As we progress into the 2019 High Season, the long days ought to invite the possibilities of starting early, but the appeal of getting on the trail before 9am is diminished by the fact of it refusing to get particularly warm even as we alight on the last weekend of Spring, and even then getting out early is going to be a non-starter when the body isn't willing to get going a work o'clock on a Saturday morning, having not had any rest time over the preceding six days. Factor in the discovery that I'm being reassigned at very short notice at work, and have thus just completed my last shift at Leeds General Infirmary after 20+ years on that site, it's hardly a surprise that my brain is all sorts of haywire as the weekend lands, and all my walking gear has to be gathered at the hurry up to get me out to Barnsley with another South to West Yorkshire stretch in mind, disembarking the train at 9.10am, as the morning's sunshine start fades to be replaced by a light covering of cloud that will persist for the whole day. Third visit of the year, and I'm already starting to get a feel for Barnsley town centre, though its main drag of shops is yet to be seen as we depart the Interchange onto Eldon Street which takes us past the Parkway cinema and the Civic theatre before we take a turn up through the Victorian Arcade, which does its best to culturally elevate its rather humble residents and tenants, as we rise to meet Market Hill and the way past the Town Hall once again as we land on Shambles Street. We shadow the back of the main shopping parade along here, as well as passing below the buildings seen on our previous passage through the town, getting a fresh angle on the Sixth Form college, the Borough Council offices and the Lamproom Theatre in its former chapel before we drop down past the Premier Inn to meet the Townend Roundabout, which offers vistas over southern Barnsley to stimulate interest for a future walking season before we eventually pick out the route that will take us westwards. Dodworth Road, the A628, will take us on into another district of proud townhouses that have probably seen better days, stretched out beyond the soon to be former Marlborough inn, looking like it might have once been on of the town's most desirable residential streets, with only the accumulated centuries of soot staining making it look like the coal town of history, though a peer down a couple of side streets gives some indication of the much more modest terraces that grew with the collieries in the area back in the 19th century.
 |
| The Victorian Arcade, Barnsley. |
 |
| The Lamproom Theatre, and Council Offices, Barnsley. |
 |
| Dodworth Road, Barnsley. |
Meeting the edge of the Victorian town we get some sense of elevation away from the Dearne valley as we look back, but what this suburban area seems to lack is a clear identity, as nothing is clearly offered by any map, and the name I'd give it, Shaw Lands, is probably a bit off to the south of here, so we are in terra incognita as the road takes us on between Horizon Community College and Penny Pie park to the crossroads with the A6133 leading south to Kingstone and the eponymous road north heading off to Pogmoor. The parades of semis continue down to where we meet the M1, where we pass around Junction 37, where the construction of which require the nearby railway line to have to be moved to accommodate it, and the view south again has us looking to terrain for a future year before we abandon the A628 and join the footway that leads us onto Castle View and Barnsley Road, the bypassed roads that lead on amongst the council houses of Dodworth, which have filled in all the fields around the sole enduring rural terrace of the lost hamlet of North Field. Past the Barnsley Holiday Inn, and the Bannatyne Health Club and Spa, we meet our previous passage this way, tacking it firmly onto our field of walking experience as we continue with shifting its boundary southwards, following the B6449 as it presses away, past St Joseph's CofE primary school as we rise to meet the older portion of the village, which is mostly stretched down the High Street, which we cross and pause by the War Memorial, where the men of the ill-fated Barnsley Pals are remembered. We can also view the Coal Miners memorial by the library, which recalls the labour of so many and the 288 men killed working in the eight pits of the west Barnsley coalfield between 1850 and 1987, before we move on, past the Methodist church and the Travellers Inn as Dodworth Green Road leads us around the suburban edge of the village, out to the church of St John the Baptist, with its many missile shaped pinnacles, before rising with the lane as it leads us to the absolute urban perimeter of greater Barnsley, where Dodworth Grange still endures, but Dodworth Hall doesn't anymore. That's an hour out from the start line again, and past Home farm and Ben Bank farm, we settle onto the high north edge of the Dove valley, as the road follows Ben Bank, naturally, and passes below Champany Hill, teasing us with new perspectives of woodlands and greenery to come in a future season as we press west along the footway, feeling the warm flush of discovery to offset the relative chill that has settled in the air of this rather unimpressive June.
