NEW information boards will greet local history hunters and Forest of Dean tourists when they visit New Fancy, once the location of one of the Dean’s major coal mines but now transformed into a popular and much-visited amenity site.

Architects of the project to improve the facilities and broaden the range of information are members of the Forest of Dean Local History Society.

The boards have been redesigned by David Harris, of Blakeney, and erected by a team led by conservation officer Simon Moore.

But there is still more to be done — and the next task to be tackled means a hands and knees scrubbing for the famous ‘Geomap’ which combines a geology map of the Forest with an industrial history map showing the location of 102 collieries, 39 iron mines and 49 quarries.

The map, which can be walked on, demonstrates the link between the underlying geology and the quarrying and mining industries.

Society chairman Mary Sullivan, of Lydbrook, is to ask for volunteers from the 300 strong membership to complete the task in time for Easter.

New Fancy, between Parkend and Speech House, first produced coal in 1852.

At its peak 700 men were employed there winning 500 tons of coal a day before it was closed in 1944.

Over its long life 15 miners were lost there.

New Fancy’is also the site of the history society’s Miners’ Memorial while a stone and plaque marks the site of the New Fancy number two shaft.

The society’s first meeting of the New Year is at Bream’s West Dean Centre this Saturday (Januaray 11) at 3pm when the speaker will be Gerald Cooke who will tell the story of the remarkable transformation of a Mitcheldean brewery into a world-famous copying machine business and now a business park.