Exceptionally preserved plant fossils from Crock Hey The coal from the Lancashire Coal Field has been extracted for many years. Sometimes this is done in underground mines,   but also often in opencast coal pits. In the former case the life span can be long, like the Bickershow mine, which was closed down in 1992 after having yielded coal for more than 150 years. In the latter case the life span is much shorter: mostly less than 10 years. When the concession has been exhausted, the quarry is filled up and made ready for new landscape (building houses included). Click here for SandyForth Opencast. An example of such a temporary coal pit is Crock Hey (also called Crockhey), which is situated between Liverpool and Manchester, not far from Wigan. This quarry yielded coal for 8 years and has been closed down recently. The pit has been filled in and soon the memory of the big hole will fade away. But not in the mind of the paleontologists! In the quarry, concretions of siderite (an iron compound) occurred in which plants and small animals from the coal swamps of the Late Carboniferous (Westphalian A) have been preserved in exceptionally good quality. A couple of local amateurs have collected these nodules during the life span of the quarry and they have built up wonderful collections. With one of them, Steve Livesley from Lowton, I have come in contact through my website. With him, my wife and I have collected in the quarry during its last days. We have found there several nice fossils, but they pale before Steve's splendid collection. Below is a choice of his plant fossils. The photos are mine. Pictures of animals from the siderite nodules, like xiphosurids, millipeds and insects, are on the page 'Little animals in the coals swamps'. Search for the addition Crockhey. Horsetails Annularia radiata Annularia radiata Asterophyllites equisetiformis Asterophyllites longifolius Asterophyllites charaeformis Sphenophyllum emarginatum Calamostachys sp. Calamostachys ramosa 'Bulbil' of Asterophyllites 'Bulbil' Clubmosses Lepidodendron lycopodioides Lepidodendron simile Lepidostrobophyllum lanceolatum Lepidostrobus Lepidostrobus Lepidostrobus Cyperites Sigillaria tesselata Sigillariostrobus Lepidodendron Ferns Pecopteris miltoni Pecopteris miltoni Pecopteris sp. Seed ferns Laveinopteris loshii Laveinopteris loshii Neuropteris dussartii Neuropteris jongmansii Mariopteris muricata Mariopteris muricata Climber hooks of Mariopteris muricata Climber hooks of Mariopteris muricata Zeilleria delicatula Neuropteris jongmansii Eusphenopteris sauveurii Sturia amoena Cordaites Cordaianthus SandyForth Opencast (contribution by Steve Livesley) Top