 |
| Anonymous(?) Suburban Barnsley. |
 |
| The hidden North Field hamlet in Suburban Dodworth. |
 |
| The Coal Miners and War Memorials, Dodworth. |
 |
| St John the Baptist, Dodworth. |
 |
| Above the Dove Valley on Ben Bank. |
Past Hall Royd Wood, we are then lead into Silkstone Common, that suburban village that grew with the presence of the railway station, which certainly has more to it than might be expected with easily as many terraces as later arrivals along the lane at is eastern end, where volunteers are out in force for a litter clean up, and where we soon come around to the Station Inn and the railway itself, sealing another loose end onto the walking field as we rise beyond the Station House and continue to move the border southwards. Before we exit the village, it's worth pausing by information board by Woodland View, which explains more of the history of the Silkstone Waggonway and its presence by the former Black Horse farm, and then we move on passing over the former railway that carried the famously steep Worsborough incline up to the infamously ill-ventilated Silkstone Tunnels, a passage that the Trans Pennine Trail and the Dove Valley Trail follow, so far unseen despite having been on my to do list for years. Thus we move with Knabbs Lane into the headwaters of the Dove valley, taking us past the ancient Knabb's Hall farm and its kennels, and above the Shoot 5 Indoor Soccer centre, incongruously located in a wholly rural aspect, before we pass the last few suburban outliers on the Coates Lane corner and lose the footway as we hit the rising lane westwards, among the many fields of Berry Moor, which once past Thimble lodge has us feeling pretty remote from anywhere. The road is on a steady rise towards the Dove - Don watershed, so interest has us looking back to see the evolving views down the Dove valley to Barnsley and beyond, a perspective that's starting to feel familiar, while keeping the wits sharp against the oncoming traffic, which includes the Barnsley to Penistone bus service that doesn't have us feeling too lost over this strange mile, where we eventually rise to views to the north and the west, and crest the ridge by the cottage cluster around Near Coates farm, just above the Four Lane End junction with the A629 by the Traveller Inn, again. The expanse of the high fields to the south of Penistone lie ahead, with the Don valley itself hiding away in its deep groove, which we'll have to descend into as we run on towards Oxspring, following the renewed footway down Bower Hill and losing a solid 50m of altitude in a quarter mile along the way, before we soon meet the valley floor, just downstream from the redeveloped site of Oxspring mill and sticking to the realigned road so we might get a look at the old and bypassed Oxpring bridge on the River Don, rather that passing over it.
 |
| Terraces and Suburbia in Silkstone Common. |
 |
| Above the Silkstone Tunnels, and crossing the Trans Pennine Trail. |
 |
| Thimble Lodge, Berry Moor. |
 |
| Near Coates farm and company, on the Don - Dove watershed. |
 |
| Oxspring Bridge, on the River Don. |
Angling ourselves up Roughbirchworth Lane, re-orientates our day's trip from a south-westwards tack to the northwest, landing us on the B6462 Sheffield Road by the village playground, and away from this corner of older houses we pass the post office and the village school before finding a small garden in which we can pause for first lunch and check our progress on the day before heading on, finding that quite a suburb has grown around this very modest village junction, almost all of it to be found on the southern side of the road, as fields steeply angle down to the River Don to the north. Note that St Aiden's church might be the most mundane church that I have encountered outside of those that live in warehouses, and once past the Mount Pleasant terrace attention focuses forwards to Oxspring viaduct, the shorter of the pair in the locality that carries the line towards Barnsley back over the Don on eight arches, an act of engineering that proved necessary because of Penistone's location on the south bank of the river, and it's still one to admire as we pass below the bridge at its south end, as is the extent of land beyond, which is now a mixed residential site and industrial estate which was once a marshalling yard for the coal traffic that used to come over the Pennines. Over Kirkwood Beck we meet the retaining wall above which the MS&LR's wagon and wheel works used to reside, and beyond we meet the edge of greater Penistone as the terraces and semis of Spring Vale crowd the roadsides, which grew here with the Steelworks and Box factory that have long since passed, even though the industrial atmosphere persists to this day, with the suburban growth hidden from view along the main road. Past the council road maintenance depot we run close to Penistone station, on the embankment to the south and not accessible from down here, and land on the high bank above the Don, which ought to offer a view or two in the direction of the L&YR's Penistone viaduct, but residential development on the north side of the lane obscures it completely from both sides, and after we pass under it we peel away from the way to the town centre, despite it being so tantalisingly close. Instead we split off down Wentworth Road, which must have once functioned as a convenient and local bypass road for the town before suburbian development spread along it, rendering it somewhat impractical and thus got it replaced by the distant A629 and became a pair of cul-de-sacs having been blocked off midway along, right about where the Long Walk to Leicester carried me through in April.
