New Fancy

New Fancy was a colliery on the Forest of Dean Coalfield near Parkend in Gloucestershire, England. After the colliery closed its spoil heap was landscaped. The site has a picnic area, and viewing site from where goshawks can be seen. It is linked to the Forest of Dean Family Cycle Trail.HistoryNew Fancy colliery was opened by Edward Protheroe in 1827, as part of the Park End Coal Company in the Forest of Dean. By 1860 it was owned by Sully & Company and in 1885 was sold to the Parkend & New Fancy Collieries Company. It remained in operation until 1944. In 1880 the colliery produced 8,382 tons of coal. In 1900 the colliery site contained a wooden headframe, a Cornish-type engine house with an external egg-ended boiler built in the 1840s and a hand-operated windlass for raising and lowering items in the shaft. The winding gear was converted to electricity in 1916. Its site is a scheduled monument.Bird watchingThe top of the old coal mine spoil heap has been converted into a viewing site for birdwatchers, and gives panoramas over an extensive forested area. It is best known for viewing raptors, especially goshawks, best seen from late morning onwards in February and March. In February 1998, a female two-barred crossbill was present in a crossbill flock, drawing birdwatchers from across Britain.