Dodworth Hollow-way

Is this an, until now undiscovered hollow way?

A short while ago I was walking with a borrowed dog, a fine way to walk, when ‘my dog’ met another dog, which led to the dog handlers talking – as it so often does! 

We were on the TPT at the time, and the conversation switched from ‘things to do with dogs’, to local historical matters. The other dog handler told me that in a close by wood was an ancient hollow-way. We discussed the matter, and later I looked at the issue in abstract and gave it some thought. 

What follows is the result of the discussion in that chance meeting together with my reflections, remembrances and investigation – presented here in no particular way!

For ease of writing this feature will here be called the ‘Dodworth Hollow-way’.

A hollow-way is a path or track sunken to the bedrock level at least, by frequent use over many years. It does not take much imagination to see how such things came about.

A good example of a local hollow-way is the extension to Falthwaite Green Lane Map ref. approx. 53.526703, -1.539416, or ‘Sludgy Lane’ as it was commonly known to many locals just a few years ago.

This hollow-way probably led to a track that went to the corn mill on the House Carr Dyke Map ref. approx. 53.531550, -1.527767, built by the monks of Rievaulx Abbey, and also – possibly later - later to ‘the ancient mill’; which may not have been a corn mill, on the same dyke somewhere near the Strafford Colliery site / Strafford Industrial Park [and which will for the purposes of this post be called ‘Strafford Mill’], and possibly to the Stainborough Mill.

Another local hollow-way is the original way or ‘road’ from somewhere near to the ‘Stainborough crossroads’ to the summit of the hill at Stainborough – ‘Stainborough Lowe’, this one is within the grounds of Wentworth Castle so it is best not to go searching for it without permission.

The course it took was clearly known to the Wentworth garden landscapers from the earliest days [and probably to their forebears], and recognising its great antiquity they honoured it in two ways. One way was that they left a section of it intact and un-interfered with. The other way was to replace it with other features that were positioned in the same alignment.

That particular route was said to have been used in Roman times, so for at least 2000 years, and possibly for many years before then.

The supposed / suggested Dodworth Hollow-way, is said to be located in Sovereign Wood, close by the TPT.

Just inside the wood, on the eastern side, running parallel to the boundary of the wood and the adjacent field, is said to be what appears at first sight to be a drainage ditch, though it could be a hollow-way. If so where would the hollow-way go to and from?

It is dead in alignment with the former, and said to be ancient, Polly Fox footpath that until about 1973 went from Dodworth High Street [formerly Town Street] to the ancient corn mill built by the Rievaulx monks, on the House Carr ‘Huskar’ Dyke.

The mill was built as early as 1150 A.D. / C.E. by monks of Rievaulx Abbey, who had a ‘grange’ [a sort of farm] close by and later the mill was operated jointly by them and the monks of the much closer Monk Bretton Priory. 

The mill served Dodworth on one side of the House Carr ‘Huskar’ Dyke, and Stainborough / Hood Green / Falthwaite on the other side.

The mill was replaced; or perhaps more likely supplement, by a newer dam and mill [Strafford Mill] around the area of the Strafford Pit / Colliery, about where the Sunny Hollow ‘bathing spot’ was [where the bridge crosses the House Carr ‘Huskar’ Dyke.

The Sunny Hollow was definitely in use for picnics and for bathing and so on until about 1960, in the days before the Strafford colliery site became an engineering works. Perhaps readers will share their memories of the Sunny Hollow, and clarify the dates of use.

Close by the Strafford Mill were some cottages called ‘Damstead’ – they are now long gone.

The creation of Stainborough Lake / Lowe Lake, around 1730, in the valley bottom as part of the landscaping associated with Wentworth Castle, would probably have rendered the original monks mill inoperative as it altered the water level in the House Carr [Huskar] Dyke.

This may have been why the newer corn mill [Stainborough Mill] was built at Stainborough across the road from the former Strafford Colliery site [that mill building is still standing. Map ref. 53.532188, -1.509118].

The Strafford Mill, which was probably an industrial mill, was dismantled as part of the work to build the dam for Stainborough Lowe Lake. Map ref. 53.531601, -1.514697.

