Alone Beneath The Sky: Swinton to Silkstone Common 10/09/22

14.9 miles, via Swinton Bridge, Bow Broom Wood, Manvers, Wath (H&BR station),

Manvers Lake, Wet Moor, Old Moor, Elsecar junction, Gypsy Marsh, Wombwell (GCR station),

Aldham junction, Wombwell Main junction, Swaithe viaduct, Lower Lewden, Worsborough

(Dale, Bridge & reservoir), Rob Royd colliery, Strafford colliery, New Sovereign sidings &

colliery, Moor End, Nether Royd Wood, Silkstone tunnels, Stubbin Wood, and Blacker Green.

It's been all change in the real world this week, seeing both the replacement of the Prime Minister and the death of HMQE2, after a reign of 70 years and truly bringing on the end of an era, but reflections on such things will have to wait, as national mourning isn't for me when there's walking to be done, especially with Summer hurrying towards its close and having a railway walk on the slate which was first mooted some eight years ago, after our 2014 trek over the Woodhead route, but never landed on our schedule as our focuses shifted elsewhere, and what would have been another trail deep into the unknown back then, now sits as an underlining of our Field of Walking Experience in 2022. To Swinton we return then, getting away from the station at 9.45am after we've watched an honest to goodness coal train pass through, passing out to Station Street and Bridge street to pass under the railway and over the canal to join the towpath of the Dearne & Dove as it reaches up the remaining stretch of the pound to the skew bridge back under the railway, which leads to the cycleway path that leads among the green spaces that leads north towards Manvers, not following the canal alignment as it passes over Queen Street and through the scrubby remnants of Bow Broom Wood, meandering northwards with some purpose as it approaches the industrial estates. This leads us to the extensive campus of Dearne Valley College, stretched along most of the length of Manvers Park road, and into the post heavy industrial landscape of what once surrounded Manvers Main colliery, of which nothing remains under the light industry that have replaced it, with no suggestion of the presence of the GCR's passage over Golden Smithies Lane or that of the North Midland Mainline at the A6023 traffic island, where we set off outside of our bubble as we join the multi use path that keeps us away from the traffic on Manvers Way, following the old alignment for a bit as we skirt Fairfield Park Ind. Est. on the site of Manvers Main's #2 pit, and pass below the Brookfields Park site, on our northwesterly tack.

An actual Coal train, Swinton.

The stub of the Dearne & Dove canal, Swinton Bridge.

The Swinton - Manvers cycle path, Bow Broom Wood.

Dearne Valley College, Manvers.

Mixed Use Path by Manvers Way.

It's hard to parse out the mining history of this landscape as we pass between the depots and fire station on the A6023, as so much has been lost, and as we come to the A633 Station Road, we land in the locality of Wath upon Dearne's three stations, none of which endured, with only the terminus of the H&BR branch still standing at the roadside, which demands an examine before we return to our route, leading us to the shore of Manvers Lake, the leisure and nature feature created to the south of the Wath Main colliery site, with the perimeter path being joined to take us to the colliery memorial and the local history garden on the lakeside promontory. Break for elevenses here, before returning to the shore among the strollers and dog walkers, tracing the perimeters of Wet Moor, now lost below a housing development on the site of the Wath Concentration Yard, where dozens of coal train used to be marshalled daily for their passage across the Pennines right up until the 1980s, also passing below the extent of Waterfront Golf Course as our rough and green path gradually moves to merge in with the Trans Pennine Trail, itself shadowing the passage of Knoll Beck and the edge of the RSPB Old Moor managed wetlands, above Bolton and below Darfield on the passage of the river Dearne. We're getting ever closer to our railway walk as we pass under the A633, taking leave of the stream that flows down from Elsecar as its passed over and we rise to pass over the Pontefract Road, and meet the old GCR line down from Barnsley, passing the site of Elsecar junction and its colliery branch as we pass under the A6195 via its colourfully painted subway, to supposedly settle into the tranquility of the Dearne Valley away from the main roads as we pass around the Gypsy Marsh RSPB site, though the racket of local industry resounds for quite a stretch as the path divides into cycleway and bridleway options, each with their own green passages as we seek bridges to place us in the landscape, with Everill Gate Lane being the first, between the otherwise unseen settlements of Broomhill and Brampton.

