For many years the urban village centre of Combe Down, south of Bath was blighted by the gradual collapse of some of the mine chambers below. For this was where in the 18th Century city entrepreneur Ralph Allen mined to expand the use of the area’s fine limestone, taking advantage of the recently engineered Avon River navigation to transport stone by water all around Britain.
After much consideration the planned solution for the problem of the mines was to fill almost all of the workings with pulverised fuel ash/cement slurry, the waste derived from coal fired power stations. Over a period of 7 years the £55 million cost was funded by Central Government. The necessary planning application process flagged up a significant heritage and ecological value deficit arising from the proposed works. The mines were a notable habitat for a wide range of bat species. They were also rich in their ability to evidence the early history of the mining trade of considerable social significance, in old machinery and graffiti left by several generations of miners.
In mitigation for the losses of heritage value the planning decision demanded several strands of heritage mitigation. There would be an extensive programme of recording and removal of graffiti and a visitor centre and community social hub where the value could be refocused.
Nash Partnership were appointed to articulate the scope of the mitigation exploring how a preferred use could be used to create this facility and allow direct access into the section of the mine works that would be preserved for heritage purposes. The task involved extensive community consultation to extract aspects of the history and help shape the full scope of the mitigation work.