13.6 miles, via South Kirkby Colliery, Upton, Badsworth, Low Ackworth, East Hardwick, Darrington & Baghill.
August Bank Holiday weekend comes around, but only one day of walking can come from it as I really needed the lie-in on Saturday morning, and the Monday drops from the schedule because the weather looks like utter garbage, again, so the Sunday is the only good day of the weekend, with the restricted transportation options spoiling my original plan, but a small amount of tinkering means it's virtually walkable in reverse. So early trains ahoy for a ride out to Moorthorpe, the other station on the other line in the South Kirkby - South Elmsall conurbation, and it's a 9.25am start once I've gotten away from the confusing mess of ramps and footbridges, heading west along Barnsley Road to the Carr Lane corner and find lot more late 20th century suburbia in the vicinity than I had expected, having anticipated many more colliery terraces in the lands which surrounded the South Kirkby site. Graze the edge of the main sit by the landscaped tip, and meet the path that leads beneath both of the railway lines again, taking care to stay on the correct surface this time, and the ongoing route north will spend a most of its distance shadowing the latter of these lines, and calling it by its original name of the Swinton & Knottingley Joint Railway makes a lot more sense than its contemporary name of the 'Dearne Valley Line'. What I thought would be a walk along a field track turns out to be a long trek through a lot more landscaped colliery workings, making the South Kirkby site easily as extensive as the one at Frickley, and it's a popular track with the dog walkers too, a large green space to keep Upton separate from South Elmsall and Kirkby. The arrival by the A6201, post-dating my map, forces me into a bit of guessing to pick the right path into Upton, and once past the old house by the former Hull & Barnsley railway, this coal town reveals itself to be almost entirely suburbia in this quarter, the only notable old buildings be the rough stone Old Shop on the High Street corner, and the farmhouse on Field Lane at the crest of Beacon Hill. The notable feature, visible for miles, is the water tower, concrete and funnel shaped, but an extra trip over toward it seems unnecessary as it hides behind the houses for most of the trip through the village, only showing up well once the walk down the other side of the hill starts. By that point however, attention goes forwards to the vista to the north, Badsworth looking picturesque among the harvesting fields, and Pontefract on its hillsides appearing off in the distance, giving the deceptive impression of us already being close to the day's end.
Monday, 31 August 2015
Sunday, 23 August 2015
Normanton to Barnsley 22/08/15
14.4 miles, via Goose Hill, Crofton, Anglers Country Park, Cold Hiendley, Royston Junction, Athersley & the Dearne Valley.
Three years on from making my initial discoveries of the lost railways of West Yorkshire, by brain has finally started to make sense of the confused tangle of lines that developed across the Wakefield and South Yorkshire boundary, and with the 2015 season in its final third, it's time to start putting them down before the days start getting short again. Not that I'm managing to get going at speed, hopping off the train at Normanton station at 10am, hoping that the early mornings rains have had a chance to pass, and making the long way off the station by the hugely long footbridge, away from the ridiculously large single platform that had been intended as the major junction of George Hudson's railway empire in the 1840s. There's not a lot of vintage buildings to be found in the immediate vicinity, but I note that the new apartments on Railway Terrace at least attempt to ape the style of the original station buildings, and I soon meet my track out of town, along Wakefield Road, with mostly council flats for company, though the Roman Catholic church of St John the Baptist and the primitive Methodist Chapel both have a style to attract attention. Goosehill Road has a ginnel at its end to lead me into the countryside, sending me on a field walk to the private road leading to the Welbeck reclamation and recycling site which is gradually filling up the opencast pits which once mined coal along the banks of the Calder, and I'm coming this way to get a look at the site of Goose Hill Junction, and I'm sure that they won't mind me trespassing on the old industrial tracks to get there. I've talked about the old North Midland Mainline before, (1840-1985 for those keeping track) and tracing the section from Goose Hill to Oakenshaw is a trek which cannot be done a track level as it is so thoroughly overgrown, and so a path needs to follow paths that shadow it, passing over the bridges at Goose Hill, and shadowing it on the footpath from Cross Hills farm to Warmfield Road, where a peer from the high bridge will reveal that a lagoon has developed at track level, large enough to go boating on. Shadow again down to the A655, where trees obscure any view down into the cutting, and the main road's footway is paced down to the cluster of buildings at the edge of Heath Common before field walking to an old footbridge over the formation, where the only decent look down to the trackbed can be obtained. Odd that it could be so overgrown after having been closed only 30 years, and that Wakefield MDC hasn't been able to gain access to it, I'd imagine that this is one line that might be on the future slate for revival as an international heavy freight line.
