Whittleford Park is a 43

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is a ...

greenspace located between

Stockingford Stockingford is a suburb of the town of Nuneaton, in the county of Warwickshire, England, about west of the town centre. Stockingford first appeared in records in 1157, named ''Stoccingford'', derived from the Old English ''Stocc''; to root up t ...

and Camp Hill in

Nuneaton Nuneaton ( ) is a market town in the borough of Nuneaton and Bedworth in northern Warwickshire, England, close to the county border with Leicestershire and West Midlands County.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : Nuneaton's ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

. Although its development as a

public park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to re ...

Warwickshire County Council Warwickshire County Council is the county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Warwickshire in England. Its headquarters are located at Shire Hall, Market Square, in centre of the county town of Warwick. Politically the county is ...

only started in 2005, it has a long industrial history, being the site of

coal mining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

, and

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

and

tile Tiles are usually thin, square or rectangular coverings manufactured from hard-wearing material such as ceramic, stone, metal, baked clay, or even glass. They are generally fixed in place in an array to cover roofs, floors, walls, edges, or o ...

making.

History

Surface mining Surface mining, including strip mining, open-pit mining and mountaintop removal mining, is a broad category of mining in which soil and rock overlying the mineral deposit (the overburden) are removed, in contrast to underground mining, in which ...

was once undertaken on the site, before large

collieries Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

such as Nuneaton Colliery, Stockingford Colliery, Ansley Hall Colliery and Haunchwood Colliery took over. Tramways connected most of the pits with the local

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...

wharf A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths (mooring locatio ...

s and the mainline

railways Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

. The final pit closed in 1970, and the site was cleared shortly afterwards.

Areas within Whittleford Park

Haunchwood includes remnants of ancient woodland that used to span Barpool Valley. It is full of silver birch, willow, coppiced hazel, oak, ash, holly and blackthorn. In spring it is carpeted with wild garlic and bluebells. The woods are home to varied wildlife such as squirrels, jays, foxes, green woodpeckers, muntjac deer and rabbits. Vale View And Hawthorn Common, once devoted to clay holes, are now areas for sport, recreation. They are set among meadowland, abundant with butterflies and bees feeding on the wild flowers and grasses. Gorse Valley contains one of the largest areas of original bluebell woodland in the park, and an area of gorse that has countrywide importance. Barpool Valley Barpool and Whittleford brooks run through the centre of the park, sustaining the wetland habitats of the flood plain. The marshlands considered are one of the park's main assets.

Development of the site

In 2006 Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council gave permission for part of the Whittleford Park site to be used for housing. Whittleford Park is classified as a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINC) in the Heart of England. For the past 10 years the park - now owned by Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council - has used a small group help to look after the park. The group has both a Facebook page as well, as a blog for those interested in getting involved.Friends of Whittleford Park blog
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References

{{coord, 52.525, -1.503, type:landmark_region:GB_dim:2000, display=title Nuneaton Parks and open spaces in Warwickshire Urban public parks