ABSTRACT
Bolsover is a small market town of some 13,000 inhabitants located in the county of Derbyshire, c. 5 miles east of Chesterfield and c. 25 miles north of Nottingham. It lies on the edge of a limestone escarpment which forms the east side of the Doe Lea valley. Until the closures, Bolsover's economy relied primarily on the deep-mined coal industry – not just the collieries themselves, but also the area headquarters of the National Coal Board, until it was closed in 1987. In post-medieval period, Bolsover became famous for the production of high quality buckles and spurs, but this industry appears to have died out by the mid nineteenth century. In 1993, the District of Bolsover commissioned Groundwork Creswell to undertake a strategic study of the Carr Vale valley and the western approaches to Bolsover. The study generated a long term plan for ecological, economic and recreational regeneration of valley, known as The Carr Vale Strategy.
