Betteshanger Shale
Betteshanger Colliery was the last coal mine to open for production in Kent, in 1927, and the last to close, in 1989. From the ‘pit top’ the coal and spoil were carried by an enclosed conveyor belt system down the hill, under the main Deal-Sandwich road and across farmland to the spoil tip site by the railway. After closure the former mine and spoil tip languished unused until the regional development agency, South East England Development Agency (SEEDA), acting as agents for English Partnerships, acquired the freehold in 2000. As part of the National Coalfields Programme, and thanks to a good deal of hard work by the regional development agency and members of the Betteshanger Regeneration Team, the former Betteshanger Colliery spoil tip was regenerated into Fowlmead Country Park.
Betteshanger Shale
Betteshanger Colliery was the last coal mine to open for production in Kent, in 1927, and the last to close, in 1989. From the ‘pit top’ the coal and spoil were carried by an enclosed conveyor belt system down the hill, under the main Deal-Sandwich road and across farmland to the spoil tip site by the railway. After closure the former mine and spoil tip languished unused until the regional development agency, South East England Development Agency (SEEDA), acting as agents for English Partnerships, acquired the freehold in 2000. As part of the National Coalfields Programme, and thanks to a good deal of hard work by the regional development agency and members of the Betteshanger Regeneration Team, the former Betteshanger Colliery spoil tip was regenerated into Fowlmead Country Park.