The photo shows Vine Cottage, Brinsley after the closure of Brinsley Colliery in the late 1960s. The centre of the picture was the line of the colliery railway which ran beside the cottage and is featured in Lawrence's early story, 'Odour of Chrysanthemums', displaying a characteristic awareness of the natural order alongside the account of the industrial world:
The small locomotive engine, Number 4, came clanking, stumbling down from Selston with seven full wagons. It appeared round the corner with loud threats of speed, but the colt that it startled from among the gorse, which still flickered indistinctly in the raw afternoon, outdistanced it at a canter.
The remains of the original headstocks, holding the winding gear, can be seen in the left distance. This view can be compared with the contemporary scene shown in my blog from March 2012. The headstocks have been restored and the whole area converted into a pleasant, wooded country park.
At present the owner of Vine Cottage is attempting to raise funds to restore the building and convert it into a museum. But there is concern about the plans to build 300 houses on the land between Church Street, Brinsley and the old colliery site, which it is feared would destroy the semi-rural atmosphere of the area.
