The Clock Face Colliery Country Park
Plus the new community woodlands nearby:
Maypole Wood, Wheatacre and Griffin Wood
Photo-Album | Location | Clock Face Colliery
As its name suggests, CLOCK FACE COLLIERY COUNTRY PARK in St.Helens is on the site of a former colliery that dates back to 1890. By the early 1960s the mine was producing over 160,000 tons of coal a year and employing over 700 men. However, in October 1965 the National Coal Board deemed the pit uneconomic and announced that the collery would close the following year.
The Clock Face Country Park can look beautiful when it snows - photographed in February 2007
The site was reclaimed by St Helens Council as a community woodland and public open space in the late 1990s. Measuring 57 acres, the park contains developing woodlands, footpath networks, meadow areas and a fishing pond that is leased to the Clock Face Angling Club. It’s linked to the Sutton Manor Woodland, another former colliery along 'Miners Way', a reclaimed mineral railway route.
A jogger on a perimeter path in the Clock Face Country Park, St Helens - photographed in May 2006
There is plenty of wildlife to spot if one looks close enough. This website's owner once jogged over the site at 5am and counted 30 rabbits. I can discount scurrilous suggestions that it was one hyperactive rabbit which I saw running about 30 times!
Wild flower meadow in the Clock Face Country Park, St Helens - photographed in June 2006
There's no big extensive sculpture located at Clock Face Country Park and no amenities of note. However it's a fabulous place to walk the dog, exercise or simply relax. Plus there's some great woodland located close by which brings us neatly to....
Maypole Wood by Clock Face Country Park
Unlike the Country Park, Maypole Wood has a number of benches which have been especially constructed at designated points so that visitors can take a break and admire the young trees which are growing rapidly and enjoy the birdsong and wildlife.
Some of the young trees in Maypole Wood - photographed in February 2005
The trees in Maypole Wood are flourishing - photographed in May 2007
The Forestry Commission’s notices on the site state:
Welcome to this Forestry Commission community woodland. Whether walking the dog or riding through take a moment to relax amidst this mosaic of woods, grassland and wet meadow. Watch finches on the seed heads or buzzards hunting rabbits. Listen for the “little bit of bread and no cheese” call of yellowhammer or just the buzz of bees amongst the wildflowers and trees. In the centre are willow beds where different weaving varieties are being grown.
Click Here for Mersey Forest's walking map fact sheet with more information on Maypole Wood.
Griffin Wood Community Woodland
Griffin Wood is a new 12-hectare community woodland located at the bottom of Hall Lane by the M62 and close to Maypole Wood and the adjacent Clock Face Colliery Country Park. The creation of Griffin Wood has involved carefully managing an existing overgrown woodland, improving its accessibility through the installation of small bridges or boardwalks and the planting of many new trees both inside the existing wood and outside on former farmland.
Imposing sculptures in Griffin Wood - the new woodland in Bold
The woodland is being developed by Mersey Forest on behalf of Community Forests North West, who in 2006 consulted with the local community so they could incorporate local people's ideas into the woodland's design. Griffin Wood was chosen as the name, as a griffin features in the legend of the derivation of Bold, plus a griffin also appears on the St.Helens coat of arms.
Work was then undertaken to prepare the ground for the sowing of wild flower meadows and the planting of trees. Then in March 2007 thousands of young trees were planted with the development of the woodland expected to take several years.
A Friends of Griffin Wood community group have worked closely with the Mersey Forest team to develop orchards, plant hedgerow and create habitats and tree and bulb planting events, to enhance the existing woodland, have been held.
Imposing sign at the entrance to Griffin Wood just off Hall Lane in Bold
A blog documenting the development of Griffin Wood has been produced which is well worth reading. Griffin Wood directions are here. Note that Hall Lane is a private road, although pedestrian access is permitted, car parking is not allowed. Cars can be left at the nearby car park at Clockface Country Park on Gorsey Lane or at the Chester Lane Community Centre and Library.
"When I Grow Up I'm Going to Be A Big, Strong Tree!" - photographed in Griffin Wood in April 2007
Wheatacre Community Woodland
Wheatacre woodland photographed in June 2009
It's worth also mentioning Wheatacre here as like the other community woodlands, it's in close proximity to the Clock Face Colliery Country Park. The main entrance is off Gorsey Lane and the site is sandwiched between Colliers Moss and Burtonwood and runs alongside the Bold Business Centre. Click here for Mersey Forest's Wheatacre walking map fact sheet for more information.
The Forestry Commission’s notices on the site state:
Created from farmland and now open for everyone to enjoy, there is something for you here whatever your age. Kick a ball about, gather with your mates at a bench or just stroll through listening to the larks. Walk the dog or admire the wildflowers and ponds, butterflies and dragonflies. Or ride your horse or bike through to other nearby open spaces.
Wheatacre woodland with Fiddlers Ferry power station in the background
Heritage: Clock Face Colliery; Colliery Photo-Album; Research Sources;
Regular Events involving Clock Face Country Park, Maypole & Griffin Woods:
Clock Face / Maypole Wood Health Walk (monthly);
Friends of Griffin Wood Meetings;
Contact Details: Mersey Forest: 01925 816217; Email; Griffin Wood Blog;
St.Helens Council Civic Pride & Community Spaces Section: 01744 456123
Clock Face Angling Club: c/o St.Helens Garden Centre and Pet Supplies, 414 Clock Face Road. Tel. 01744 811960 - Day tickets costing £5 (£3 juniors) for the fishing pond in the Clock Face Colliery Country Park are available from the garden centre where fishing tackle and bait can also be acquired. League matches are held on many Sundays for members only.
Header picture: Walking the dog in the Clock Face Colliery Country Park in May 2006
Sutton Beauty & Heritage strives for factual accuracy at all times. Please do contact me if you believe there are any errors, with details of all corrections contained within the site's update history page which also details the regular updates. If you have any further Sutton information or photographs that you would like to share in this project, I would be delighted to hear from you. This website always credits any assistance given. I respond quickly to all emails and if you haven't received a reply within 12 hours, check your junk mail folder. Thank you! SRW
