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.

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! 

Lowe Lake

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 estate.  A house known in the late 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s as ‘Cotterell’s House’ after people who lived there at some time, was close to one end of the dam, and when built would probably have stood at the side of the lake.

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.  It was drained when the coming of the railways that ran through the valley made the canal system less viable, and finally when it interfered with the working of the Strafford Colliery, which was sunk many decades after the dam had been created.  At its peak the waters of the lake covered about 24 acres of ground, were about 34 foot deep, and stretched all the way up the valley (about 1 mile) to what is more usually called ‘The Dam’ and they covered what are known as ‘The Stepping Stones’ and what was called ‘The Whirlpool’ – the latter being another pool created by kids damming the River Dove, so that they could jump in and sometimes swing above it – perhaps they still do.  They certainly still use ‘The Dam’ as a picnic spot – for which it is well suited.

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 was created it was used to drive a replacement water mill, and to fill the mill-pond necessary for such an operation.  The mill, known as the ‘new’ Stainborough Mill, was on the southern bank of the River Dove, just below Stainborough Bridge, about a half mile downstream of the fine new dam.  The Stainborough Mill has been much altered in recent years and is now a fine large private house, noticeable at night by its being floodlit.  The mill-pond, that served the mill, was located on the same side of the road as the mill, right where a large splendid private house now sits, the last one on the left before the Stainborough crossroads.  The ‘mill-race’ i.e. the water channel that carried water to the mill-pond from the Lowe Lake ran in a straight line from the ‘Cotterell’s’ side of the big clay dam directly to the mill-pond.  At present a substantial hedge is present on almost the exact line of the mill-race, running almost that entire length.  Just how the water in the mill-race was conveyed across the road is not known.

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…

Smithy Wood Lane Coking Works

The above was mentioned in the last post. Readers may wish to note that the remains of the coking plant are still in existence, at the bottom of Smithy Wood Lane.

IT IS LIKELY THAT THEY ARE ON PRIVATE LAND SO ALL USUAL CAUTIONS APPLY INCLUDING THE NEED TO AVOID DANGEROUS SITUATIONS AND ACTIVITIES

The remains have deteriorated and been vandalised signfictanly over the years and that destruction is continuing. There may thus be little time left to explore them. They consist of damaged 'beehive' kilns and brickwork. Much rubbish has been dumped on the site in recent years, and the place is overgrown. The map reference taken from Google Maps is shown below:

53.533055, -1.513581

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.5313462,-1.5067358,15z



At one time there were 'tennis courts' nearby, and the very old 'Berry House' was close by too, the Strafford Pit was even nearer, and the Damstead Cottages were close also. DOES ANYONE WANT TO SHARE ANYTHING ABOUT ANY OF THE ABOVE?

UPDATE ON A COUPLE OF ITEMS


Hi to the chap from the Worsborough area - who write an interesting bit about Lowe Reservoir, River Dove etc. Thank for sharing your information.

I am sorry but I cannot find a way to reply to you anonymously. SO - if you contact me again [and I hereby encourage you to do that] please make clear if I have permission to publish / share with readers of this blog, your comment.

What I term the 'River Dove', is sometimes referred to as the House Carr Dyke [Huskar] / Stream, however S.P. Sykes in his seminal work / thesis 'In the shadow of the hill' [that being the prominent hill at Stainborough known as 'Stainborough Lowe'] - available from Barnsley Archives and Dodworth Library] - he calls the stream / dyke "...the embryo River Dove...". Other sources use the same term[s].

It is definitely not the Baggerwood Dyke, but that water-course does join it at the following map reference 53.531231, -1.524181, available on Google Maps at on https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.5330425,-1.522872,15z.

I have recently read somewhere that it is not called the River Dove until it leaves Worsborough Reservoir.

However - it is CURRENTLY joined just before it enters Worsborough Reservoir - by the stream that you mention coming from Rockley at map reference: 53.527686, -1.487960   On Google Maps  https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.5256192,-1.4948053,15z  .

I suspect the answer lies somewhere in the naming process - which probably occurred before Worsborough Reservoir was built - I think about 1802. So I think that it is the River Dove - historically.

The reservoir at Stainborough was not built to serve the canal, but a long time before it, at least initally. In the work mentioned by Sykes elsewhere on this post, it says that it was one of two dams built on that water-course, and that it was probably the original 'Smithy Dam' serving a smithy at the bottom of Smith Wood Lane which is nearby.

Documents in the 'Wentworth Papers' say that the Smithy Dam was demolished and replaced by the one holding back Lowe Lake / Stainborough Lake, about 1730 by William Wentworth. Some decades later the Wentworth's sunk the Strafford Colliery nearby.

Around that time the canals were not competing very well with the up-coming railways of the day, so the Dearne and Dove Canal Company widened and deepened the canals in a bid to compete. For that they needed more water. By then the Wentworth's had ceased use of that valley as a part of their landscaping, possibly because of the presence of the mine and its associated industrial complex, and about then they sunk the Strafford mine even deeper.

So to provide more water the Lowe Lake / Stainborough Reservoir was considerably enlarged, I think to make it 23 acres in size and 34 feet deep, by widening the basin up stream of the lake.

Some time after that the water of the dam leaked into the mine workings, so the reservoir was drained and the site of the lake and the dam abandoned. Probably because the mine was more valuable than the lake. The mine was subsequently dried out and continued to operate until pre-WW2.



Hello also - to the person signed 'anonymous' who commented on the 'tunnel from Stainborough / Wentworth Castle to Saville Hall. Thank for sharing your information. Please contact me to say if I can publish it / share it with others on this blog.

The engineering challenges involved in building such a tunnel, especially centuries ago, are / would have been immense - and around these parts we have lots of people who know about tunneling, as they did much of it making coal mines.

The current Saville Hall - as I understand it - is just one wing of a much larger building, the other wing having been demolished many years ago. I suggest that when it was complete it probably had a shared cellar, and it is that which was / is blocked off by the concrete slab. However - perhaps you could check if it really is 'concrete' and say how old it appears to be. I would have expected any opening in antiquity to have been sealed off by stone or brick. Incidentally the book / thesis referred to above has things to say about Saville Hall, and about the Saville family.

The tunnel notion is firmly in people's minds - but you are the first one to say anything about the Saville Hall end of it.

It's an idea that bears continuing consideration. Other places have similar stories e.g. Nabbs Hall to Silkstone Church; Sheffield Castle to somewhere I cannot recall now.


The Editor