Extract:
'This route taking in Strelley and the Swingate area of Kimberley encircles the old mining settlement of Babbington. Many of the tracks that this route follows were once railway lines which served local pits, as in the 1860's there were 9 coal mines in this small area alone.

The road towards Babbington is the route of an old railway line that took coal from Babbington Colliery to a wharf on the Nottingham Canal. For some years in the mid 1800's Babbington was the centre of the empire of entreprenuner Thomas North. Though now a sleepy hamlet, the evidence of mining is still around, from the cottages that housed the pit workers to the old spoil heaps scattered around the local fields. Some of the earliest coal miming in the county occured in this area, with records showing that in nearby Cossall, coal was being dug as early as 1316.'