Wath (H&BR) station and house.

Manvers Lake.

New housing developed on the Wath Concentration Yard.

RSPB Old Moor.

On the TPT and GCR at Elsecar Junction.

Everill Gate Road bridge.

The path goes split level along the next stretch, the harder cycle path rising above the soft bridleway, and wandering their own paths along the GCR alignment as it runs in towards the Wombwell station site, where no structures of note remain aside from the Station Road overbridge, where we passed over last weekend, and this we're back inside the bubble for a while as the sound of go-karting, and the smell of burned hydrocarbons, fills the air as we pass the neighbouring track, ahead of passing the Littlefield Terrace and the former branch off to Darfield Main colliery, nowadays the Dove Valley Way, leading to the Netherwood Academy. The green passage resumes, having noted the considerably sized footbridge over the A633 nearby, pacing our way among the foliage until we meet Bradbury Balk Lane and join our Maytime path down to Wombwell, passing between the industrial estate on the site of Mitchell Main colliery and the wooded lump that may well have been its spoil tip, before we come to Aldham Junction and make the shift onto the Worsborough branch, which leads us out of our bubble and around the northern end of Wombwell, via an entirely green passage into the Dove valley over a pair of bridge that have the Dearne & Dove canal channel and the Barnsley Road below them. It's a bit of a meander to get to our westbound passage, coming down south to meet Wombwell Main junction, where the Aldham curve cam in from the north, the colliery branch headed south and the GCR line down to Sheffield set off along the southern valley side, where we'll drop down towards the valley floor, between thick hedges that offer no contextual views as we meet the concealed junction of where the valley's line were redirected and reorganized before we settle into a chilly glade ahead of the passage over the river Dove, looking busier here than it does downstream, and passing under the mostly scaffold-clad Swaithe viaduct, carrying the Barnsley - Sheffield line overhead.

Wombwell GCR station site

Darfield Colliery junction (sorta).

The Mitchell Main Colliery spoil tip (?).

The Dearne & Dove canal bridge, Aldham Junction.

Wombwell Main junction.

Swaithe Viaduct.

The 7 mile Worsborough incline, the main feature of this branch which fed South Yorkshire coal to the towns and mills of Lancashire, doesn't have an obvious start point, but as we land on the north side of the Dove valley, the feeling is that it must be all uphill from here, and we rise below rough retaining walls on the northern side as the sky clouds over on the push to the Lower Lewden crossing, where our path to Elsecar is crossed and our rise between the river and the channel of the Worsborough branch of the Dearne & Dove canal presses us on towards the Worsborough Dale crossing, with the tree covered passage making it hard to be live that electric trains were running on this line only 40 years ago. Pause in the chilly lunchtime air when a bench presents itself downwind of the Boatman' Rest inn, before we move on, passing to the south of this edge of greater Barnsley, passing over the Glass House crossing on the B6100 West Street, and the A61 Park Road crossing at Worborough bridge, in short order, to give us a very brief feeling of being in the town before another tree lined cutting carries us away, under the footbride leading to the cottages at the top end of the dam of Worborough reservoir, which briefly reveals itself in the Dove valley landscape as we come up by Wigfield Farm. It's countryside beyond the Kendal Green crossing on Haverlands Road, with sightlines being obscured among the trees and hedges for quite a way until we come up to a look towards what looks like a variation on the cover picture on my ancient E278, and also a reveal of the stately home of Wentworth Castle on is prominent nab up the valley, at a point where recent Summer fires have consumed most of the trackside vegetation, ahead of the first bridge passage we that we travel under on the rising line at Hound Hill lane, where the supports for the 1500V DC wires are still in place, the only bits of catenary equipment that we've seen so far, and the temptation to start an incidental relic hunt is really strong.

