Calverton Pit and Watchwood Plantation, 19th June 2024

Starting at the car park on Gravelly Hollow north of Calverton, Howard led eleven members on a lovely undulating walk over the site of the former Calverton Colliery, visiting the Polish War Memorial, before returning through Watchwood Plantation and past Fox Covert Nature Reserve with expansive views and mainly on hard-surfaced tracks.

Calverton Colliery (1952-1993). Maximum output 1,2 million tons (1963/64), maximum manpower 1,837 in 1958.  Lots more on the history of the pit, photographs and videos here

Gravelly Hollow

Setting off

Pit Top, 161m

View over Calverton Village from Pit Top

Common Spotted Orchid and Kidney Vetch

Drinks stop

Memorial in Watchwood Plantation commemorating the deaths of three Polish airmen who crashed here on October 13, 1940