De Coolen, Riemst, Limburg, Belgium
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TeamYakara
N 50° 46.673 E 005° 34.641
31U E 681701 N 5628292
De Coolen is a marl quarry and nature reserve on the border of the districts of Millen and Val-Meer. It is managed by Limburgs Landschap vzw.
The name of the area means: De Kuilen.
The area consists of a small hillside forest, including a medium-sized marl quarry, whose tunnel system covers a length of about 1 km. Some fossils were found in the tunnel system.
Waymark Code: WMZ0AB
Location: Limburg, Belgium
Date Posted: 08/19/2018
Views: 2
Presumably, in Roman times, the marl mining began, witnessed by the discovery of a Roman tomb, in 1868, just 150 meters from the current entrance. This grave was made up of marl blocks. Vineyard terraces were also found, presumably from the same time, as the Romans fertilized these with marl.
From 1286 the first written notices of the quarry date, and from later times it was also mentioned in property records, but nothing was left of marl mining, not even inscriptions in the corridors themselves. A single text may be from about 1500, but it is so badly weathered that it can not be determined with certainty. It was not until 1800 that marl mining began, and researches showed that a quarter of the inscriptions originate from the 19th century, and three quarters of the 20th century.
From 1900, mushroom cultivation was also practiced in the quarry, and later there were even plans to fill this quarry with waste. Eventually the quarry came to the Limburg Landscape in 1988, after which the corridors were cleaned and provided with fences and grilles. The corridors are not accessible to guarantee the tranquility of the bats
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