Coalville Photography | Leszek Chrzastowski

Coalville is the town I call home, and I have been photographing it for years. This is my ongoing photographic project about Coalville, Leicestershire: a former coal-mining town in North West Leicestershire, on the edge of Charnwood Forest, that most people drive through and few take the time to look at properly.

Coalville from above: aerial drone photography

The first part of the project looks at Coalville and the villages and countryside around it from the air. Snow on the Memorial Clock Tower, the ruins of the Stableford wagon works, Bonfire Night over the rugby club, mist around Mount St Bernard Abbey and sunsets over Bardon Hill Quarry and Ashby-de-la-Zouch. View the full Coalville from Above gallery, or if you fly yourself, see my guide to where to fly a drone around Coalville.

Aerial drone panorama of Coalville town centre, Leicestershire, with the Memorial Clock Tower and Memorial Square at dusk — Coalville town centre from above, with the Memorial Clock Tower at its heart. April 2022.

Snow-covered Coalville town centre seen from a drone, with the Memorial Clock Tower, rooftops and the railway line — Snow over Coalville and the Memorial Clock Tower, March 2023.

Night aerial view of the Coalville Memorial Clock Tower and Memorial Square, with lit streets and shopfronts around the town centre — The Memorial Clock Tower and Memorial Square at night, March 2022.

Black and white aerial view of the derelict Stableford & Co railway carriage and wagon works in Coalville, with new houses being built behind — The derelict Stableford & Co wagon works, with new homes rising around it.

Black and white aerial photo of the collapsed roofs and chimneys of the derelict Stableford wagon works in Coalville, with new housing beyond — Collapsed roofs and old chimneys at the Stableford wagon works.

Top-down drone view of a new roundabout in Hugglescote, Coalville, surrounded by finished homes and houses under construction — Looking straight down on the Hugglescote roundabout nicknamed the “Death Star”, April 2022.

Aerial night view of Bonfire Night fireworks and smoke over the Coalville Rugby Club field, with crowds and the lights of Coalville — Bonfire Night fireworks over Coalville Rugby Club, November 2022.

Aerial view of Hermitage Lake with its wooded island, the recreation ground and the houses of Whitwick and Coalville beyond — Hermitage Lake and Recreation Ground, between Coalville and Whitwick, March 2022.

Aerial view of Mount St Bernard Abbey in Charnwood Forest at sunrise, with mist drifting over green fields and woodland — Morning mist over Mount St Bernard Abbey and the fields of Charnwood Forest, May 2023.

The setting sun shining through the tower of Mount St Bernard Abbey, seen from a drone above green fields in Leicestershire — The setting sun framed by the abbey tower, August 2023.

Aerial view of Bardon Hill Quarry near Coalville, with conveyors, stockpiles, haul roads and the deep quarry pit under a blue sky — Bardon Hill Quarry from above, September 2023.

Misty sunrise aerial panorama of Blackbrook Reservoir and the green fields and hedgerows of Charnwood Forest, Leicestershire — Blackbrook Reservoir in Charnwood Forest on a misty May morning, 2023.

Places in the Coalville project

Coalville Memorial Clock Tower

The 68-foot Memorial Clock Tower in Memorial Square is Coalville’s best-known landmark. Designed by Henry Collins and unveiled on 31 October 1925, it is the town’s war memorial and a Grade II listed building. I have photographed it from the air at night and under snow, when the whole town centre turns white.

Stableford railway carriage and wagon works

Alongside its collieries, Coalville built railway wagons. Stableford & Co made carriages, wagons and rolling stock for railways in Britain and overseas, and by 1914 employed between 900 and 1,200 people. My black and white aerial series shows the derelict works as new homes rise around it.

Hugglescote and the new Coalville

On the southern side of town, Hugglescote is changing fast as new housing estates spread across former farmland. Seen straight down from a drone, one of the new roundabouts looks so much like a space station that it earned the nickname “Death Star”.

Bonfire Night at Coalville Rugby Club

Every November crowds gather at Coalville Rugby Club for the town’s bonfire and fireworks. From above, the display lights up the whole field and the streets of Coalville glowing around it.

Hermitage Lake, Whitwick

Between Coalville and Whitwick, Hermitage Lake and its recreation ground are a favourite spot for anglers, dog walkers and families, with a small wooded island in the middle of the water.

Mount St Bernard Abbey, Charnwood Forest

Just outside Coalville, Mount St Bernard Abbey was founded in 1835 as the first permanent monastery in England since the Reformation. Its church was designed by Augustus Pugin, and today it is home to England’s only community of Trappist monks, who brew Tynt Meadow beer. I have photographed it in morning mist and with the sunset shining through its tower.

Bardon Hill Quarry and Blackbrook Reservoir

Bardon Hill, at 278 metres the highest point in Leicestershire, rises just east of Coalville beside one of the largest quarries in the UK, cut into ancient volcanic rock. A few miles north, Blackbrook Reservoir sits among the fields and woods of Charnwood Forest and is a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Ashby-de-la-Zouch and the M1 at Markfield

The project also reaches the edges of the area: sunsets over the A42 and Flagstaff Island at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, a wind turbine silhouetted against the evening sky, and the lights of the M1 at Junction 22 near Markfield.

Coming next

Two more galleries are on the way: Coalville street photography, about the people, shops and everyday moments that give the town its character, and More from Coalville, with landscapes, nature and heritage from the ground.

Prints and aerial photography in Coalville

I am a photographer based in Coalville, and I add new images to this project regularly. If you would like a print of any Coalville photograph, you can order one from my prints shop. For drone and aerial photography of your business, event or property in and around Coalville, see my commercial photography page or get in touch.