The Stainborough Mill [see Ordinance Survey maps and Google earth etc. for details of location] is now a much extended fine house, reached by a private drive. Close by is also a fine house, that was until a few years ago a large fine stone bungalow. That bungalow, replaced a black wooden bungalow that was built on the actual site of the mill-pond for the Stainborough Mill.

The sluice or goit feeding the mill-pond of Stainborough Mill ran in alignment with the hedge that is still in position, separating the actively farmed field [and containing the ancient Katherine Well – PLEASE see the entry relating to it on this blog], from the large modern house and grounds, on the western side of the road to Stainborough crossroads. The house is the only building on that side of the road between the dyke and the crossroads.

The sluice originated at the dam of the Stainborough Lake, and the site where it did is just about visible still, as is the dam itself to those who care to search for it!

Close to where the Stainborough / Lowe Lake dam was and still is, is yet another fine house, this also is reached by another private drive, this time a fairly long drive running from the north-western side of Lowe Lane, just above the prominent bend near the bottom of the hill.

This fine house has also been much altered from its original incarnation as the Stainborough Lake or reservoir keeper’s house, or something similar. It was situated on the south-western side of the lake / reservoir, and until as late as the 1960’s had slice machinery and ponds close to it. The actual lake was across the track from the house, and until recently the inner side of the drained lake bank could be clearly seen.

Near where the drive meets Lowe Lane was, clearly visible until about 1960, the remains of a small narrow gauge railway used to convey materials to and from the Strafford Pit / Colliery. The railway; or ‘paddy line’ as it was probably known locally, was on an artificial embankment, built of tipped colliery waste, on top of the original clay dam of Stainborough / Lowe Lake.

In the 1920’s national strike, some of the; by modern standards primitive, coal trucks destined for Wentworth Castle by that route, were said to have been intercepted and tipped onto their sides by striking local miners. This manoeuvre was made possible by the trucks having to move at such a slow pace up the hill at Lowe Lane, owing to its steepness.

Going back to the supposed / suggested, hollow-way. It would have emerged on Dodworth Town Street, at a point opposite what is now the ‘Thornely Arms’ public house.

As has been observed by others, the pavement on that side of the road [north side] from about that point on until Jermyn Croft, is sunk below the level of a high stone kerb. The street is also wider at that point, which has led some to a suggestion that it could have been used for a trading purpose such as a market at some early date.

If the track to and from the mill did enter the Town Street at the said point, then it could strengthen that suggestion, at least some of the trading being in the products of the mill, one supposes.

It is also possible that there was a way of some sort running on about the same alignment as Jermyn Croft, towards the Gate Inn area. It should not be supposed that the High Street-Green Road crossroads has always been there.

The pavement on that same side of the current High Street is built in a similar way for a fairly short distance beyond Jermyn Croft, on the downhill section past the fine terraced houses opposite ‘The Pop Factory’ site, to about the position of the former ‘Pashley’s Farm / Sun / Fountain Inn buildings. 

This observation would suggest that the purpose of the raising of the road, was to make it level, and that it was done when the road was ‘turn-piked’ at some point – which it definitely was.

Some almost final thoughts on the supposed / suggested hollow-way are, why is it not used now? When did it cease to be used? If it is not a hollow-way but a ditch, then what was it draining? Why 

was it so narrow, maybe too narrow for use by wheeled vehicles such as farm carts?

It is suggested that it is no longer in use because it was superseded / replaced by the footpath which currently connects ‘The Jabs’ with ‘The Dam’ at the point where the footbridge [the wooden one high above the water, resting on two substantial, craftsman built, stone walls made of ashlar blocks] crosses the ‘House Carr [Huskar] Dyke.

An interesting case can be made that the path or track which ran through the hollow-way, was the original one connecting the earliest mill [the mill built by the monks of Rievaulx Abbey] with Dodworth, and that it was interfered with by the builders of the blind-ended ‘mineral railway line’ to the pit most recently called the Levitt-Hagg Colliery, or ‘Levy Pit’, that was originally sunk by someone called Cooper, thus its first name being Coopers Pit / Colliery.