Three years on from making my initial discoveries of the lost railways of West Yorkshire, by brain has finally started to make sense of the confused tangle of lines that developed across the Wakefield and South Yorkshire boundary, and with the 2015 season in its final third, it's time to start putting them down before the days start getting short again. Not that I'm managing to get going at speed, hopping off the train at Normanton station at 10am, hoping that the early mornings rains have had a chance to pass, and making the long way off the station by the hugely long footbridge, away from the ridiculously large single platform that had been intended as the major junction of George Hudson's railway empire in the 1840s. There's not a lot of vintage buildings to be found in the immediate vicinity, but I note that the new apartments on Railway Terrace at least attempt to ape the style of the original station buildings, and I soon meet my track out of town, along Wakefield Road, with mostly council flats for company, though the Roman Catholic church of St John the Baptist and the primitive Methodist Chapel both have a style to attract attention. Goosehill Road has a ginnel at its end to lead me into the countryside, sending me on a field walk to the private road leading to the Welbeck reclamation and recycling site which is gradually filling up the opencast pits which once mined coal along the banks of the Calder, and I'm coming this way to get a look at the site of Goose Hill Junction, and I'm sure that they won't mind me trespassing on the old industrial tracks to get there. I've talked about the old North Midland Mainline before, (1840-1985 for those keeping track) and tracing the section from Goose Hill to Oakenshaw is a trek which cannot be done a track level as it is so thoroughly overgrown, and so a path needs to follow paths that shadow it, passing over the bridges at Goose Hill, and shadowing it on the footpath from Cross Hills farm to Warmfield Road, where a peer from the high bridge will reveal that a lagoon has developed at track level, large enough to go boating on. Shadow again down to the A655, where trees obscure any view down into the cutting, and the main road's footway is paced down to the cluster of buildings at the edge of Heath Common before field walking to an old footbridge over the formation, where the only decent look down to the trackbed can be obtained. Odd that it could be so overgrown after having been closed only 30 years, and that Wakefield MDC hasn't been able to gain access to it, I'd imagine that this is one line that might be on the future slate for revival as an international heavy freight line.
Sunday, 16 August 2015
Wakefield to South Elmsall 15/08/15
15.9 miles, via Belle Vue, Heath Common, Sharlston, Foulby, Nostell Colliery, Fitzwilliam, Brackenhill, Hemsworth & South Kirkby Colliery.
Having gotten 75 miles of the Wakefield Way under my feet, I start to feel like I have seen most of what that that district has to offer, but a look at the map will show things up very differently, lots of blank spaces that would have me thinking 'I will go there!', a la Joseph Conrad, and so a trail to the southeast is planned from the city to the remotest corner, which experience shows isn't that remote at all. Hop off the train at Wakefield Westgate at 9.25am, and make steps down Mulberry Way, the station having retreated from its namesake road, and the last time I wandered up Westgate was in 1999 on a works leaving do, and it hasn't changed much since then, a once proud mix of banks and mid-sized department stores that is now entirely made up of clubs and bars, the lack of revellers does render it prettier of course. Find a fresh route down to the Calder by detouring through the Ridings shopping centre, finding that the pedestrian way does not shadow the old rout of Southgate, and emerge to continue south on George Street and Thornhill Street through a district that seems like it slipped through time to meet Ings Lane and pass under the railway bridges before crossing the Calder on the Doncaster Road bridge, passing the Hepworth and the Waterfront developments, to continue along the A638 through the terraces of Belle Vue, a district best known as the home of Wakefield Trinity Wildcats, the Rugby League team so good they nick-named them twice. Pass under the Wakey - Ponte line, and across the old course of the Barnsley Canal, to finding our path into the relatively unknown, joining the A655 as it rises over Heath Common, the extensive patch of wild ground that has endured so close to the city, offering some good views back as it rises, before breaking off by the pub and farmsteads at the top of Hell Lane (really), and along stretch of road walking follows. The immediate point of interest is the bridge over the North Midland mainline, the section completely withdrawn from use in the 1980a and over grown with trees in less than 30 years, and the continuing lane does not live up to its name either, giving us cool and shady sections to enjoy with minimal interruptions from traffic as it rises to the fields outside New Sharlston, once home to Sharlston Main colliery, only recently wiped from the map, and now home to a group of terrace just a bit too far removed from Sharlston common, with half a winding wheel displayed by the roadside to illustrate the passage of heavy industry from this landscape.
