THIS ITEM ALSO APPEARS ON THE STAINBOROUGH CHRONICLE AND WENTWORTH CHRONICLE BLOGS - THIS IS NOT AN ACCIDENT - BUT DUE TO ITS IMPORTANCE - THE 'CATHERINE WELL' WILL DISAPPEAR IF NO ACTION IS TAKEN TO SAVE IT - THIS SAME FATE HAS ALREADY HAPPENED TO MANY FEATURES OF OUR ENVIRONMENT - SPEAK OUT FOR THIS ONE - AND SHOW YOU CARE - BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE - TELL OTHERS ABOUT THIS ITEM, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO CAN BRING ABOUT CHANGE.
The Sunny Hollow
At Stainborough is a place known to locals as the ‘Sunny
Hollow’, at present it looks like anything but a sunny place, yet in the 1950’s
to 1970’s; and certainly well before that time, it was very much a pleasant
play and picnic spot, where in the early days families went – often walking
from Dodworth Bottom and later Snowhill, and where later mainly young people
dammed the stream (actually the River Dove) to make a deep pool of water, swam,
swung on a high rope swing and dropped into the pool, and generally splashed
around enjoying themselves. The users of
the swing were invariably lads!
The tall tree from which the single rope swing hung, was
firmly rooted in something that was definitely not the colliery spoil heap slag
which was generally visible about the area.
In fact it was rooted in an enormous clay dam which was concealed
beneath the colliery slag tipped on top of it.
The clay dam was built around 1730 by workers from the Wentworth Castle
estate, and it ran from one side of the valley to the other at that point and
thereby created the variously named ‘Lowe
Lake ’, an ornamental landscape feature
of the early Wentworth
Castle
The Dam
Originally a landscape feature, the lake later became used
to feed the reservoir at Worsborough and thence the Dearne and Dove Canal
which ran to Worsborough
Bridge
The clay dam
The clay dam is still in place and may be detected by
careful examination of the stream bank at the location in question. Dams of that type of construction had an
overflow, this one still exists, and it has regularly and unknowingly been
walked upon by countless people in the years since the dam was finally drained
about 150 years ago. This overflow is at
the northern end of the dam, the one nearest to where the longer and lower of
the ‘Two Tunnels’ would have had its southern or western exit, i.e. the end nearest where the ‘Power
Station’ used to be.
Before it was built, on the site of the dam was some sort of
water mill used for grinding corn, and maybe it was used for other purposes
connected with metal working, and nearby was situated some cottages. This was long before the area became known as
the ‘Strafford Pit / Colliery’ and before the pit had ever been thought of, in
fact before mining on that scale began anywhere in the Barnsley area. The area did have a name though, it was
called ‘Damsteads’, and activity may have occurred on that site since at least
the 1600’s. It seems possible that the
name ‘Sunny Hollow’ may date from this same early period.
Stainborough Mill
After Lowe
Lake Stainborough
Bridge
The culvert
Back to the story! - the Sunny Hollow pool was fed by the
stream, River Dove, issuing from an open, circular, brick culvert of about 4
foot diameter. At some time before the
mid 1950’s the culvert may have had a wrought iron grill on it, to prevent
people entering, there was certainly a metal grill on the other end for some
years after that time. Looking into the
culvert, light could be seen at the other end, the tunnel being about straight,
approximately horizontal and about 100 yards long. A local mining surveyor has suggested that
the culvert was ‘put through the clay dam’ as part of the work to drain the
Lowe Lake, and to enable the tipping of colliery waste from the Strafford
Colliery into the bed of the lake and on the southern side of it, close to Lowe
Wood, and onto the top of the clay dam itself – which is why the dam is not
clearly visible today.
Strafford Brick Works
Some readers may recall occasions when the culvert got
blocked at its upstream end by debris such as trees carried by floods. On such occasions the ancient dam came into
operation and the lake returned! The
water from the River Dove filled the dam all the way back up to the Stepping
Stones – just as it had been designed to do in the early 1700’s. On what was almost certainly the last such
occasion; perhaps around the late 1960’s or early 1970’s, the blockage was
cleared, and the top half of the culvert was exposed by removal of part of the
clay dam and the many tons of colliery waste on top of it, then that top part
of the culvert was removed, making an open channel for the River Dover to flow
through. The operation was very untidy
and much of the debris thus created may still be seen in the stream bed to this
day. Amongst that debris are some
‘Strafford Bricks’, these are bricks made at the local Strafford Colliery brick
works, at one time readily identifiable by local mine workers, who used them in
the course of their work. The brick
works were on the left side of the track leading from Stainborough Lane to the old Strafford
Colliery site, which is now a small industrial estate, and they were on land now
underneath some large warehouse type buildings.
The actual site was between the track mentioned and the River Dove.
The Sunny Hollow bridge
Very close by and just downstream of the pool was a flat
bridge, wide enough for a farm cart, and perhaps notably having no handrails,
which in the 1950’s had a surface made of used railway sleepers. The sleepers were of some age and one day
failed, causing a young girl walking across it to partially fall through the
resultant gap, causing a serious laceration of the leg involved. The injured girl was my elder sister who is
now approaching 70 years of age. That
accident caused the then responsible authorities to replace the bridge with a
fine substantial metal structure, made of steel girders, and reminiscent of a
Second World War military ‘Bailey Bridge’.
It is my understanding that the bridge at the Sunny Hollow was designed
and constructed by the mining engineers of the ‘Levi Pit’ which was located a
couple of miles upstream of the bridge, and that those same people installed
the said bridge.
