Thorne has a very different character to the last few towns we have visited, which reflects the fact that its history is quite different. A market town built on agriculture, it hasn’t been blighted by coal mining and is the sort of pretty one might expect to find in the middle of a National Park rather than squatting on the very edge of South Yorkshire. It lies close to the River Don and on the Stainforth and Keadby Canal (the Don and the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation have parted company by this point in their courses), and although the area has been inhabited since Neolithic time, it grew in prosperity in the seventeenth century when Cornelius Vermuyden drained Hatfield Chase, creating fertile fields all around. Like the village of Kiveton Park, Thorne has two railway stations and both are included on this walk: it can be started from either, but the directions begin at Thorne North Railway Station. The walk is partly based on a town trail published at The History of Thorne website, but extended and modified.
Thorne North opened in 1869 and retains its original station building, the first of several attractive Victorian buildings we shall encounter on the walk. Leave via the south-bound platform, turn right and walk to Field Side, then turn left and follow this towards the town centre of Thorne, shortly passing the Punch Bowl public house followed by Thorne Police Station on your left. The building on the corner of Durham Avenue on the other side from the police station is the former Carnegie Library, which dates from 1905. Carnegie libraries were built with money donated by Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie between 1883 and 1929, mostly for public use; originally, there were more than six hundred in the British Isles, and we have already seen one, back in Swinton. Some have been demolished, some are still libraries, and the rest have been repurposed but almost without exception remain handsome buildings.
Continue along Field Side as it becomes King Street, looking out for the former Temperance Institute (now council offices) on the corner of Browns Lane on the right. Just past this on the left is the imposing former steam powered flour mill owned by one Sim Templeman. Proceed straight ahead, soon passing a former Bethesda Chapel (built in 1817) on the right, and the former Brooke’s School (built in 1862 and later the grammar school) followed by Thorne Methodist Church (which is actually a former Wesleyan Church dating from 1826) on the left. Turn right along The Green, passing the Red Bear public house on the right; just past this, along Queen Street, is another pub, the Windmill. Turn left along Orchard Street and follow it between rows of shops to Horse Fair Green. Here, turn left and walk to Thorne Market Place; opposite this is the White Hart. The pub has an unusual high façade which dates from 1737 and gives the erroneous impression from ground level of a flat-roofed building; behind the façade, the pub is a mix of parts of older buildings. Walk past this along Church Street, passing the former Travis’s Charity School (which dates from 1866) on the left, to reach the Grade I-listed Church of St. Nicholas. Parts of the church date from the twelfth century, although most of what can be seen today dates from the fourteenth. Take a detour further along Church Street to visit Peel Hill Motte, a Scheduled Ancient Monument and – like Mexborough Castle – the remains of a Norman castle, this one built by the de Warenne family. It once boasted a circular keep, but now only the grassy motte remains. After visiting Peel Hill, walk along Stonegate to the front of the church and turn left to walk through the churchyard to Back Lane. Cross straight over this and walk through the old cemetery, bearing right to exit on Elmhirst Road. Turn right again and walk to Back Lane, then turn right again along Tithe Barn Lane. Take a detour just beyond this to explore Thorne Cemetery.
The Church of St. Nicholas.
At the end of Tithe Back Lane, turn right along Stonegate. Turn left along Bridge Street then left again along Ellison Street, following it as it bends right and passes the Grade II-listed eighteenth century Thorne Hall. Turn right opposite Thorne Hall and enter Thorne Memorial Park, passing an old pump and then bearing left past the war memorial and lake. Turn left at the end of the lake to leave the park on Park View, then turn left and walk to Park Crescent. Turn right along Ellison Street and continue to follow this as it becomes South End, and just before the road passes under a railway bridge, the Victoria Inn can be seen on the right hand side of the road. Just past this is the entrance to Thorne’s second railway station, which is perhaps unsurprisingly named Thorne South. This opened in 1866, but sadly this station has none of its original buildings and is an unmanned platform station with no passenger facilities. Continue to follow South End under the railway bridge, eventually reaching Wykewell Lift Bridge, which carries the road over the Stainforth and Keadby Canal. The bridge is very similar to the one we previously saw at Barnby Dun on the Kirk Sandall walk. Cross the bridge, then turn right to gain the towpath, shortly passing Blue Water Marina on the opposite bank and then passing under a railway bridge, closely followed by a pipe bridge. When the towpath reaches a drive, continue straight ahead alongside the canal, passing through the grounds of a boatyard and passing under Thorne Bridge (which carries South Parade over the canal) to reach Princess Royal Bridge. A stone plaque commemorates the opening of this bridge by the Princess Royal. Cross the bridge to visit the Canal Tavern if you wish; otherwise stay on the towpath and follow it to Thorne Lock.
Thorne Lock.
Having already crossed a lift bridge on this walk, we now return to the other side of the canal via Thorne Lock Swing Bridge to reach Lock Hill. Here, bear left along a footpath to reach White Lane and cross this and bear right along a footpath into the Delves, former pits created when the railway embankment was built, which have now been turned into a pair of fishing lakes. As well as fish, these attractive lakes also support a large variety of water fowl. Bear left and then walk between the lakes to reach Field Side, and finally cross over the road to return to Thorne North Station.
The railway line split just before Thorne to serve both stations. Thorne South is on the South Humberside Main Line, which from here leaves Yorkshire to head across Lincolnshire to eventually terminate at Cleethorpes. Thorne North is on the Hull and Doncaster Branch which now heads further North and next stops at the port town of Goole in the East Riding of Yorkshire, which we shall visit in the future. For now however, we return to Doncaster to head North West and visit a couple of stations along the Wakefield line…