Having gotten 75 miles of the Wakefield Way under my feet, I start to feel like I have seen most of what that that district has to offer, but a look at the map will show things up very differently, lots of blank spaces that would have me thinking 'I will go there!', a la Joseph Conrad, and so a trail to the southeast is planned from the city to the remotest corner, which experience shows isn't that remote at all. Hop off the train at Wakefield Westgate at 9.25am, and make steps down Mulberry Way, the station having retreated from its namesake road, and the last time I wandered up Westgate was in 1999 on a works leaving do, and it hasn't changed much since then, a once proud mix of banks and mid-sized department stores that is now entirely made up of clubs and bars, the lack of revellers does render it prettier of course. Find a fresh route down to the Calder by detouring through the Ridings shopping centre, finding that the pedestrian way does not shadow the old rout of Southgate, and emerge to continue south on George Street and Thornhill Street through a district that seems like it slipped through time to meet Ings Lane and pass under the railway bridges before crossing the Calder on the Doncaster Road bridge, passing the Hepworth and the Waterfront developments, to continue along the A638 through the terraces of Belle Vue, a district best known as the home of Wakefield Trinity Wildcats, the Rugby League team so good they nick-named them twice. Pass under the Wakey - Ponte line, and across the old course of the Barnsley Canal, to finding our path into the relatively unknown, joining the A655 as it rises over Heath Common, the extensive patch of wild ground that has endured so close to the city, offering some good views back as it rises, before breaking off by the pub and farmsteads at the top of Hell Lane (really), and along stretch of road walking follows. The immediate point of interest is the bridge over the North Midland mainline, the section completely withdrawn from use in the 1980a and over grown with trees in less than 30 years, and the continuing lane does not live up to its name either, giving us cool and shady sections to enjoy with minimal interruptions from traffic as it rises to the fields outside New Sharlston, once home to Sharlston Main colliery, only recently wiped from the map, and now home to a group of terrace just a bit too far removed from Sharlston common, with half a winding wheel displayed by the roadside to illustrate the passage of heavy industry from this landscape.
Sunday, 9 August 2015
Halifax to Todmorden 08/08/15
14.1 miles, via Savile Park, Sowerby Bridge, Sowerby, Boulder Clough, Mytholmroyd, Erringden Grange, Eastwood & Cross Stone.
