Kirk Sandall was originally a small hamlet named Sandal Parva, which may have played a role in the Battle of Hatfield in 633AD. Anyone expecting this to be a stroll around an historical rural village will be disappointed however: the old village was largely obliterated when Pilkington’s glass factory was established in 1922 and a new village built for Pilkington’s workers on the other side of the railway line. Today, the only remnant of the original Kirk Sandal is the Anglo-Norman Church of St Oswald, dedicated to that King of Northumbria, and what is left in its place is essentially a detached suburb of Doncaster, and a fairly nondescript one at that.
That’s not to say however that there’s nothing of interest to see on the walk. For one thing, there’s pleasant stretch along another length of the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation, plus a handful of interesting buildings. Unfortunately Kirk Sandall Railway Station isn’t one of them: an island platform station that opened in 1991 to replace the original station (which was half a mile further east along the line), it is entirely lacking in character. Nevertheless, it provides the starting point of our walk, and from the platform we walk up the ramp to Sandall Lane. Here, turn right and then turn left along Doncaster Road, shortly passing Kirk Sandall War Memorial, which is tucked away by the roadside on the left. Opposite this is the Glasshouse; originally the named the Kirk Sandall Hotel, this opened in 1934 and was renamed the Glassmaker in 1956-1957. It was built for the benefit of Pilkington’s employees and made extensive use in its construction and décor of the glass that the company manufactured. It demonstrates that whilst Kirk Sandall is by no stretch of the imagination a model village in the vein of Saltaire (which we will visit later, further north in the West Riding) or Port Sunlight on the Wirral, Pilkington’s desire to provide for his workers has nevertheless left its mark.
After passing the Glasshouse, continue along Doncaster Road and just after the road crosses a bridge over the railway line turn left along Moor Lane. Follow it past Glass Park Millennium Green on the right, a somewhat neglected green space which occupies the site of the glass works. At the end of Moor Lane, turn right again, passing the afore-mentioned St. Oswald’s Church. This now redundant church is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust and is a Grade II*-listed building. According to legend, St. Oswald’s body rested on the site following his death in 642 and a church was certainly present at the time of the Domesday survey, although most of the present building dates from the twelfth century and has been restored twice.
St. Oswald’s Church.
Continue past the church, then turn right again to follow the towpath of the River Dun Navigation, the traditional name for this part of the River Don Navigation, which is of course now part of the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation. The history of the River Dun Navigation is complicated, but it was made navigable in the eighteenth century, and follows changes to the course of the River Don made in the seventeenth century by Dutch engineer Cornelius Vermuyden. Further downstream, it joins the Stainforth and Keadby Canal, as we shall see on the next walk. Proceed along the towpath to Barnby Dun Lift Bridge, one of several such bridges on the Navigation and, along with the various locks, amongst its most striking features. This particular bridge carries Madam Lane across the cut, and if you are lucky, you might see it being raised or lowered as you approach. On reaching the bridge, turn sharp right and follow High Street along the edge of the small village of Barnby Dun.
Barnby Dun Lift Bridge
Stay on High Street, passing Barnby Dun Methodist Church and the village pinfold on the left, eventually reaching the junction with Station Road. Follow this straight ahead until it becomes Doncaster Road, then turn left and follow Armthorpe Lane, shortly crossing the railway line. Take the next public footpath on the right and follow it along the edge of a field to Eccleston Road. On the right is St Thomas of Canterbury Church, built in 1930 on land donated by the Pilkington Glass Company. Turn left and follow Eccleston Road until it ends at a junction, then bear left along Longton Road. Immediately after passing the junction with Hesketh Drive on the left, turn left and pass through a stile into Brecks Plantation.
Turn left and follow the path through the wood, turning right at the end and continuing through the wood with fields on your left. The path leaves the wood on Brecks Lane; cross straight over and follow a footpath through trees to the end of Holly Bush Lane, then bear slightly right and follow an alleyway between houses to Long Field Road. Most of the rest of the walk is decidedly suburban: cross straight over Long Field Road and continue along the path, which runs alongside Eden Field Road. A public house, the Eden Arms, is on the right. At the end of Eden Field Road, turn right and follow Thorne Road, entering Kirk Sandall’s adjacent suburb of Edenthorpe. Edenthorpe War Memorial can be seen on the corner of Eden Grove Road on the left.
Continue to follow Thorne Road, passing two more public houses, the Beverley Inn on the right and the Ridgewood on the left. Just after passing Hungerhill School on the right, turn right along Hungerhill Lane, which soon becomes a metalled track and runs between the school on the right and a plantation on the left; take an optional detour to explore the plantation, which is one of those areas of immature woodland that seems to have been planted on land that one suspects isn’t suitable for building on. At the end of Hungerhill Lane, turn right along Doncaster Road, passing another public house – The Holly Bush – on the right, before finally turning left along Sandall Lane to return to the railway station.
It isn’t perhaps entirely unfair to suggest that Kirk Sandall is one of those places that aren’t regularly visited by walkers, although the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation towpath probably gets a few long-distance hikers. Indeed, it’s unlikely that I would have ever visited the village-turned-suburb if I hadn’t arbitrarily decided to do a walk from every railway station in the county. However, the walk hopefully demonstrates the principle that everywhere has something interesting to see, and this also needs to be born in mind for the walk from the next station down the railway line…