Assuming that the Stainborough Lake / Dam was created about 1730, and that Coopers coalmine was not sunk until about at least 100 years later, then the mill served by the track would not have been used by mill traffic at the time. If these suppositions are correct then the Dodworth Hollow-way would be at least 300 years old, and possibly as old as 900 years.

The above would also explain some features of The Dam between the said bridge over the dyke and the railway junction:

The creation of the lake / dam in 1730 would give rise to a need for a dyke crossing in the area between the mineral railway line and the said bridge over the dyke. Until the building of the lake this may have been a ford very close to the mill site. But the flooding of the valley bottom by the lake / dam, would have raised the water level above the ford to a height not commensurate with its operation. Thus the bridge being necessary.

The ‘Stepping Stones’ just a few yards downstream of the bridge may be a deliberate or fortuitous; but nevertheless natural, fording place for pack-horses using a nearby track. Informally horses still use it for that purpose despite the steep bank on the north-east side.

Many years ago the dam of the Stainborough Lake was breached by intention by the owners or managers of the Strafford Colliery to stop the presence of the lake interfering with the operation of the colliery, following it causing a major colliery flooding incident. That lowered the level of the stream to about its present level, which is commensurate with the operation of a ford.

Heading from the said bridge adjacent to the ‘Stepping Stones’, the track reaches a steep ramp which raises it to the level of the railway line.

What would the hollow-way drain if it were a ditch? Well, sometimes hollow-ways acted as ditches, draining water, at least informally, and in wet seasons. But, there is no evidence that this feature ever drained anything. However that assertion has to be weighed against the fact that the land it would cross on the north and east sides of Sovereign Wood, were the subject of serious opencast mining in the 1950’s, which would have removed all traces of remains.

That the suggested hollow-way was situated within the Sovereign Wood is probably why the feature has been preserved, as the wood has been private property for many years, hence ‘out of bounds’ for local walkers. 

Was the wood boundary positioned so as to enclose and protect the Dodworth Hollow-way, in the same way that the developers of Stainborough / Wentworth Castle did theirs?

Pack-horses can now and always could use tracks the width of a modern footpath, and as they were in the early days a widely used form of transport, it seems likely they were used by the monks and traders in connection with the hollow-way. This in turn is perhaps evidence of the antiquity of the track.

Finally, the Sovereign after whom the wood containing the track is named was probably the Sovereign Colliery nearby. In fact there are two of that name – The Old Sovereign and the New Sovereign. Paradoxically perhaps, there would not have been an ‘Old’ Sovereign until a new one was made.’ In turn the Sovereign Colliery was probably named after a Sovereign – do you know which one?

At the Dodworth end - the suggested track would have had to pass over the field that stretches from the bottom of the former Polly Fox’s footpath to the Top Fields, where currently there is no obviously visible trace. That field was part of Dodworth Common until about 1800. The moving of the track westward, could have been done when the Dodworth ‘common-land’ was ‘Enclosed’, this may have also been when Dodworth Hall on Dodworth Green was built.

Also, if the track were moved westward as described earlier in this paper, then it would be in its current situation. That would have permitted the owners of Dodworth Hall to move the publicly used track a bit further from their property, and put between their house and the said path / track an area surrounded by iron railings and equipped with gates. 

Two examples of that iron work remain. Firstly there is a ‘Kissing Gate’ at the bottom of Polly Fox’s. Secondly by the stile where the track in its current location intersects with the path to the fields by Saville Hall is an iron gate-post. 

As late as about 1950 there was extensive similar ironwork on display. The death of the last resident of Dodworth Hall, Mrs Ethel Asquith; Lady Asquith as she was known to many locals, was followed by removal of most of the remaining ironwork.

Two stone gate posts have survived nearly all of the above. One is at the bottom of Polly Fox’s – can we can see now why the hinges appear to be on the wrong face of the square post? The other is at the eastern end of Ratten Row, and in the past year it has been broken into two pieces, presumably by farm machinery.