An Exploration of Tickhill - Part 4

 

Nos. 126 and 128 Doncaster Road

During my exploration of Tickhill to date, I had so far photographed 18 of the 32 buildings on my list for the British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge, encountered the interesting water engineering at Mill Stream and had a good look at the interior of St. Mary’s church and its memorials.

 

Castle Folds Farmhouse

 

I then walked back down Church Lane back to Westgate, photographed a milestone and continued along Castlegate to the C19 Castle Folds Farmhouse, which is built with massive limestone for the quoins, with relatively thinner bedded limestone for the walling and red pantiles for the roof.

 

Nos. 33-35 Castlegate

 

The C17 Nos. 33-35 Castlegate are built with limestone blocks that are quite irregular in course height, but there aren’t any obvious quoins and brick is used in the first floor window heads. Although not suitable for supplying quoins and dressings, quarries in the local Brotherton Formation probably produced some of the walling stone for the vernacular architecture in Tickhill.

 

No. 31 Castlegate

 

Next of my list of buildings to photograph was No. 31 Castlegate, which has an early C19 brick built frontage that incorporates a fragment of a larger mediaeval timber framed house, with an interesting mixture of limestone and brick on its north elevation.

 

The north elevation of No. 31 Castlegate

Continuing north along Castlegate for less than 50 metres, the C18 Nos. 13-17 provide further examples of squared and coursed rubble limestone in a long stretch of walling, which very surprisingly don’t have any quoins or dressings.

 

Nos. 13-17 Castlegate

 

From here onwards to Market Place, with a few exceptions, the building material becomes predominantly brick and it develops the architectural character of a Georgian market town, set on a long established route that runs at least from Rotherham to Maltby, Tickhill and Bawtry.

 

The Scarbrough Arms

 

Turning at a right angle into Sunderland Street to the east, I carried on for less than 200 m until I came to the Scarbrough Arms, which is not a listed building or of great interest, but it was the first time that I had seen one of the large circular plaques produced by the Cyclists' Touring Club.
 

The Cyclists' Touring Club plaque

On the other side of the road is No. 27 Sunderland Street, which was next on my list for my Photo Challenge. Except for the colour of the stone on the front elevation, which is very different to all of the limestone that I had seen so far in Tickhill, this modern house doesn’t have any obvious architectural interest and I was wondering if I had found the right building.

 

No. 27 Sunderland Street

 

Historic England describes the building as “Modern cottage embodying late C17 or early relief of Roche Abbey stone, now in front wall at level of first floor windows. Formerly part of a pair of cottages on this site. Shield enclosed by wreath of leaves and surmounted by three cherubim heads under stone drapery.”

The decorative shield at No. 27 Sunderland Street

 

I eventually found the shield and took a quick snap for my records, but it is the apparent use of Roche Abbey stone that most interests me. The first time that I visited St. Mary’s church was when the architect, who appointed me to survey the stonework at Brocklesby Hall in 2004, asked if I could take a quick look at it for him in anticipation of future work here.

 

A geological map showing Tickhill and the Roche Abbey quarries

 

Nothing came from this, but my research at the time led me to the conclusion that the quarries on the Cadeby Formation at Roche Abbey supplied their dolomitic limestone to St. Mary’s church and others of the same C12 age in South Yorkshire. With these being less than 9 km away and a supply network already establshed, it is quite likely that they supplied stone for many historic buildings in Tickhil, where massive stone was required.

 

The market cross

 

Returning to Market Place, I quickly photographed the market cross (1777), which was not on my Photo Challenge, before continuing along Northgate until I took a diversion to St. Mary’s Road to photograph Victoria Cottages, a terrace of C19 house built out of hammer-dressed stone that is quite massive and would not look out of place in any village set on the Cadeby Formation. 

 

Victoria Cottages

 

I carried along Northgate passing various historic stone and brick buildings that are interspersed with inter-war and modern housing and, checking the time until the next bus back to Doncaster, I realised that I was not going to be able to get to the stone cross at Willingham Street, which is set at the entrance to the village.

 

Nos. 53-57 Northgate

 

My last stop for my Photo Challenge, conveniently located right next to the Doncaster Road/Estfeld Close bus stop, was a cluster of Grade II Listed farm buildings - including houses at Nos. 126 and 128, a stable that dates to the C18 and a later barn (1820), which I could only glimpse over the front gates.

 

Various buildings at the old farm on Northgate

 

My quick exploration of Tickhill took just 3 hours, with my walk covering a distance of 5.5 km on the principal roads that haven’t changed that much in character from their depiction on the 1854 Ordnance Survey map. Now that the No. 22 bus runs with a half hourly service, I look forward to having another look at this very interesting historic market town in the not too distant future.

 

My walk around Tickhill