Doncaster to Elsecar 17/09/22

16.4 miles, via The Rookery, Westfield Park, Balby, Warmsworth, Butterbusk, Nearcliffe Wood,

 Minney Moor, Conisbrough, Burcroft, Denaby Main, Town End, Mexborough Castle, Mexborough, Roman Terrace, Manvers, Gore Hill, Wath upon Dearne, West Melton, West 

 Field, Rainsborough Lodge, Tingle Bridge, Hemingfield Colliery, Elsecar Green, and Stubbin.

It's the End of Summer weekend already, and it's going to be a long one too, the second one of the month, thanks to a Bank Holiday being declared for the day of the funeral of HMQE2, and my patriotic response will be to carry on doing what I do, as being outside to make new experiences in the British  countryside is a much more valuable use of my time that reflecting on a life coming to an end after 96 years, and a career in the public eye concluding after more than eight decades, as that will always be the way that I express my love for this country, pushing the field of Walking Experience that bit further abroad. To Doncaster we travel, on this bright and chilly morning, getting away from the station once all trainspotting opportunities have been exhausted, and exit to the plaza at 9.15am, passing the 'Built for Speed' memorial to notable locomotives and horses before we seek a path south-ish, among the railway associated building to the pavements of The Rookery, taking us by the Railway and the Leopard inns before Saint Sepulchre Gate West is joined to lead us to the old GNR goods yard and St James's church, naturally, and on to the side of the A630 Cleveland Street, past the town's tower blocks and along the railway-side to the Balby Road bridge, and passing over the southern end of the Hexthorpe Triangle. Beyond the entanglement with the start of the A18, we set off south-westerly down the Balby Road, to see much more of the residential city than we saw on our previous visits, passing between the terraced faces and the open space of Westfield Park before we cross to find the ginnel by The Rec club, as it leads us down to the end of Lister Avenue, famous as the setting for the BBC sitcom 'Open All Hours' where Beautique hairdressers doubled as Arkwright's store (with Nurse Gladys Emmanuel's house across the way), to be fondly regarded before we return up to the reach the A630 as it leads on past a view over the rooftops north to Cusworth Hall and along to the old Balby village, at the top of the A60. A plausible jaunt to Leicestershire, across the length of Nottinghamshire, could be started from here, away from the White Swan inn and the parish church of St John, as we carry on above the High Road - Low Road division, encountering the Plough inn and the Luxaa apartments before the swing of Warmsworth Road takes us past Scared Heart RC church and uphill, past the shopping parade beyond and into a tree clad passage among the estates that form the boundary between the Balby and Warmsworth suburbs, with The White Church, of St Peter, being met across the way from the Horse & Jockey inn, where the local roads go high and low again as Warmsworth is approached, or avoided.

The 'Built for Speed' memorial, Doncaster station.

St James church, and the railway goods yard offices, St Sepulchre Gate West.

Balby Road, Westfield Park.

Beautique aka 'Arkwright's, Lister Avenue.

St John's, Balby.

St Peter's, the White Church, Warmsworth.

Barrel Lane takes us low and away from the A630, where the Railway Court houses are noted on the H&BR-GCR joint line route before a footbridge takes us over the A1(M) south of junction 36 and down into old Warmsworth, where Low Road looks like it ought to cross the grounds of Warmsworth hall, but doesn't sending us on a detour along the Woodland Walk, across the top of the KGV playing fields to resume our path among the urban farmsteads, and to on an encounter with our walking boundary at the top of Edlington Lane by the library, where we head back into our bubble as the A630 is rejoined, pacing us along the Sheffield Road as it passes above the outlying suburban frontages. Across the way sit the Dolomite quarry, marking the definitive edge of greater Doncaster as we are lead into the open fields above the Don Gorge, keeping the roadside cycleway company as we pace on towards Butterbusk farm, the only settlement of note on this bluff, south of the view towards Sprotborough church and the receding city's horizon, eventually bringing us around to place the Conisborough (or Butterbusk) water tower onto our immediate scope as we pass around below it, and also having the 3rd quarter moon appearing high ahead of us (where it will linger for a couple of hours) as we meet the urban outliers of Conisborough. The dive of the old Dearne Valley line under the Doncaster Road comes ahead of Nearcliffe woods and shade under the extensive greenery follows, outside our bubble again, before we meet Conisborough proper, reaching out over the raised southern side of the Don, as the road declines among the villas and suburbia, where a view to the castle needs to be snared above the fall of the plots of Minney Moor, before the decline of the Sheffield Road takes us past the Sea Fish takeaway and Galleon Bar & Grill, and the old Star Inn, before we make a decisive shift in our choice of roads.