The metal bridge still was still standing the last time I
visited the site a few weeks ago, but it is now in a bad state of repair and
has been declared to be dangerous, so using it is not advocated. The stream can still be crossed by using informal
‘stepping stones’ placed by parties unknown, but caution is advised if doing
this as the potential for accidents is considerable. The piers on which the bridge stands are made
of very substantial dressed stone, which was apparently not purpose made, but
recycled. From where that recycling
occurred is not known – but it is speculated that they were originally part of
the structures; which according to old maps and drawings included a bridge, at
the southern end of the clay dam – and which formed the intersection with the
mill-race and presumably some sort of sluice mechanism to control the flow of
dam water into the mill-race.
The Catherine Well
The purpose of the Sunny Hollow bridge was to allow passage
over the stream, and a legal footpath exists on both sides of it, possibly
since the tipping of colliery waste onto the dam started. The part of the path heading towards
Stainborough Lowe has on its left a field – and this is the main purpose of
this article – so read this next bit carefully please! In
the field, and easily visible from the path just mentioned, is a single tall
tree, that was once part of a hedge.
That tree has been there for over 70 years to my certain knowledge and
possibly for a long time before that – others may know more about that… At the base of the tree is a spring known as
‘Catherine Well’. At least that
is the spelling I imagine for I have never seen it written down anywhere except
on a very old map, and I cannot recall the detail of that, but it could of
course begin with a K. Wells dedicated
to St Catherine are quite common; at least in the British Isles, and especially
in Ireland . Many such wells were in the past, and may be still
today, believed to have healing or health giving properties, this one is no
exception. I can personally think of
several stories related to such in the case of this well, and I can think of
other stories associated with it too.
The Catherine Well was well known to me as a child and to
everyone else that I can recall living in the vicinity, and they all knew at
least the same tales about it that I did, and it was to them universally known
by that name.
In those far off days access to the well was not restricted
and we frequently visited it, and knew it well.
The spring water coming out of ground fell into a massive rectangular
stone trough about 4 foot long and 2 foot wide.
The trough was more like a large stone sink than the stone ‘horse
troughs’ that were commonly around at time. It’s depth was less than a foot as
I recall, and all about it the grass would be soggy with the overflowing water,
that eventually found it’s way down towards the River Dove. I never recall the spring being dry, even in
the heat of summer.
In the trough and about it grew ‘wild water cress’ which kids
picked and took home for their mum’s.
This practice had gone on for many years – a lady of 91 who died this
year told me that, in her young days, children walked from as far away as
Kingstone to the Catherine Well to gather the watercress, to take home to their
mum’s for use as a garnish on the Sunday dinner.
A local historian told me that “…the old people of Gilroyd used to ask for a
‘cup of watter from’t Catherine Well’ to drink before they died.”
Another local, with a fund of reliable stories about things
that happened a few decades ago, told me of young locals with ‘sticky eyes in
the morning’ - ‘bathing their eyes in the Catherine Well water, each day for a
while’ apparently to successfully cure the common inflammation known today as
blepharitis.
In the 1950’s and 60’s,
youngsters with acne like conditions bathed their faces in the water of the
Catherine Well.
The ‘Brailsford Tank’
Near to the well and just by the edge of the field was a
large rusty coloured, tubular shaped, metal tank, of substantial construction
and great strength. It stood,
horizontal, on two brick plinths and from the ground to its top may have been
more than 7 foot, its diameter being about 5-6 foot, whilst its length may have
more than 15 foot. It was of riveted
construction, and had a short metal pipe of about 3 inch diameter on its upper
surface. Children often climbed onto the
top of the tank whilst playing. A former
coal miner when asked about the tank, remembered it from his younger days and
described it as a ‘Brailsford Tank’. Just
what the tank was, and what it was doing there is not known, but it seems that
it was moved in the 1980’s.
A popular drawing (the Badeslade birds eye view print] of
the Wentworth Castle estate show several fields on the south side of
Stainborough Lowe Lane, one of which is shown as Katherine Well Field. The image is dated 1730, testifying to the
ancient provenance of the well.
Official maps, from about 1905 and earlier, show the
presence of footpaths going to the Catherine Well from Lowe Lane and the Sunny Hollow
direction. These paths are no longer to
be seen on the ground.
Over the past decades the site of the Catherine Well has
gradually been obscured by presence of vegetation, weeds, and debris. Nevertheless the tree mentioned around the
start of this tale stands as a marker, for the time being. The stone trough mentioned earlier is also
know to still exist, in its original location, beneath the current ground
level, AND, the spring is still there, trickling into the trough just as it has
done for centuries.
Why the trough is in that location is not known, but without
question it did not get there by accident, it must have been deliberately
positioned in that place, for a purpose known at the time – and yet to be
discovered.
WHAT IS FOR CERTAIN – IS THAT THE CATHERINE WELL WILL
DISAPPEAR BEFORE LONG – AND THAT IF AND WHEN IT GOES IT WILL BE A GREAT LOSS TO
THE HERITAGE OF THE STAINBOROUGH AREA.
It will also be a sad loss, and one unlikely to occur in
areas of this land where heritage is more highly valued than around here.
So if you know anything about the Catherine Well – share it
– on this site – and anywhere else prominent – do not keep it to yourself.
Help – do your bit …
It is possible that others remember something of the places
mentioned in this article and that some of those may even have been involved,
perhaps in the making and installation of the bridge, or maybe just as users of
the Sunny Hollow and the bridge and the other features mentioned. If so – you are urged to share what you know –
before it is too late – contact this site and arrangements will be made with
you for you to tell your bit of this story – alternatively just send a response
or get someone else to do it for you – Dodworth Library (and most other
libraries) have readily accessible facilities to enable you to share what you
know – don’t delay or think that what you have to contribute will not be worth
the effort – it will be highly valued.
In general the above appeal applies to any recollections that you may
have about this area – let’s create a unique record for future generations – if
we don’t do it – nobody else will – because nobody else can…
