From Kiveton Park Station to Todwick

The church of St. Peter & St. Paul in Todwick

Arriving at Kiveton Park railway station after a short walk along the Chesterfield Canal from Kiveton Community Woodland, I had an hour before the next X54 bus arrived in Todwick, which gave me plenty of time to walk there.

 

An 1854 map showing various quarries around Kiveton Park

Back in 1997, when surveying various sites for the South Yorkshire RIGS (Regionally Important Geological Sites) Group, I visited a few old quarries in the immediate vicinity – some of which can been from the top deck of a bus – but on this occasion I couldn’t see any of them.

 

A view of Harthill from Red Hill

Walking up Red Hill, whose name reflects the reddened dolomitic limestone that is found at the base of the Cadeby Formation here, the views to the south are mostly obscured by plantations that mark the site of old quarries but, at one place, there are clear views towards Harthill.

 

1. Viewpoint  2. All Hallows Church  3. Quarry  4. Winney Hill

In the foreground, the Cadeby Formation slopes down to the line of the Kiveton Park fault and beyond this in the mid-distance, the Mexborough Rock - with its very distinctive reddened soil - forms an undulating landscape that results from minor folding of this rock formation here; however, on the geological map, not a single measurement of the dip of the strata is marked and this highlights the value of making observations out in the field.

 

1. Viewpoint  2. All Hallows Church  3. Quarry  4. Winney Hill

The geology in this part of South Yorkshire does not generally produce spectacular landforms that are easily identifiable and I have found that good high resolution photographs and Google Maps are invaluable for finding landmarks that enable me to better understand the landscape. In Harthill, I can pinpoint Winney Hill, All Hallows church and the plantation that hides the quarry that probably supplied the stone from which the latter was built.

 

A headstock at Kiveton Park

Quickly moving on to Kiveton Lane, where the old headstock records the former colliery here, I headed up the hill towards Todwick and onto the Mexborough Rock and continued until I reached Todwick Court, a small housing development that includes several barn conversions. 

 

A gate pier at the entrance to Kiveton Hall

At the entrance, the gate piers are Grade II Listed but there is no access to any of the houses or to Kiveton Hall; however, from the footpath, the buildings that I could see are built in the traditional vernacular style of dolomitic limestone, with red pantile roofs.

 

Ribbon pointing on random rubble walling

Just beyond this is a collection of mainly modern farm buildings with steel frame construction, among which there are a couple of unusual older limestone buildings, where the masonry comprises large irregular and uncoursed blocks with very bold ribbon pointing in sand and cement.

 

The tower of the church of St. Peter & St. Paul

Carrying on to Todwick, I had another quick look at the mediaeval church of St. Peter and St. Paul, which I have briefly described previously, and took a few more photographs to supplement those in my archive before continuing down to The Pastures, where I would catch my bus back to Treeton.

 

Todwick war memorial

While waiting, I had a look at the war memorial here, which was unveiled on 29th March 2014 and comprises a simple inscribed ‘black granite’ obelisk with a Carboniferous sandstone wall behind. I didn’t have the time to examine it closely, but it provided a good way to end another walk that provided some well needed exercise and satisfied my curiosity as a geologist.

My route from Harthill to Todwick