Elsecar was originally a hamlet, until – like so many other villages in the area – it expanded in the eighteenth century due to the coal industry. It became a colliery village following the opening of Elsecar Old colliery in 1750 and several other collieries followed. New buildings were built by the fifth Earl Fitzwilliam to house the workers. The nineteenth century saw the village connected to the navigable inland waterway network to ship coal, and the railways inevitably followed, both of which have let a mark on the village. The oldest surviving buildings of any note date from the nineteenth century, but the village’s name betrays the fact that existed long before that: Elsecar is believed to derive from the Old English name Aelfside and the Old Norse word kjarr, meaning marsh or brushwood.
Elsecar Railway Station was opened in 1897 by Midland Railway; it was for a time known as Elsecar & Hoyland Railway Station, since it also serves the adjacent town of Hoyland, to which Elsecar is now attached thanks to the inevitable proliferation of twentieth and twenty-first century housing developments. From the station, turn right down Hill Street (take a short detour to the right first to view the former Clothiers Arms public house, which still has its old pub sign), shortly passing the Fitzwilliam Arms on the right. Shortly afterwards, just after passing the Crown Inn on the right, the road becomes Fitzwilliam Street. Continue to follow the road downhill, passing another pub – the Milton Arms, also on the right – to reach the junction with Wentworth Road. Opposite Milton Arms on the left-hand side of the road is the Grade II-listed Fitzwilliam Lodge, built in 1853 as a Miners’ lodging house and now flats. Further down Fitzwilliam Street on the same side is Milton Hall, also Grade II-listed and originally built in 1870 as a market hall.
Elsecar Reservoir.
Turn right along Wentworth Road, passing the Market Hotel on the corner, and shortly turn right again to enter Elsecar Park. Walk across the park, passing the bandstand, to reach Elsecar Park Café, then turn left and follow a footpath along the edge of Elsecar Reservoir (don’t cross the dam wall, unless you want to detour to admire the view). The reservoir was completed in 1785 to provide water to the Elsecar Branch of the Dearne and Dove Canal (more on which shortly) and is now a nature reserve. On reaching the end of the reservoir, continue straight ahead along a path through trees to reach Burying Lane, then turn left and on reaching a junction, continue straight ahead along Barrowfield Lane. Just before the road curves right, turn left along a signed public footpath and follow the path for nearly a mile, as it bends left and runs through trees and then right across the edge of a field to enter King’s Wood. When the path leaves the wood and meets the end of Forge Lane, turn right and follow a path uphill, then just before it leaves the trees and enters a field, turn left again and follow another path downhill. At a junction, continue straight ahead over a stile into a field, and turn right to follow a path along the edge of the field, over three more stiles, to join the end of a track. Follow this to Linthwaite Lane, then turn left.
Take the next left turn down Royds Lane, and when this ends at Wath Road, turn right. Follow the road for nearly a mile, passing Hemingfield Colliery on the left. Hemingfield Colliery – also known as Low Elsecar Colliery – is a scheduled ancient monument and includes the Grade II*-listed former Cornish Pumping Engine House, built in 1843. The site is cared for a “Friends” group which is dedicated to restoring and preserving the colliery buildings, and which has open days that allow visitors to explore the site. Shortly after passing the colliery, continue straight ahead at a crossroads and eventual reaching Smith Bridge Lane. Turn left and follow the lane over a level crossing (this is the track of the Elsecar Heritage Railway, discussed below) to reach Smithy Bridge, which carries the road over the Elsecar Branch of the Dearne and Dove Canal. Here, we turn left to gain the towpath, which we will follow back to the centre of Elsecar. An Act authorising construction of the Dearne and Dove canal, which ran from Barnsley to Swinton, was passed in 1793 and the canal opened in 1804. It had two branches, one of Worsborough, and this one to Elsecar. It eventual closed in 1961 and attempts to restore the canal – much of which has been infilled – have sadly been abandoned in recent years. On the plus side, much of the Elsecar Branch was restored before this, and although it isn’t navigable, it is in water and provides a pleasant green corridor from Elsecar and down to the town of Wombwell, as we shall see on our next walk.
Follow the canal, shortly passing the remains of Storey Lock, after which the canal reaches the infilled Tingle Bridge. Here, climb the steps next to the bridge to Tingle Bridge Lane, where the Elephant & Castle public house can be seen on the right. Cross the road and regain the towpath, next reaching the remains of Tingle Bridge Lock. Shortly, a pair of large stone blocks at the edge of the canal marks the site of the entrance to Hemingfield Basin, which can be seen on the left of the towpath. The large basin has survived largely intact and was built to serve Hemingfield Colliery, allowing coal to be transported along the canal. The towpath originally crossed the entrance to the basin via a stone arch bridge. The next canal feature we come to is the remains of Elsecar Low Lock, and then the infilled Cobcar Bridge, which carries Wath Road over the canal. Continue to follow the canal on the other side of the bridge, passing the remains of Cobcar Lock, soon followed by Elsecar Top Lock. The chamber of the latter was restored by members of the Barnsley Canal Group and Waterway Recovery Group and the top lock gates reinstated; it isn’t a working lock, but it certainly looks the part and will delight canal enthusiasts who can only regret that the other derelict locks we have passed are increasingly unlikely to benefit from the same treatment. From here, stay on the towpath beside the restored summit pound, eventually reaching the terminal wharf. Continue straight ahead past this to reach Elsecar Heritage Centre.
Elsecar Heritage Centre.
The Heritage Centre is Elsecar’s biggest tourist draw, and is popular across the region with both casual visitors and industrial enthusiasts alike. We walk past a restored pump house, next to which is the only Newcomen steam engine in the world to have remained in its original location. Opposite this is Rockingham Railway Station, originally Earl Fitzwilliam’s Private Railway Station, which was built to serve to serve the Earl’s collieries and ironworks. It was the terminus of the Elsecar Heritage Railway, which ran preserved rolling stock for a mile down a restored section of the former South Yorkshire Railway’s freight-only Elsecar Branch, which we crossed earlier in the walk. The line closed in 1984 with the last of the collieries and was restored and reopened from 1994 to 1996. Sadly, the Elsecar Heritage Railway – which took over operation of the site in 2006 – surrendered the lease in 2020 due to financial pressures exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Barnsley Council is reportedly committed to reopening the site, but at the time of writing it remains in limbo, mothballed potentially indefinitely. Nevertheless, the station does at least remain in good condition and can be viewed through the chain link fence that surrounds it. From the locked entrance to the station, turn right to explore the main part of Heritage Centre, which comprises Earl Fitzwilliam’s ironworks, forges, distillery and workshop buildings, all now restored, Grade II*-listed and turned into cafes, shops, and art galleries. The Elsecar Antiques Centre, located in one of the former workshops, includes the Coddswallop Bottle Museum, the sort of delightfully idiosyncratic and highly specific small museum exemplified by the Lake District’s more famous Kendal Pencil Museum.
Leave the Heritage Centre on Wath Road and turn right, then turn left along Church Street, passing Holy Trinity Church on the corner (opposite this, on the other side of Wath Road, is the restored, Elsecar Mill, a former flour mill dating from 1842 that now houses a lighting store). The church was built from 1841 to 1843 and was paid for by Earl Fitzwilliam. It is also the last point of interest on our walk, which we now conclude by continuing along Church Street until it ends at Hill Street, then turning right to return to the railway station.
From Elsescar we continue along the line to Barnsley, next stopping at what is reputedly South Yorkshire’s second most dangerous medium-sized town…
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