Shrub belt

Image: © Jonathan Kington Taken: 3 Mar 2011

On the right and left of the picture trees such as Alder, Ash, Rowan, Cherry and Oak have been planted to create new woodland. Shrubs such as Hawthorn, Hazel, Guelder Rose, Dog Wood and Willow have been planted through the centre. The 11.8 hectare Brindley Meadow started life in the 19th century as a sandstone quarry known as Knypersley Quarry. In later years it became a dumping ground for slag from a nearby foundry and for shale from local mining activities, this was to continue until the site was abandoned and left derelict in the 1960’s. In the mid-1990’s a development company, Banks Group ( http://www.banksgroup.co.uk/ ), became involved and applied for, and secured, planning permission to reclaim the quarry. This involved the extraction of coal from underneath the quarry between 1997 and 1999 and the tipping of 250,000 tonnes of inert material into the quarry between 2000 and 2002, with the final reclamation finished in the same year. Approximately 50% of the site is planted with trees to create woodland, the rest with wildflowers and shrubs.

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