Hugglescote Dismantled Railway
Selected Wild Place / Other Wild Places / Public Rights of Way / VC55 boundary
On-road parking is available on the housing estates to the north and south sections of the old track line with access via permissive paths and steps. The northern section has several access points off the new development at Hugglescote.
Private with Permissive Footpaths
Site species count:
This section of disused railway line forms part of the Ashby and Nuneaton Joint Railway line which opened in 1873 and joined Coalville to Ashby to provide a link to the smaller quarries and collieries in Coalville and the surrounding villages. Hugglescote station served the village where it joined the Leicester to Burton line and Charnwood Forest line (to Loughborough). The line closed to passengers in 1931 and to goods in 1965.
Although nature is slowly re-establishing itself, there is still much evidence of the line still in place with signalling, bridge abutments, clinker and industrial waste forming part of an extensive mosaic amongst wildflowers, gorse and hawthorn scrub and grasses. This rich mix of our industrial past and natural heritage provides an important corridor for wildlife to frequent and disperse. Often over-looked, this area has been made more accessible with new pathways and permissive paths to explore the woodland, marsh and heath grassland to the north.
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