Thursday, April 19, 2018

Over the fields

Where are we?  

 You might think we were out in the countryside walking across hills under leaden skies

 The ground is wet and muddy and you definitely need waterproof boots or wellies.

 The area I've photographed is called Berry Hill Fields and is no more than ten minutes walk from where we live. 

 It's an area of  fields, a green oasis in between all the housing of Fenton and Longton two of the six towns which make up the city of Stoke-on-Trent.  Here people can walk, exercise, picnic, walk dogs, ride horses and spot wildlife.  Many birds spotted here you would usually only associate with more rural areas.

 As we walked we saw a heron fly above us, buzzards and kestrels were also spotted as well as skylarks. Recently, according to a birding website a ring ouzel, wheatears and lesser whitethroat have been spotted. There are small ponds housing rare newts and also many species of insects.  Fox, badger, rabbit and hare live here too.

 The bottom area of the fields has been turned into a nature reserve and a friends group was formed quite a few years ago now.  Here is a - link - to their website to find out more.

 Recently it has come to the attention of the residents of the surrounding housing estates that this area is now under threat from a housing developer.  There have been several meetings and now an action group has been formed to fight the building of houses, shops and access roads on this site when there are more suitable brownfield or old industrial sites with derelict factory buildings within the city that could be used.  More houses are definitely needed but it does need to be affordable housing for both purchase and rental not the kind of housing that is likely to be built. Although any kind of housing and roads would have a huge impact upon the wildlife in this area.

Both the nature reserve and the nearby retirement village could be affected by the development if it goes ahead. We will watch with both concern and  interest to see what  happens over the next few months.

The nature reserve is also the site of a medieval moated farm house known as Lawn Farm.  An archaeological survey discovered the foundations of the farm house

 Wording on the information panel above is:-

In the 13th and 14th centuries activity on Beryyhill fields centred on the moat below you.  Archaeology has shown that here the Lord of the Manor kept a hunting lodge.  Most of Berryhill was covered with the woods of Fenton Park where deer roamed.  Other creatures that ended up of the Lord's table were fish from the ponds formed by damming a small stream and pigeons nesting in a large round dovecote within the moat.  Grain was dried in the outdoor oven but the purpose of the large central building is as yet unknown, perhaps this was where the Lord of Manor entertained his guests.

 
Above is what remains of the moat today, the foundations of the buildings found by the dig have been covered over.

The winding path above leads up the hill to the four black painted pit wheels which stand close to  the site of the old Mossfield Colliery.

This is a memorial to the sixty four miners who lost their lives in the explosion at the colliery on 16th October 1889. There is another memorial which lists the names of those lost in Longton Cemetery.  There was another explosion at the same colliery on 21st March 1940 when eleven miners were killed and one man severely injured.

All photos were taken over the Easter weekend.

26 comments:

  1. How horrible, to lose this beautiful natural area, to development!!!!! Oh I do hope that the battle to save this, is successful. And that many, many people, join in the project, to save it.

    Delightful gate!!! Friends of Berry Hill Field put up.

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    1. The archway into the site is lovely isn't it? I do hope at least some of the site can be saved but I expect some housing will appear at some point in time:)

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  2. What a wonderful place to have so close to home and so very sad it is threatened by development. I do hope the battle to save it is won. Please let us know what happens. Places like this in cities are so important and it would be such a shame to lose it.

    Lawn Farm sounds so interesting too and the memorial to the miners is very original and moving.

    The gate the Friends put up is charming.

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    1. It is a lovely area of green and people do use it. We went to the first meeting in the local school and there were nearly 200 people there to raise queries and objections especially about access and untilities to and on the site and the wildlife of course:)

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  3. I’m hoping common sense prevails and that very special, historic green space is saved. It needs lots of people power I think. It sounds like a very special area in the middle of urban development. B x

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    1. There does seem to be a lot of people power at the moment over 200 at the first meeting as it is of concern for residents on all sides of the area:)

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  4. These islands of countryside can often attract lots of birds as they fly over urban areas looking for a place to land. Lets hope someone finds a rare newt or worm on the site which dissuades the planners from building here.

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    1. I hope at least some of the area can be saved but I suspect that a scaled down plan will have to be accepted eventually:)

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  5. Places like that should be protected and nurtured, not handed over to developers.

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    1. True and there are so many more suitable sites which could be used but the developers don't like brown field sites that have to be cleaned up as it costs more money to build there:)

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  6. Such a wonderful oasis for wildlife and humans alike. Such a shame to lose this for housing. Whilst I appreciate housing is urgently needed there are other sites. I hope it is managed to be saved.

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    1. Yes, affordable housing is definitely needed to help younger people get on the housing ladder and there are loads of old factory sites across the city that could be used. The developers who are interested in this site seem to build more expensive larger homes which a lot of folks can't afford to buy:)

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  7. It's always sad to hear of places under threat of being built on. It's a tough one when housing is needed but as you say what they are wanting to build isn't always the necessary solution!

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    1. Thank, Pam - the developers in question are noted for their 'upper market' housing not for building the houses or flats that would help younger people get a foothold in owning their own home:)

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  8. Your post sounds like something I'm likely to write about as we are having similar happenings here & basically now a commuter suburb of Melbourne with new housing estates spring up all round us, when it used to be farming land & we could see sheep, cattle & orchards on our walks. But no more. Have a good weekend & take care.

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    1. I think the beauty of this city is its expanse of green areas - the city was originally six small towns and each still has its own, park, town hall and green areas around even though now part of the city. Hope you have a good weekend too:)

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  9. I hope the developers don't get their hands on the land! I don't believe there is a need to build more homes. More homes mean more schools, more hospitals and GP surgeries, more utilities etc; I think we need less people and more wildlife! Controversial?!!! Have a great weekend Rosie. x

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    1. Very true Simone, hospitals are inundated as are surgeries. The surgery we are registered with is struggling to recruit GPs and now has only four doctors instead of the six it used to have and two of those are getting close to retiring age, I keep fingers crossed to stay well as it is a devil of a job to get an appointment! Have a lovely weekend:)

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  10. Oh no it would be awful to lose such a great open space for more houses, I hope they are able to identify it as an SSI and put paid to their intentions. 😊

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    1. I hope so too, that would be the ideal solution:)

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  11. Oh this is such a shame, I do hope it doesn’t go ahead xxx

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    1. Thanks Lyn, let's hope it all comes to nothing:)

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  12. I've heard of Berryhill (I think SWT do some wildplay there, but I've never been) and it looks like a lovely spot of green. I do hope it doesn't go ahead :(

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    1. It is a great area of green in the centre of all the housing and well used too. It would be a shame if more housing encroached on it, especially for the wildlife - we will have to see what happens:)

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  13. Please feel free to contact the Action group on saveberryhillfeildsactiongroup@gmail.com we'll respond with generic periodic updates (sorry we cant reply to everyone personally) we have to build our contacts list. We'd also really encourage you all to write to your local Councillors to tell them how you feel..... they get to vote on the inclusion of the site in the local plan.

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    1. Thanks for your comment, Steve. We did come to the first meeting when there were so many people there. I see updates on facebook occasionally:)

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