New Lount Nature Reserve
After British Coal first began remodelling the disused coal works, Leicestershire County Council (who own the site) completed restoration with Government and European funding in 1997. New Lount Nature Reserve is a 48 acre site within the National Forest. It consists of ponds, planted trees, scrub and mixed grassland. After a good deal of hard work it was reopened as the New Lount Nature Reserve, which now has quite a large variety of plants and wildlife.
Heritage Trail
The developers of the site took advantage of the natural features to create pools and wet areas in 1986. Wild grasses and plants established themselves and together with planned planting provides a suitable environment for grasses, water and water-edge plants. The whole area supports a wide range of Flora and Fauna. Many birds have made their homes here. Bats came into the area to feed on the insects that flourished near the water and the meadows.
Alongside all the change and rejuvenation, the remnants of the old mine-workings and railway, including the old sidings are still here. Tub/wagon tracks, the chimney-base, the pit bank, and a number of demolished brick buildings, are also still in evidence. In places, like the east part of the reserve, (the old colliery-yard area) the plants are very poor, because of the mining spoil and metal compounds left in the soil by the mining activity. Fossils (of the plants that did not turn into coal) are in the mining spoil.
New Lount Nature Reserve is part of the National Forest.
The remains of the mining and the railway are reminders of Newbold's past (Worthington parish's last deep mine was New Lount). The shutdown in 1968 ended 500 years of deep mining here.
Now the Reserve Is a pleasant place for a leisurely walk amongst the wildlife.
Trees have grown naturally and by human planting, since the colliery closed in 1968. Tree rings show most of the wood is 30-40 years old.