A weekend drops out because of the challenges of Summer working, but now we have another bright day for the trail to the Irish Sea, maybe the most benign weather I have ever encountered in Calderdale, and let's face it, it's been a while since I ventured into this quarter on foot, nearly two years since my high moor explorations and even longer since I started walking it laterally, so 9.25am in the sunshine is our start time, and this is gonna be a long one as the district knows how to bring the challenges even when not venturing to moorland altitude. Setting out along Church Street and Prescott Street has Halifax bringing me more surprises in its styling, the warehouses still standing proud in the Hebble valley, and building such as the County courts and the swimming pool suggesting an enduring civic pride that I might not have expected, and my route of choice along Savile Road is a long parade of proud Victorian town houses and apartment buildings, many falling into the compass of the Calderdale Royal Infirmary these days. Altogether, I've probably picked the best and prettiest axis through this town, and it continues as our path swings down through the terraces that border onto Savile Park, the town's major open space, sitting above the river valley after the first uphill drag of the day and filling up for the local carnival as we pass. My trail leads to the A646 crossing an into the woods around a forgotten graveyard to get an up close look at Wainhouse Tower, the 84m tall tower/folly/chimney of 1874 that is a standard candle for these parts and on that I have never encountered up close, worth a look to see just how eccentric the late Victorian industrialists could be. Descents then follow, with views into Calderdale from Wakefield Gate, slipping among the terraces on Upper Washer Lane and then steep drop down to the A6026 follows Washer lane as I ponder exactly where the break between Halifax and Sowerby Bridge might actually be. Canal Road crosses me over both Canal and Calder, naturally, with leafiness and industry enduring at the riverside along Holme Lane, which brings me up on the railway station, almost unexpectedly, and slip beneath it via that deceptively heighted bridge. Station Road is the familiar corner of the town for me, and it is soon departed as the roads diverge on their different tracks to the south, with us taking Sowerby New Road for a long steady ascent out of the town, soon rising above Calderdale for some fine views west towards Luddenden Dean and Midgeley Moor, whilst suburban growth sits on the upper side of the road, providing an aspect worth purchasing.
A weekend drops out because of the challenges of Summer working, but now we have another bright day for the trail to the Irish Sea, maybe the most benign weather I have ever encountered in Calderdale, and let's face it, it's been a while since I ventured into this quarter on foot, nearly two years since my high moor explorations and even longer since I started walking it laterally, so 9.25am in the sunshine is our start time, and this is gonna be a long one as the district knows how to bring the challenges even when not venturing to moorland altitude. Setting out along Church Street and Prescott Street has Halifax bringing me more surprises in its styling, the warehouses still standing proud in the Hebble valley, and building such as the County courts and the swimming pool suggesting an enduring civic pride that I might not have expected, and my route of choice along Savile Road is a long parade of proud Victorian town houses and apartment buildings, many falling into the compass of the Calderdale Royal Infirmary these days. Altogether, I've probably picked the best and prettiest axis through this town, and it continues as our path swings down through the terraces that border onto Savile Park, the town's major open space, sitting above the river valley after the first uphill drag of the day and filling up for the local carnival as we pass. My trail leads to the A646 crossing an into the woods around a forgotten graveyard to get an up close look at Wainhouse Tower, the 84m tall tower/folly/chimney of 1874 that is a standard candle for these parts and on that I have never encountered up close, worth a look to see just how eccentric the late Victorian industrialists could be. Descents then follow, with views into Calderdale from Wakefield Gate, slipping among the terraces on Upper Washer Lane and then steep drop down to the A6026 follows Washer lane as I ponder exactly where the break between Halifax and Sowerby Bridge might actually be. Canal Road crosses me over both Canal and Calder, naturally, with leafiness and industry enduring at the riverside along Holme Lane, which brings me up on the railway station, almost unexpectedly, and slip beneath it via that deceptively heighted bridge. Station Road is the familiar corner of the town for me, and it is soon departed as the roads diverge on their different tracks to the south, with us taking Sowerby New Road for a long steady ascent out of the town, soon rising above Calderdale for some fine views west towards Luddenden Dean and Midgeley Moor, whilst suburban growth sits on the upper side of the road, providing an aspect worth purchasing.
Sunday, 26 July 2015
Morley to Halifax 25/07/15
13.5 miles, via Gildersome Street, Birstall, Gomersal, Drub, Hunsworth, White Chapel, Scholes, Wyke, Norwood Green, Hipperholme & Shibden.