 |
| Sheffield Road, Oxspring. |
 |
| Oxspring Viaduct. |
 |
| The Penistone Wagon & Wheel Works remnants, Spring Vale. |
 |
| Sheffield Road, Spring Vale. |
 |
| Wentworth Road, the original Penistone bypass? |
From among the terraces on its western end, we land on Bridge Street by the White Heart and the Bridge inns, and we drop down to cross the River Don via Penistone Bridge at Bridge End, and this all seems rather familiar after heading this way last week, but despite being back inside my field of walking experience, there's still plenty more to see as we join the B6462 Huddersfield Road and push through from the town's suburban fringe and uphill away from the Don as we follow one of its lesser branches. A rural aspect sits right adjacent to the redeveloping, or massively expanding, Penistone Grammar School, which appears to be in the process of absorbing the former Union Workhouse site, and having gotten so large that it needs a footbridge over the main road to access its playing fields and tennis courts that are on the wrong side of it, and once past a last stretch of suburban outliers, we pass over Scout Dike via Scout bridge, where the last house in town has turned the river into a garden feature. We then press on uphill, to meet the A629 Halifax Road, on the short stretch that is actually new bypass road rather than just a repurposing of Wellhead Road, right by the odd building that might be industrial or residential or both, just to the south of Scout Dike reservoir, which hides beyond a perimeter of trees to the south, with nearby signage advertising the home of the Barnsley Trout Club, and the route of the Penistone Boundary Walk, a local trail that I might well save up for the next time my walking season brings me this way. The road then leads us past the Kingswood Peak Venture outward bounds centre and on into the open fields that start to offer a broad panoramic view around, back to Hartcliffe Hill below Penistone, and west to the windfarms on Whitley Height and Common, though more enticing are the views to the east as we rise onto the level uplands above the Cawthorne valley, looking on to the woodlands on its north side and down to Woolley Edge at its east, with Barnsley again revealing itself on the horizon as we go. This eastwards view is a gem, showing up its distant highlights form a much more modest altitude along here, while the Emley Moor masts arrive on the northern horizon to tease us with a proximity to West Yorkshire that is probably a way off yet, and thus trip settles in to a steady push, as views to the south start to recede and focus is kept on as the gloom still hangs in the air, with the next target feeling further away than it should as we press on along the River Dearne and River Don's watershed.
 |
| The River Don at Bridge End, Penistone. |
 |
| The Penistone Grammar School footbridge. |
 |
| Scout Dike Dam and Reservoir. |
 |
| The Whitley Height and Common windfarms. |
 |
| On the Don - Cawthorne watershed. |
Ingbirchworth is the only real village of note along this lane, and after taking a long time to arrive on the trail, it then hangs by the side of the A629 for quite a while, initially forming a ribbon of farmsteads and cottages in a whole variety of vintages up from the High Lane corner, before gradually bulking up a bit to provide a proper enclave of suburban living in the countryside, at an inconvenient remove from all the surrounding towns, and mostly wearing a vintage and stone-built sort of face that appeals greatly. At the Falledge Lane corner, we depart Barnsley Borough, and land in Kirklees District, again demonstrating its ability to be in places that you weren't quite expecting, and we've got a climb to come as we re-enter West Yorkshire, rising to meet Delf House farm, where it's Hide and Hoof restaurant seems to be doing all the business, as it hardly feels like a day for the Yummy Yorkshire ice cream parlour, and then it's onwards through the blasted pasture at the Delf Hill crest, summiting the day at around 280 up past Quarry House farm. Take in our last southern panorama before the signs welcome us to High Flatts, which doesn't' seem to be much of a village or hamlet, but the loose association of cottages in these elevated fields appear to have developed some sort of associated identity, which stretches from Green Lane End to Pump Row, and also manages to include a Thai café and spa on Windmill Lane, as well as a Quaker Meeting House and a former Sanatorium around Low House farm. The elevation is lost as we slip over the watershed between the Cawthorne valley and the main body of the Dearne, which reveals fresh views downstream before we sidle sharply downhill past Salt Pie farm to the New Brighton and Pump Row terraces that sit remotely in the shadow of Jordan Plantation before we re-emerge into the fields around the farmsteads at the southern end of Birdsedge. Again, not the sort of place to anticipate a village, but the mill that grew here, and still stands, on the headwaters of the Dearne caused a settlement to grow around it, one that's still large enough to maintain a primary school, which has a memorial garden outside it where we can break for second lunch, before we push on past the long strings of terraces and down to the wooded glade where the young river passes under the road, which then rises to pass the Park Head terrace and the former pub, the Crown, at the top end of the village, which peters out beyond the Sunside terrace, which is well placed for an elevated view.
