Dodworth is yet another mining village, although for centuries before it became one it had some small importance due to its location on an historic salt route from Cheshire, which later became a turnpike road. As is often the case, the village’s name betrays its ancient origins, since it is believed to be derived from an Old English personal name “Dodd” and “worþ “, which means “enclosure”. Before it became a mining village, Dodworth had a modest weaving industry, and several weavers’ cottages survive on High Street. The opening of collieries on the edge of the village in the nineteenth century forever changed the character of the village, with the usual influx of miners and construction of housing for them and their families; when the collieries closed, the village became a commuter village and suburb of Barnsley, although it retains some rural character as we shall see on this walk.
Dodworth Railway Station opened in 1989 on the site of the original station, which operated from 1854 to 1859; none of the original station buildings survive. Nor indeed does the second platform: when the Penistone Line was modernised in the nineteen-eighties, it became a single-track line, save for a couple of passing loops along the route from Barnsley to Huddersfield. We leave the station and turn right along Station Road, then at a junction continue straight ahead (still on Station Road) and follow it to a crossroads. Shortly, we pass the Dodworth Tap public house (formerly the Station Inn) on the left and the Dodworth Central Social Club on the right, then at next the crossroads, take a short detour straight ahead along High Street to see a row of timber-framed cottages, which reputedly date from the sixteenth century, and the well-built former Council Offices directly opposite them.
Sixteenth century cottages on High Street.
On the corner of High Street adjacent to the crossroads is the Dodworth War Memorial, made of sandstone and topped by a statue of an infantryman wielding a bayonet, whilst close by is a half pit wheel mining memorial, similar to those we have seen on the Meadowhall and Kiveton Park walks.
Turn right along Dodworth Green Road, shortly passing the Methodist Church on the right, next to which is a former Wesleyan School. Soon, the Grade II-listed Travellers Inn, which dates from 1782, can be seen on the left. Just after passing the junction with Church Hill on the right, turn right to enter the churchyard of Church of St. John the Baptist, also Grade II-listed and built in 1844. Follow the path in a loop around the churchyard and exit via a gate to return to Dodworth Green Road, cross over, and then turn left along Ratten Row. Ratten Row soon becomes a path beside a stream, as we venture out into the countryside that surrounds the village. Continue beside the stream, then turn right and follow a footpath across fields, gradually ascending to the brow of a hill and then descending again to join the Dove Valley Trail, a roughly nine-mile footpath that follows a former railway track (a branch of the South Yorkshire Railway built to serve Wentworth Silkstone Colliery) which now forms part of the Trans-Pennine Trail. Follow the trail for almost a mile to a bridge over the track, then just before the bridge, turn right and follow a path that leaves the trail to reach Gilroyd Lane. Turn left, crossing over the bridge, and follow the lane until it ends at Keresforth Road.
Turn left and follow the road, and just after passing the junction with Woodend Court on the right, turn right and follow a footpath beside another stream. At a junction, turn left and shortly cross a bridge over the stream, emerging onto Lambert Fold. Walk to the end of the road, then turn left along Water Royd Drive. Just before this ends at Keresforth Road, turn right to follow a path through trees (take a short detour here to visit Rosehill Wesleyan Reform Church, which is next to the junction with Keresforth Road). The path crosses a wooden bridge, then runs alongside the stream to a stone bridge; cross this and then continue along the path to Bowden Grove. Cross straight over and stay on the path, until it ends at High Street.
Turn right and follow High Street to Jermyn Croft on the right; just past here is the Thornely Arms public house, a name that looks as though it is spelt wrong but actually isn’t.
The Thornely Arms.
Turn down Jermyn Croft and follow it to its end, then continue straight ahead along a path to Barnsley Road. Turn left, soon passing a former pub, the Gate Inn, on the left. Turn right along Higham Lane and stay on this as it becomes pedestrianised and passes under first a railway bridge and then Whinby Road Bridge. The track soon joins a road (still Higham Lane), which we follow uphill, then at a public footpath sign turn left and left again and follow the footpath as it runs through woodland adjacent to first Higham Lane and then Whinby Road. Stay on the path, which soon turns right and runs gently uphill, then turns left and runs between trees and open fields. This area of woodland is the landscaped former “muck heap” from the defunct Dodworth Colliery, which after more than twenty years of tree growth has become a rich wildlife habitat. On reaching a junction turn left to follow the path (which has now become a wide – albeit muddy – track) to Elmhirst Lane. Turn left and follow this to a roundabout, passing the Fairway Pub and Restaurant on the right, one of those large and boringly generic modern “gastropubs” that have sprung up everywhere in the last few decades. Finally, continue straight on at the roundabout, following Station Road back to the station.
With the Dodworth walk complete, we now continue along the Penistone Line for the last two stations in South Yorkshire. As we do so, the character of the landscape noticeably changes: if Dodworth has a rural fringe, modern housing developments still give it a very suburban feel. That is about to change, as we head out into some of the prettiest countryside that this part of Yorkshire has to offer…
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