The Miner's Way Trail is a long-distance circular footpath in England, starting at Sholden, Kent. Linking up the coalfield parishes of East Kent. Including; the parishes of

Deal A deal, or deals may refer to: Places United States * Deal, New Jersey, a borough * Deal, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * Deal Lake, New Jersey Elsewhere * Deal Island (Tasmania), Australia * Deal, Kent, a town in England * Deal, ...

Ash Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...

Aylesham Aylesham is a village and civil parish in the Dover district of Kent, England. The village is located around 6.5 miles (10.5 km) southeast of the cathedral city of Canterbury, and around 8.5 miles (13.7 km) northwest of the town an ...

Chillenden Chillenden is a village in east Kent, England, between Canterbury and Deal, and is in the civil parish of Goodnestone. In the ''Domesday Book'' of 1086, Chillenden was recorded as 'Cilledene'. The parish in 1800 was made up of , containing three ...

Eastry Eastry is a civil parish in Kent, England, around southwest of Sandwich. It was voted "Kent Village of the Year 2005". The name is derived from the Old English ''Ēast- rige'', meaning "eastern province" (c.f. '' Sūþ-rige'' "southern provinc ...

Eythorne Eythorne is a civil parish and small village located 7.3 miles north-northwest of Dover in Kent, with a combined population of approximately 2,500 residents including nearby villages Barfrestone and Elvington. Although not classed as one of the ...

, Elvington, Goodnestone,

Nonington Nonington (variously, Nonnington, Nunyngton, Nonnyngton and Nunnington), is a civil parish and village in the southeast corner of Kent, situated halfway between the historic city of Canterbury and the English Channel, channel port town of Dover. T ...

, Northbourne, Coldred, Staple,

Tilmanstone Tilmanstone is a small village and civil parish in Kent, in the South East of England, near Eastry, a much bigger and more developed area. Tilmanstone no longer has a village school; however, the independent Northbourne Park School is close to the ...

and Wingham. The trail is approximately in length. A link route creates two shorter walks of around 14 miles each. The

Waymark Trail blazing or way marking is the practice of marking paths in outdoor recreational areas with signs or markings that follow each other at certain, though not necessarily exactly defined, distances and mark the direction of the trail. A blaz ...

for the trail is a white circle with a Miners lamp, train and leaf. A Cycle Trail also follows most of the trail, starting and finishing at Deal. Sections of the cycling route follow the existing

Sustrans Sustrans is a United Kingdom-based walking, wheeling and cycling charity, and the custodian of the National Cycle Network. Its flagship project is the National Cycle Network, which has created of signed cycle routes throughout the United Kin ...

National Cycle Network The National Cycle Network (NCN) is the national cycling route network of the United Kingdom, which was established to encourage cycling and walking throughout Britain, as well as for the purposes of bicycle touring. It was created by the cha ...

Regional Route 16 (Dover to Canterbury, via

Adisham Adisham (formerly Adesham) is a village and civil parish in the English county of Kent. It is twinned with Campagne-lès-Hesdin in France. Geography The village centre, six miles south-east of Canterbury is on the B2046 road between Wingham a ...

) also and connects with Regional Route 17 (to Sandwich). Linking to the

Viking Coastal Trail The Viking Coastal Trail is a 25-mile multi-user route around the Isle of Thanet, keeping as close as is possible to the coast. It is also Regional Route 15 of the National Cycle Network. From Reculver (going clock-wise), the trail passes throu ...

and

National Cycle Route 1 The cycle-path is located in the United Kingdom. Route Dover to Canterbury Dover , Deal , Sandwich , Canterbury Links with National Cycle Route 2, Regional route 16, and Regional route 17 in Dover. Leaves Dover passing Dover Castle. S ...

. The route can be comfortably completed in a day.

History

In 2001,

Dover District Council Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...

launched the 'Coalfields Heritage Initiative Kent' (CHIK) project, led by

Dover Museum Dover Museum is a museum in Dover, Kent, in south-east England. History Founded in February 1836 by the town's mayor Edward Pett Thompson, it was initially housed in the old Guildhall and run by the Dover Philosophical Institute. The Town Co ...

and the White Cliffs Countryside Project. The CHIK project's aim was to record and preserve East Kent's mining heritage. In 1890, Coal was discovered near Dover; this led to a small industry based on the mineral being set-up. Many coal mines were started, only to quickly fail, and just 4 collieries survived;

Snowdown Snowdown is a hamlet near Dover in Kent, England. It was the location of one of the four chief collieries of the Kent coalfield, which closed in 1987. The population of the village is included in the civil parish In England, a civil pari ...

Betteshanger Betteshanger is a village near Deal in East Kent, England. It gave its name to the largest of the four chief collieries of the Kent coalfield. The population of the village is included in the civil parish of Northbourne. Before the coal mine ...

and

Chislet Chislet is an English village and civil parish in northeast Kent between Canterbury and the Isle of Thanet. The parish is the second largest in the district. A former spelling, 'Chistlet', is seen in 1418. The population of the civil parish incl ...

. Most of the workers for these new mines came from traditional coal areas, including south Wales, the Midlands and the North East. New villages were built to house them, including

, Elvington,

Hersden Hersden is a village east of Canterbury in Kent, South East England. It was established as a planned coalmining village in the 1920s and is on the A28 road between Canterbury and the Isle of Thanet. Work in the Kent Coalfield was the main source ...

and Mill Hill in Deal. The last colliery, Betteshanger, closed in 1989. The trail has then been developed following current public footpaths, bridleway and byways to link all these coalfield linked villages. Much of this arable landscape, with its many hedges and woodlands, has not changed since

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

times, boasting a long and rich history. The trail also links to the

North Downs Way The North Downs Way National Trail is a long-distance path in southern England, opened in 1978. It runs from Farnham to Dover, past Guildford, Dorking, Merstham, Otford and Rochester, along the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty ...

(another long distance path between Canterbury and Dover) and the

East Kent Light Railway The East Kent Light Railway was part of the H. F. Stephens, Colonel Stephens group of cheaply built rural light railways in England. Holman Fred Stephens was engineer from its inception, subsequently becoming director and manager. The line ...

at Shepherdswell. A guide book of the trails is available. Also 9 laminated leaflets describing circular walks are available.

References

External links

Long Distance Walkers Association notes on the trail

Map of the Circular route
{dead link, date=January 2018 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes Cycleways in England Tourist attractions in Kent Footpaths in Kent