Despite trail the idea of a trek to the Irish Sea coast at the very start of the season, it has taken quite a while for it to actually come into my plans for the year, with the decision not being made until after the completion of the Wakefield Way, when it should have dropped immediately into my plans on the seafront at Hornsea. So two months on from meeting the North Sea coast, the trail leads in the opposite direction, a bright day coming on as I blaze my second trail in the direction of Halifax, using a completely fresh route to boot, starting out from Queen Street at 9.05am, and cutting west through the Windsor Court shopping parade and Morrisons car park to Corporation Street, and departing the town via the council estate on Wynyard Drive and up Bruntcliffe Road past the cemetery and the secondary school. Off the A643 at the crossroads and onto a familiar track along the A650, past the industrial estate and checking out the few old remnants of the hamlet Gildersome Street that have endured since most of it was obliterated by the construction of Junction 27 of the M62, an intersection so large it takes 10 minutes to traverse it as I follow the A62 to Birstall Retail park. Onwards onto Kirklees after shadowing the regularly taken route to Ikea and Toys R Us, following the roadside through more industrial estates, passing below the abutment of the L&NWR bridge of the former Birstall station on the New Leeds Line, but missing the crossing that I made the last time I came this way, eventually meeting the A643 again, and passing the offices of the solicitors who handled my flat purchase all those years ago before rolling into Birstall town square. This village makes the most notable claim on Joseph Priestley, 18th century natural philosopher and Christian radical, it being the town of his birth with his statute watching the comings and goings in the surrounding streets, all very nicely laid out and appreciated before I press on down Low Lane, to take a detour along Kirkgate and around St Peter's parish church before re-joining the main road again. Hit the long haul up Church Lane, and its a rise I should have seen coming because there are many wrinkles in this landscape, rising out of this valley and on towards Gomersal up on the ridge, a village that I'm still not entirely sure has an actual centre but along the A651 has a prime trio of interesting buildings, the Jacobean Pollard hall, the Red House museum and the Neo-Classical public hall, but seriously, where are the shops?
Despite trail the idea of a trek to the Irish Sea coast at the very start of the season, it has taken quite a while for it to actually come into my plans for the year, with the decision not being made until after the completion of the Wakefield Way, when it should have dropped immediately into my plans on the seafront at Hornsea. So two months on from meeting the North Sea coast, the trail leads in the opposite direction, a bright day coming on as I blaze my second trail in the direction of Halifax, using a completely fresh route to boot, starting out from Queen Street at 9.05am, and cutting west through the Windsor Court shopping parade and Morrisons car park to Corporation Street, and departing the town via the council estate on Wynyard Drive and up Bruntcliffe Road past the cemetery and the secondary school. Off the A643 at the crossroads and onto a familiar track along the A650, past the industrial estate and checking out the few old remnants of the hamlet Gildersome Street that have endured since most of it was obliterated by the construction of Junction 27 of the M62, an intersection so large it takes 10 minutes to traverse it as I follow the A62 to Birstall Retail park. Onwards onto Kirklees after shadowing the regularly taken route to Ikea and Toys R Us, following the roadside through more industrial estates, passing below the abutment of the L&NWR bridge of the former Birstall station on the New Leeds Line, but missing the crossing that I made the last time I came this way, eventually meeting the A643 again, and passing the offices of the solicitors who handled my flat purchase all those years ago before rolling into Birstall town square. This village makes the most notable claim on Joseph Priestley, 18th century natural philosopher and Christian radical, it being the town of his birth with his statute watching the comings and goings in the surrounding streets, all very nicely laid out and appreciated before I press on down Low Lane, to take a detour along Kirkgate and around St Peter's parish church before re-joining the main road again. Hit the long haul up Church Lane, and its a rise I should have seen coming because there are many wrinkles in this landscape, rising out of this valley and on towards Gomersal up on the ridge, a village that I'm still not entirely sure has an actual centre but along the A651 has a prime trio of interesting buildings, the Jacobean Pollard hall, the Red House museum and the Neo-Classical public hall, but seriously, where are the shops?
Friday, 24 July 2015
Rutland Water 23/07/15
15 miles, from Manton via the Perimeter Cycle Path.
