Just come back from a couple of days in the Forest of Dean. Called in at Princess Royal Colliery (one of 2 in the forest with pit baths) only to find that most of it has been demolished.
Last time I was here, it was being converted, and I expected to find apartments or whatever. The Pit baths were renown for having their original tiling, and I was shocked to find most of the building razed. All that's left is a small portion of the lower storey. Will post photos on database later.

This was just pure vandalism - another example of the lack of respect for our proud mining heritage.
BTW, the guy who owns the caravan site where we were staying, was a Bevan Boy at Princess Royal, and hated every minute of it. Also found out yesterday that a new freemine has started near Cinderford. Met the miners daughter, and trying to find exact location. Monument mine seems to be working full time. Will post pics

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Presume the New Mine you mention,is the Harding brothers mine,if so,it started about 6mths ago

Although ,there is another mine in the pipeline,a relation of one of Monuments owners i believe.

Think you're right about it being the Harding Brothers. Spoke to the owner of Monument who was working this morning, and he thought it would be the one in Cinderford.

Really sad to see the amount of destruction on the Forest at the moment. It appears that there is a lot of activity capping shafts, and few of them are being marked for the future.
I'm trying to photograph as much as possible whilst it's still there.

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A lot of the buildings at Eastern United are still standing,some are being used for other businesses,not sure if the Baths are still there,or what condition they are in if so.

Just look at the Stone buildings on the Old Collieries we had in South Wales,pure craftmanship,but mostly gone under the bulldozer
Although a Brick building,Crumlin Navigation in Crumlin is worth a look at,good photo`s on the Welshcoalmines site to give you an idea of the quality workmanship,even though listed,its sadly left to decay.

Yes, Eastern United baths were still standing, but the site was up for sale, so the future is uncertain.
However, the trend seems to be to disregard the importance of our mining heritage, and simply to destroy what can never be replaced.
Even the unique? engine house at Fairplay was inaccessible this week, as forestry operations have destroyed the paths around the house, and the nearest I could get was circa 100 yards.
Nature gradually reclaims the forest. We are far more brutal about it and hundreds of years of history disappear in a few weeks.

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