The Belltower and Warmsworth Hall gates, Low Road East. 

Sheffield Road, Warmsworth.

Conisborough, or Butterbusk, Water Tower.

The Doncaster Road bridge, on the DVR.

Suburban Conisborough, Minney Moor.

Conisborough Castle from Doncaster Road.

The A6023 Low Road take us north, down the valley cut by the fall of The Brook, settling us onto its west side as Conisborough Castle rises on the nab above the Don Valley, regarding it under sunnier conditions than we had last time as we take our elevenses break in the Memorial gardens, before we touch our previous route hereabouts as we resume a way back to an easterly trajectory, eschewing the option for a second circuit of the rampart and instead pressing on by the terraces and bungalows at Burcroft, and snaring the only decent view towards three arches of the viaduct upstream as we go, on to the rise past Castle Academy. We're definitively back in the bubble again afters we've come past the former Station Hotel and Conisborough station, having encompassed the middle River Don between Doncaster and Kilnhurst over the last two Saturdays, as we cross the route up Crags Road and the Cadeby Main colliery memorial, to immediately find ourselves in Denaby Main, a town that exists solely because of the mining industry, south of the Dearne - Don confluence, as the railway-shadowing lane leads us past little of its particular vintage apart from its old tavern and cinema, and the memorial park, among a late 20th century estate landscape, which leads all the way down to the split onto the old Doncaster Road. Beyond the Costa Coffee and MacDonalds outlets, we pass over the Doncaster - Sheffield railway line via its level crossing, and pass below the Dearne Valley Leisure centre, on the site of Denaby Main colliery, itself on the literal banks of the river Don, which is crossed by the footbridge adjacent to narrow and shallow old bridge, with its unfloodable replacement surging high above us to the west, which we'll return to the level of as we turn to the north side of the Don Valley, bringing us up to the bridge over the Don Navigation, and on with the A6023 once more as it leads as to the tangling of lanes, and renewed suburbia at Town End, the eastern extremity of Mexborough (which needs to be noted as the birthplace of AC-TING legend BRIAN BLESSED!!!).

Conisborough Castle from the Memorial Gardens.

Conisborough Viaduct from Burcroft.

A wordy milepost on the turnpike between Conisborough and Denaby Main.

The old cinema, Denaby Main.

The Dearne Valley Leisure Centre, on the site of Denaby Main Colliery.

The Don Navigation at Town End.

The rise of the Doncaster Road lead us to Castle Hill Park, where the motte and bailey remains of the Norman Mexborough castle can be found beneath a thick covering of trees, an amazingly well-preserved earthwork remnant of the wooden fort which once commanded the view over the merging rivers,  which needs to be wandered around in ideal solitude before we return to the main road, past school, chippy and the beginnings of the shopping parade before we need to drop down Melton Road, to meet the George & Dragon inn, and the way down Church Street so we can have an examine of St John the Baptist's parish church, in its yard above the Navigation cut. We also pass above the Co-operative Flour Mill and new canal-facing developments, and below a clutch of almshouse cottages before we have to tangle with the A6023 bypass, where the Market Street flyover has been recently demolished, meaning our ascent up its embankment takes us nowhere except down again to the side of Greens Way, where we have to negotiate the Station Road crossing again, taking us up between the old Market Hall and the Montagu Arms to land on Mexborough's High Street, where most of the town's shops still seem to be doing a decent trade along the pedestrianized drag, where I can do my best to cut an incongruous presence. Our route forward ought to be obvious as we transition across the E279 and E278 map plates, but we need to check both sides of each to be sure that Main Street is actually leading us between the terraces to the re-engagement with the A6023 Wath Road, which leads uphill among the frontages of Roman Terrace, passing the Rockleigh chapel and cresting to a reveal of the alignments of the lost GCR line towards Barnsley, which needs to be examined from a detour down Queen Street before we push out of town, downhill by the Roman Hotel and into Rotherham borough as we approach the tangle of old railway junctions, where the GCR and MR set their courses into the Dearne valley, beyond the Swinton & Knottingley line, now partially flooded and mostly lost from view.

Mexborough Castle.

St John the Baptist, Mexborough.

The absent Market Street flyover, Mexborough.

High Street, Mexborough.

Ascending Wath Road, Roman Terrace.

Bridge over the GCR spur, Mexborough West junction.