It seem like an age since I did a single reservoir walk, indeed it was nearly three years ago, and I'd have thought I'd have gotten out to Scar House or the Washburn valley by now, but here we are, needing a trail that doesn't need a huge amount of way finding. So onwards to Rutland Water, the neighbouring (and tiny!) county's most defining feature, the reservoir constructed in 1976 to supply East Anglia, over 4 miles square, the largest in the country by area, offering a long and short perimeter walk, and I'll be taking the short one, avoiding the Hambleton peninsula, which seems like a cop out until you consider that 25 miles is a long way past my walking limit at present. Start out from the Horse and Jockey in Manton, dropped off by My parents at 10.15am, a little later than I'd have liked, so early steps are hurriedly made along Cemetery Road to meet the Manton Sounding Bridge, carrying Leicester- Peterborough railway over the A6003, to pace the roadside, passing over the inlet of the River Gwash and getting a few slight views of Manton Bay before meeting the off-road path proper. Head eastwards with plenty of vegetation preventing views, and just where the waterside starts to come close, it becomes apparent that the has path been moved northwards, skirting the woods and moving inland around areas of newly developed managed wetlands, something planned to satisfy the twitchers, but causing disappointment for those that had hoped to walk near the shore. Arriving at the nature reserve at Egleton, it seems that the close path is only accessible to employees of Anglia water, and so a detour through the scenic little village is necessary instead, pretty but further still from the shore as we move along Church Road and along the edge of more managed wetland developments, as if the reservoir hadn't attracted the birdlife that had been hoped for it. Meet the nobly tree-lined road to Hambleton, but take a left to not add many extra miles to the day, moving on to meet the edge of the A606 for a long trek east paralleling it, the sight of Burley on the Hill House providing a distraction from the traffic, and after an hour of water-free viewing we finally get a view of the reservoir again, looking over Burley Reach towards the Hambleton peninsula but we don't get away from the main road until the path enters the water company's grounds at Lodge Inlet.
It seem like an age since I did a single reservoir walk, indeed it was nearly three years ago, and I'd have thought I'd have gotten out to Scar House or the Washburn valley by now, but here we are, needing a trail that doesn't need a huge amount of way finding. So onwards to Rutland Water, the neighbouring (and tiny!) county's most defining feature, the reservoir constructed in 1976 to supply East Anglia, over 4 miles square, the largest in the country by area, offering a long and short perimeter walk, and I'll be taking the short one, avoiding the Hambleton peninsula, which seems like a cop out until you consider that 25 miles is a long way past my walking limit at present. Start out from the Horse and Jockey in Manton, dropped off by My parents at 10.15am, a little later than I'd have liked, so early steps are hurriedly made along Cemetery Road to meet the Manton Sounding Bridge, carrying Leicester- Peterborough railway over the A6003, to pace the roadside, passing over the inlet of the River Gwash and getting a few slight views of Manton Bay before meeting the off-road path proper. Head eastwards with plenty of vegetation preventing views, and just where the waterside starts to come close, it becomes apparent that the has path been moved northwards, skirting the woods and moving inland around areas of newly developed managed wetlands, something planned to satisfy the twitchers, but causing disappointment for those that had hoped to walk near the shore. Arriving at the nature reserve at Egleton, it seems that the close path is only accessible to employees of Anglia water, and so a detour through the scenic little village is necessary instead, pretty but further still from the shore as we move along Church Road and along the edge of more managed wetland developments, as if the reservoir hadn't attracted the birdlife that had been hoped for it. Meet the nobly tree-lined road to Hambleton, but take a left to not add many extra miles to the day, moving on to meet the edge of the A606 for a long trek east paralleling it, the sight of Burley on the Hill House providing a distraction from the traffic, and after an hour of water-free viewing we finally get a view of the reservoir again, looking over Burley Reach towards the Hambleton peninsula but we don't get away from the main road until the path enters the water company's grounds at Lodge Inlet.
Monday, 20 July 2015
The East Leicestershire Village Circuit 19/07/15
18.3 miles, via Humberstone, Barkby, Queniborough, Gaddesby, Ashby Folville, Barsby,
South Croxton, Hungarton, Keyham & Scraptoft.
Down to Leicestershire for a week, to get away from the stresses of work and the celebrate My Dad's birthday, 74 and counting, and whilst staying with My Parents for some unwinding, it makes sense not rest on my laurels and to venture into the Old Country once again, and my tour of two years ago took me in search of the lost villages in the east of the county, so this time around it makes sense to go looking at the ones that are still there.
