The proposed site for the construction of The New Crofton Co-operative Colliery (NCCC) near Wakefield, West Yorkshire, sits literally and figuratively on a watershed. Its founder, Bill Birch, stands with one booted foot either side of a boundary line only he can see; on one side, rain water flows west into shallow gravel ponds, a breeding ground for the endangered great crested newt. And on the other, it flows east towards the old mining village of Nostall with Ryhill, Havercroft and Wintersett to the south.
Thirty years ago, 56 collieries were fully operational in Yorkshire, including a handful of open cast …read more
Source: Newsweek
