Old Park Bell Pits

Pilley Lane End, Pilley Lane End Farm, Tankersley, Pilley, Barnsley

Other site, structure or landscape

Assets that cannot fit any of the other categories. This category includes sites of archaeological interest, where the original form and function may not be apparent without the use of archaeological techniques and interpretation.

Asset type

Archaeological Site

Age

The site is defined by the present extents of The Old Park Wood. Its date is unknown, although the monuments are of a type that date from the 16th to 19th century. The nearby Rockley Furnace which was built between 1698 and 1704 provides an indication of when ironstone extraction was underway in the area. The site was out of use by the 1850s.

Rarity

Many areas of shaft mounds have been cleared by agriculture, construction, and open cast mining. Surviving examples, such as those at Old Park Wood, often survive in woodland planted on the worked ground. The shaft mounds are also well preserved and could retain evidence of associated features.

Group Value

The site forms part of a surviving dispersed group of shaft mound sites along the seam of the Tankersley Ironstone. They represent an important example of local mineral extraction dating from the development of metal working industries in the region, and comprises the closest ironstone extraction site to the Scheduled Rockley Furnace.

Historic Interest

The history of the site has not been researched in detail, although it may have been associated with Rockley Furnace. Whilst now part of Old Park Wood, historic mapping shows it was formerly in an area called Friar Tail Wood. The site also contributes to the legibility of the industrial history of the area which has importance for many communities.

Archaeological Interest

The site includes a series of well-preserved earthworks, comprising a thick collar of spoil and a wide central depression, evidently sunk in a planned grid pattern. There is also the preserved embankment of the former inclined plane railway to Pilley Hills Colliery. Dating evidence will be preserved within the shaft mounds, and their buried remains and technological features will survive beneath the surface, providing information on pit-top structures such as horse-powered winding gear, and on ventilation and drainage, or other structures associated with mining activity.

Landmark Status

The site is accessible via several public rights of way, and forms part of an Forestry Commission Woodland. The monuments are prominent and enigmatic indicators of the area's industrial past, contributing positively to local landscape character and identity.

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14 Jun 2023