An early start then, setting out from the family pile at 9.05am, with the first port of call being Humberstone village, a mile or so distant, where I was schooled and one of only two villages to have been consumed by the City of Leicester, a centre that doesn't have a great deal to suggest much history before the 20th century to the casual eye, but the church of St Mary has medieval fragments hidden by aggressive Victorian restoration, and there's a single thatched cottage and section of cob wall present too, and the Humberstone Grange hides behind high walls concealing its ancientness. The Old Humberstone conservation area has done much to preserve its antiquity, and a trip down memory lane continues as I press out of the village down Main Street and Gipsy Lane, past the Tithe barn and up Thurmaston Lane on the way past Manor Farm. The A563 ring road severs that track and what was once all fields has no become the Hamilton estate, grown in the last two decades but providing green corridors for those who find late 20th residential developments objectionable, and also a cycling circuit and a lake to give the area a useful lung, which is quite surprising to me. Passage north turns out to be clearer than I'd expected, good surfaces leading to Barkby Thorpe lane, and then striking out to a field track through peas and wheat, getting good views across the city and over to Charnwood forest. Press on a good pace to arrive in Barkby, a village with brutal corners and a forge that is still active, with the spired church of St Mary looming over it in the local style of ironstone and ashlar, then onwards past the cricket ground, and 'the dangerous trees', and up Barkby Holt Lane to find the path that hits the field boundaries on the long walk in the direction of Queniborough. Initially easy going among wheat and oats, then slightly more challenging through fields of calves and drying rapeseed, but the spire of the parish church offers sight of our destination before the passage through equestrian fields provides the most puzzlement of the day. Old Queniborough is gorgeous, not to be confused with the newer settlement to the west, a riot of thatch and 18th century farmsteads, with its pair of hostelries providing a very short pub crawl, and the church being atypically built of red sandstone with its spire being clearly a later addition, dedicated to St Mary, as if no one in this county had the slightest shred of imagination.
South Croxton, Hungarton, Keyham & Scraptoft.
Down to Leicestershire for a week, to get away from the stresses of work and the celebrate My Dad's birthday, 74 and counting, and whilst staying with My Parents for some unwinding, it makes sense not rest on my laurels and to venture into the Old Country once again, and my tour of two years ago took me in search of the lost villages in the east of the county, so this time around it makes sense to go looking at the ones that are still there.
An early start then, setting out from the family pile at 9.05am, with the first port of call being Humberstone village, a mile or so distant, where I was schooled and one of only two villages to have been consumed by the City of Leicester, a centre that doesn't have a great deal to suggest much history before the 20th century to the casual eye, but the church of St Mary has medieval fragments hidden by aggressive Victorian restoration, and there's a single thatched cottage and section of cob wall present too, and the Humberstone Grange hides behind high walls concealing its ancientness. The Old Humberstone conservation area has done much to preserve its antiquity, and a trip down memory lane continues as I press out of the village down Main Street and Gipsy Lane, past the Tithe barn and up Thurmaston Lane on the way past Manor Farm. The A563 ring road severs that track and what was once all fields has no become the Hamilton estate, grown in the last two decades but providing green corridors for those who find late 20th residential developments objectionable, and also a cycling circuit and a lake to give the area a useful lung, which is quite surprising to me. Passage north turns out to be clearer than I'd expected, good surfaces leading to Barkby Thorpe lane, and then striking out to a field track through peas and wheat, getting good views across the city and over to Charnwood forest. Press on a good pace to arrive in Barkby, a village with brutal corners and a forge that is still active, with the spired church of St Mary looming over it in the local style of ironstone and ashlar, then onwards past the cricket ground, and 'the dangerous trees', and up Barkby Holt Lane to find the path that hits the field boundaries on the long walk in the direction of Queniborough. Initially easy going among wheat and oats, then slightly more challenging through fields of calves and drying rapeseed, but the spire of the parish church offers sight of our destination before the passage through equestrian fields provides the most puzzlement of the day. Old Queniborough is gorgeous, not to be confused with the newer settlement to the west, a riot of thatch and 18th century farmsteads, with its pair of hostelries providing a very short pub crawl, and the church being atypically built of red sandstone with its spire being clearly a later addition, dedicated to St Mary, as if no one in this county had the slightest shred of imagination.
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