Delight as ‘Fairy Caves’ are saved
THE rescue of a rare remnant of our industrial past - the 200-year-old ‘Fairy Caves’ - is being celebrated.
Aspen Colliery, in West End, Oswaldtwistle, has been removed from Historic England’s ‘ Heritage at Risk’ Register, 40 years after it was scheduled as an Ancient Monument.
The remains of the colliery beehive coking ovens and canal basin have long been disused but entered local folklore. The mine closed in 1930.
There were a total of 24 ‘beehive’ ovens, each taller than a person, arranged in three large banks of earth.
Generations of children played in the place where their ancestors once worked and they became known as the Fairy Caves.
However, over time, vegetation took hold, and tree roots began to destabilise the brick ovens.
Aspen Colliery was added to the Heritage at Risk Register in 1998, and its condition continued to deteriorate. Two of the banks of ovens partially collapsed. In their dilapidated state, they began to attract anti-social behav- iour.
Owners Hyndburn council, Regenerate Pennine Lancashire (now Growth Lancashire) and Historic England formed a partnership to tackle the site. Regenerate made a successful application for £32,784 to not-for-profit environmental business WREN, which distributes the landfill communities fund, with Historic England supplying a further £15,750 grant funding, to cover the cost of condition surveys and repairs.
Works to remove damaging tree growth and consolidate unstable brickwork were completed in spring 2017.
Charles Smith, of His- toric England said: “It’s fantastic that after almost 20 years on the Heritage at Risk Register, the rare beehive ovens at Aspen Colliery are now ready to face the future.
“We’re looking forward to seeing interpretation developed at the site to add to people’s enjoyment and understanding of this unusual part of Oswaldtwistle’s heritage.”
Historic England and Hyndburn council have entered into a management agreement which will see scrub cleared from the Fairy Caves for the next five years. Growth Lancashire plans to work with the local community so that the colliery’s history – both industrial and mythical – can be shared with visitors.
The coking ovens are the most complete 19th century example in the North West, and one of only 11 examples to survive in the country.