 |
| Huddersfield Road, Ingbirchworth. |
 |
| The blasted passage over Delf Hill. |
 |
| High Flatts. |
 |
| Pump Row and Jordan Planataion. |
 |
| The passage over the young River Dearne, Birdsedge. |
We are certainly racking up the watersheds on this trip, as we rise rather gently to meet the edge of the Dearne's catchment, slipping over its perimeter as the road shifts dramatically downhill round a sharp corner, to land by the cottages around the Sovereign Inn at Lane Head, where the steepest drop of all the river valleys would lead us to the most modest of rivers, namely Shepley Dike, but we'll change off the A629 here, and join the A635 as it presses west, on the opposite side of the road to the path we burned two weeks back. So on to the Barnsley to Holmfirth road, as it passes though this enclave of residences and light industry that have clustered around Lane Head quarry, where we can admire its cliffs and perched woodland as we pass westwards, feeling the sun come through to warm our heads and shoulders as we come around past the Highfield House and former brewery site, meeting last week's path that has this corner as a sort of locus point for this year, taking in the view over the valley of Shepley Dike and around to the Holme Valley fringe as we go. Follow the road as it continues on below the high edges of Nabscliffe, and briefly set out on forging a new southern boundary to the field of walking experience again as we pass along Holmfirth Road around to Penistone Road and meet Marsh House, before slipping inside the path of the Kirklees Way at Marsh Lane Top, and then continuing down past the academy in Grey Fell house and the Sike terrace before meeting the Toss O' Coin inn at Snowgate Head. I'm sure this is named for the choice of routes to pick down into the Holme Valley, and I'll pick the newer turnpike road for today, and save the old road for a future venture, with the signage indicating three miles to go as we slip downhill rapidly, negotiation some sweeping curves before we get a high revelation of the western horizon, towards Holme Moss and Black Hill, with the high brows of the valley side framing the view. Dropping downhill rapidly, we arrive among tree cover as it comes up close to the road, almost forcing us off the pavement in places as it gets so dense, and despite being some way up the valley side, we soon run into outlying houses at the outer edge of New Mill, some of which seem to cling to the embankments that they sit on while others have a climbing wall of sorts in their back yards, as they cluster around Sude Gate mill at this roadside, and Christ Church up the hill, as this tertiary side valley reaches its end, and joins the secondary valley of the Holme as we run down to the Huddersfield & Sheffield road junction at the heart of the village.
 |
| Descending to Lane Head. |
 |
| The Holme Valley fringe from Nabscliffe. |
 |
| Snowgate Head. |
 |
| Descending into the Holme valley, |
 |
| Descending into New Mill. |
We pass over the tangle of roads, with the White Hart inn standing as the enduring pub, opposite its former rival that is now the Spice Fusion Indian restaurant, and we'll re-join the Holmfirth Road as it passes over New Mill Dike, just below the site of New Mill Mills, which has been residentially redeveloped with houses that at least try to blend with the Kirklees style of triple storeyed with rows of small windows, and someone hereabouts has take great care to paint the ancient waterworks signs that sit by the roadside in the fashion of the turnpike mileposts, which has them looking a whole lot better than rusted. Next we can press our way on towards the Holme Valley proper, rising with the lane above the local parklands and along the suburban edge while a look back to the eastern edge of the valley reveals a somewhat dramatic setting as it looms over the settlement, and pass the lodge house of the lost Moorcroft estate as we come around into the separate settlement of Lydgate, where a rather charming Unitarian chapel sits in its yard among the surrounding rural terraces and cottages. It's uphill further to meet the crest to the Holme Valley, much further actually, which again has me pondering the wisdom of suburban living at an eight mile distance up the valley from the nearest proper town, but there seem to be plenty of folk who do it happily in the houses of Town End that sit atop this valley angle, and there's clearly been enough business going on out here to fire industry for two centuries. At the one mile to Holmfirth marker, the major concern seem to be getting in ahead of the weather, as the A635 takes a sharp south-westerly turn, and the western side of the Holme Valley looks clear if cloud, while the horizon to the south seems to be greying out at a pace, and so the hurry up is hit as we pass down below the houses and villas that have grown on the east side of the road for the benefit of the view, but with 15 minutes to go, the rain comes on so fast that it isn't even worth trying to get the waterproofs on. So it's a soggy end to the day, as we meet the last route we blazed down here, coming up from Bramble Bank, taking us past the Monumental Almshouses, the lamented former station site, the Masonic Lodge and the gradually redeveloping mill site before we land among Holmfirth's tourist throng, still out in force despite the weather, by Holy Trinity church and Sid's Café, where an art installation makes it look like really lame Dr Who monsters have invaded. Once again, just like five years ago, we'll explore this town no further as I'm pretty much wet through and beating a retreat is the only reasonable option available, which we'll do via the bus stand by the charging River Holme, as we board the #314 just before 4pm, hopeful that this season will eventually offer me the chance to linger in this town, allowing it to enjoy the proper visit that I have so far failed to offer it.
 |
| The Unitarian Chapel, Lydgate. |
 |
| The terraces of Town End. |
 |
| Racing the weather down to Holmfirth. |
 |
| The former Station House, Holmfirth. |
 |
| Holy Trinity church, Holmfirth. |
5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 3935.6 miles
2019 Total: 285.2 miles
Up Country Total: 3518.6 miles
Solo Total: 3645.1 miles
Miles in My 40s: 2529.4 miles
Next Up: An almost improvised wander among the paths already walked and plotted.
No comments:
Post a Comment