was a "traditional village fete", which included music and displays by schools, community groups and societies. There were also tours of the park, some by former miners, who explained the mining history of the park, and others explaining how the park was built and what wildlife now inhabited it. There were displays of crafts including willow weaving and stone carving.

In 2010, after years of underinvestment and vandalism, the Friends of Rothwell Country Park was opened to maintain the park.

In 2019, the park was designated a Local Wildlife Site.

Rothwell Country Park was one of the 13 Wildlife Trust sites within 500m of the proposed HS2 train line. The Wildlife Trust's 2020 report, "What's the Damage?", highlighted how the new proposed HS2 line would go further south into the site, where the highest level of biodiversity is, and that construction would have caused damage and possibly introduced invasive species that had been eradicted from the site back into Rothwell Country Park from its boundaries. The government's announcement that the East Midlands-Leeds high-speed line was to be scrapped meant that HS2 would not go through Rothwell Country Park.

See Also

• Photos of the park from Georgaph

Your Memories

Loading comments...