The incline getting going towards Lower Lewden crossing.

Approaching Worsbrough Dale crossing.

Glass House crossing, West Street, Worsbrough Bridge.

Worsbrough Reservoir footpath bridge.

Kendal Green crossing, Haverlands Road.

Wentworth Castle across the Dove Valley.

Hound Hill Road bridge.

There are catenary post bases, or maybe gateposts, to be found by the crossing into Rob Royd farm, but nothing to note of the colliery which appears on old maps, themselves ahead of the high passage over the M1, the noise of which has been keeping us company for a while, where we cut in below Dodworth, which doesn't touch our radar as we're spotting supports for signalling cables and more catenary equipment under the Gilroyd Lane bridge, before we come upon the Smithy Lane track crossing and the remnants of Strafford collieries, still in some sort of industrial use beyond the trees, and noting the signal box remnants in the cutting beyond. More lost heavy industry in the countryside appears as we pass the branch to Cooper's Wentworth pit, and come up to the New Sovereign Colliery site, along with its own siding complex and the branch off to the Old Sovereign pit, and our surface roughens here as a new base is being laid, thankfully not closing the path in its later going, which has echoes from 8 years ago, making our quest for an insulator pot that much more difficult as the hardcore is filled ceramic shards, and thus we'll have to look for bigger remnants, like the dry culvert passage hiding in the woods, or the occupation bridge that still has a fragment of its telegraph support attatched to it. Judging how hard my calves are working, we must be on the 1 in 40 stretch of the incline as we run up towards Silkstone Common, the steepness being visible on the ground and audible in the joggers and riders passing us on the uphill stretch, illustrating well why this was one of the steepest on the whole of the British Railways network, and it's a press all the way up to the woodlands at Moor End, where a footpath passage needs to be noted, along with the artistic bench and the ongoing surface re-laying with that bouncy, rubber-like tarmac for much easier going on the ascent.

The M1 crossing, Rob Royd.

Gilroyd Lane bridge.

Signal Box base, concealed in the woods.

Cooper's Wentworth Pit junction.

Culvert channel, hidden in the woods.

The Worsbrough Incline in full effect, rising to Moor End.

Footpath passage, Moor End Woods.

Over the Moorend Road bridge and through Nether Royd wood, we pass below the southern edge of Silkstone Common and the back gardens of the village, and we come up to the Silkstone Tunnels which as cannot approach directly as the cutting is fenced off without even a trod to follow to the portal of #1, apparently because the cutting sides are unsafe, illustrated by the fact that secure fence on the track rising beside it appears to be migrating downhill as we come up to and over Knabbs Lane, placing us inside our boundary established in 2019 as we skirt over this hilltop, looking back to the downstream Dove Valley and looking down hopefully for some sight of the longer #2 tunnel's portal appearing through the foliage. We haven't crested into the upper Don Valley as we come through Stubbins Wood asi ti still sits a mile or so distant, and I don't think we've hit the incline summit either as we meet Blacker Green bridge, where double-headed and banked coal trains travelling uphill at a walking pace as they emerged from the cutting must have been quite sight back in the steam age, ahead of the merge with the contemporary railway at West Silkstone junction to the west, where we quit the alignment to head down Blacker Green Lane, which sends us down into the Cawthorne valley, framed by the Emley Moor masts and the Woolley Edge ridge as we snake downhill northwards. We're lead downhill by the Lower Coates farmstead and Lakeview House, but the Blacker Green farm is no more, somewhere among the fields that we have to track eastwards and uphill across to head back towards Silkstone Common, a much harsher climb than anything the railway managed, leading us up past Royd Hill farm and on to Cone Lane, landing us by the last colliery site for the day, West Silkstone, below the suburban close of Ladyroyd, with our railway station met a short way along to the left, over the barrow crossing for a 3.30pm finish, incidentally in good time for my rarely-snared cheap Advance ticket to be useable on the two hour, and four (4!) train, ride back to Morley.