20 hours ago
Opening date put forward for rebuilt Brinsley headstocks
A mining landmark in Nottinghamshire that was pulled down over a risk to public safety will be rebuilt by April next year after a six-month headstocks - a rare wooden example of the system used to take miners into the pit - were removed from the site in Brinsley in December Borough Council approved a £220,000 "like-for-like" replacement in January after campaigners called for the structure to be announced a projected reopening date of 18 April next year while discussing the wider project's timeline during a meeting on Friday, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said.
The headstocks were part of Brinsley Colliery, which opened in 1842 and closed in 1934, although shafts at the site remained open until 1970 for access to other pits.
'International significance'
After the site fully closed in 1970, it was reclaimed as a nature and picnic area, with the structure acting as a landmark until its meeting heard the wider project - including a new wildflower meadow and remembrance orchard for miners who lost their lives at the pit - is more than half Radulovic, leader of the council, said: "It will be a tourist attraction not just for the area, but for the wider area and will have international significance."The April deadline reflects a six-month delay to the original project's goal, with the leader of the council previously aiming for the full project to be completed by October delay was caused by the discovery of two old mining shafts back in October 2024 from a ground investigation partly using old of the mining tunnels is underneath the remembrance orchard area and while it was inaccessible, there were concerns the ground above could be are also concerns over potential vandalism on the site after two trees in the remembrance orchard were stolen earlier this year,Kennith Hamilton, Chair of Friends of Brinsley Headstocks, the voluntary community group maintaining the site, said vandalism of a new memorial bench, for the 33 people known to have lost their lives at the pit, was his "biggest worry".He said: "It's such a beautiful bench, it's such a good thing for the miners that passed away or got killed at the pit. "If [anyone] vandalises it they should be ashamed of themselves."Radulovic said the council was preparing to put mobile CCTV in place "if we do have any occurrence of vandalism or inappropriate behaviour on that site".He added: "We expect people to treat it with respect and dignity… they [would be] betraying the previous generations that, that is a memorial for, and I expect people that do will be treated £74,000 has so far been spent on the wider project, the LDRS said.