Under the railway and beyond the concrete plant, we draw in towards the light industry and office parks of Manvers, coming around to its roundabout for a third time this year, noting that the district's statement signage in its garden have been revealed after the vegetation clearance work observed last weekend has completed, and we set off onto a new boundary as Doncaster Road is joined to lead us off towards Wath upon Dearne, soon enough meeting the passage of the Dearne & Dove canal, lost under the carriageway of the realigned road, with a small bridge fragment enduring beyond the industrial units on the edge of the town. We are drawn into Wath via the rise over Gore Hill, where the Victoria Primary school, St Joseph's RC church and the ambulance station can be found among the terraced fronts and council houses, before we pass the Cross Keys inn and find our way across the A633 and by the ASDA store to join the end of the High Street, which proves to be rather leafier and smarter than had been expected as it takes us west, showing up a lot of vintages that predate its lifespan as a mining town, taking us past the Red Lion inn and the market place before Church Street leads us uphill, past Trinity Methodist Church and the Montgomery Hall theatre, up to the Town Hall and All Saints church at the crest. Break for late lunch here, before we descend among the spread of suburbia on the declining road to meet the B6096 Barnsley Road as it passes the CofE primary school and transitions us into West Melton, after the last look to the old town on its bluff is taken, soon enough switching us onto the B6097 to take us to our distant finish line, rising with the Melton High Street as it take us up, away from the industrial era terraces and towards a much more post-rural aspect around the Plough Inn, revealing a new southern horizon that we probably won't be breaching any time soon, before we pass Christ Church on the road's crest top, and pass on through the suburban band beyond.

The Manvers sign revealed.

The Dearne & Dove canal bridge, Doncaster Road.

Wath upon Dearne High Street.

Wath Town Hall.

Barnsley Road, West Melton.

Christ Church, West Melton.

In due course we are led to the Cottage of Content inn on the B6089 crossroads, passing south from Brampton, and beyond we soon settle back into the countryside, rising with the Elsecar Road as it presses uphill among the open plots of West Field, where the vast substation on the north side demands most of the attention while the southern aspect provides little, at least until we've come up to Ransborough Lodge, a considerable gate house on the long driveway up to Wentworth Woodhouse hall, far to the south of here, where suburban development has grown opposite, on the brownfield sites adjacent to the former Cortonwood colliery. The decline into the last valley of the day along Smithy Bridge lane takes us alongside the spoil tip remnants that roughen up the hillsides on the southern side of Knoll Beck's passage, which we descend towards and then shadow as New Road pushes us upstream and along the Rotherham - Barnsley borough boundaries, through a tube of late Summer greenery, before we meet the level crossing on the still extant, but unused, rails of the GCR Elsecar branch, just south of the D&D canal branch at Tingle Bridge, and a short way ahead of the Hemingfield Colliery site, a modestly scaled pit with its winding houses still in situ, with preservation volunteers in attendance. The tree-lined passage of the Wath Road beyond leads us on to the turn that takes us over the railway and the canal passage, as well as another route of the TPT, as we arrive into Elsecar, which immediately gives us the feeling of being an early 19th century industrial model village as we pass the long Reform Row terrace, ahead of Holy Trinity church, and the canal wharf and goods yard, all giving off a flavour of a more modestly scaled and fashioned version of Saltaire as we come up to the Elsecar Heritage Centre, in the Earl of Fitwilliam's workshops, doing good business today after tough pandemic times, on the corner by the Market Inn and Milton Hall at Elsecar Green, with an array of golden-hued villas reaching up Fitzwilliam Street to the Milton Arms and beyond.

West Field Substation.

Rainsborough Lodge.

Tingle Bridge crossing.

Hemingfield Colliery and terrace.

Reform Row terrace, Elsecar.

Earl Fitwilliam's Workshops, Elsecar Green.

The ascent to Stubbin, and the finish line.

It's an uphill press from the low valley floor to get to the finish line from here, beyond the Crown inn and Fitwilliam Arms to get quite a distance up the north side of the valley to get into the much less stylistically appealing enclave of Stubbin, where Elsecar railway station can be found for a second time, sealing a new boundary on the Field of Walking Experience, far to the south of Barnsley, as our day wraps at 3.30pm, squarely between trains, but giving us enough time to refresh and bask in the late Summer sunshine before we head away.

5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 5829.4 miles

2022 Total: 540.7 miles

Up Country Total: 5,348.7 miles

Solo Total: 5493.8 miles

5,000 in my 40s Total: 4419.2 miles

Next Up: HMQE2's Funeral Bank Holiday opens up the opportunity to push the mileage.