Seldom Seen

Last updated: 14 October 2005

Seldom Seen is a short row on the old approach, beyond the green as you leave the hall behind you. The name is the name the cottages have always had. They were put up for the early waggonway and the drift by the Belling Burn, and they have outlasted both. The Seldom Seen pit was worked out before Bank Top and Far Colliery were opened in 1889. The cottages stand by the lane and are occupied. It is not marked on all maps. There is no turning place; drivers should reverse at the hall and come to it on foot if they come at all.

The houses look toward the trees rather than the road. The gardens are the gardens of people who live there. Visitors walking the old approach are asked to treat the row as they would any other private houses: the way back is the way you came, as far as the hall.

Walkers on the eastern loop sometimes come out near Seldom Seen, and sometimes they do not; the loop is a forest walk, and the trees do not always give the same view. If the path becomes indistinct, the stile is the place to return to. Dogs on leads along the row. See also Getting Here: on foot.