GeoGraph - photograph every grid square

Bell Lane

The name of the bridle path between Smalley and the former Shipley Estate is derived from the bell pits where miners dug coal for the Abbot of Chester before Henry VII came on the scene. Coal mining on a larger more commercial scale continued until the latter part of the 20th century and it is only recently that plans for opencasting in the area have been thwarted. (Update May 2006 - I may be a little premature in that as there is a Public Enquiry ongoing at the moment.)