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LEI Country

Rough and Rising Wood



ROUGH PARK & RISING WOOD This area is part of the Staunton Harold Estate and is owned by one of the Blunt Family.


The area has been used for some time and is in several distinct blocks. There are mature woodlands both sides of the road which in places include evidence of early mining activity in the shape of a series of depressions which are almost certainly old bell pits. This area is known as Rough Park but surrounding an area of pastureland to its west is a circle of new plantings which are now maturing, interspersed with older copses and hedgerows. This area is known as Rising Wood and has numerous ditches and ponds. The area can get very wet in places and there are areas of dense undergrowth but others where the going is good. This is an area of differing terrain offering good opportunities for the sport.


Our mapped area also includes Lount Nature Reserve on the site of New Lount Colliery. In 1997, Leicestershire County Council completed restoration with financial aid from the Government and through European funding. Three wetland pools near the top of the tip were created in 1986 to safeguard plants threatened by nearby open cast mining. Marshland, grassland and waterside plants from that time have now established themselves well. Unimproved grassland which naturally colonised the site when mining ceased, is left as open ground and is a haven for grass snakes and bee orchids. Bats hunt over both water areas and the open grassland. The old tarmac areas of the sidings remain intact as a reminder of the site's past - the last deep mine in Coleorton parish which, when closed, ended 500 years of deep mining in the parish.