Lodge View,Coal Pits.

Any information on Lodge View?Shown on 1831 maps,it overlooked what is now Broad Oak Lodge at Fairfield.There are remains of a building beside the path to the lodge.On the same map are shown Coal Pits,between Fairfield Drive and where the hospital now stands.Was there a pit there?I thought the nearest was across the fields towards Summit.Any information would be gratefully received.

I was not aware of any coal mining in this area, which would be just before the Jericho Workhouse was built. I thought that the nearest pits were Birtle pit, somewhere near the Pack Horse and Gristlehurst (same area and might even have been the same pit), which was auctioned off at the end of the 19th century.

There was a mine directly across the fields from Fairfield Hospital,towards Heywood Summit.There is also reference to Bullion pit at Broad Oak Bury(not the Broadoak pit at Oldham).

there used to be a lane, running from Bury New Road Heywood at Prettywood to Broad Oak Woods, called Coal Pit Lane. I can only recall bits of 'word of mouth' info regarding this area which referred to coal being transported up this lane from a pit to the railway goods depot that used to exist at Prettywood. I drove down this lane in Landrover sometime in the 1980's, before the landfill took place and the lane was lost. Before the landfill it was possible to travel from Bury New Road at Prettywood along this lane, crossing a wooden bridge over the River Roche near to Broad Oak Farm and continue up into the grounds of Fairfield Hospital via Broad Oak Terrace...which was a row of cottages if I remember rightly. I hope this is of use to you.