A Walk From Shireoaks to Worksop

 

A detail of a rebuilt brick pier at Canal Wharf

Week 24 of the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020 coincided with the last week in August and, having travelled a few times on the Sheffield to Lincoln train quite safely, the trip following my Kiveton Park to Thorpe Salvin circular walk again started at Shireoaks.

 

The Chesterfield Canal between Shireoaks and Worksop

On this occasion, I planned to walk along the Chesterfield Canal to Worksop, which I had first visited in 2016 - to specifically see Worksop Priory - and whose principal historic buildings and main points of interest I had already seen.

 

The Chesterfield Canal at Shireoaks

Having noted on Google Map that this stretch of the canal had an industrial rather than a rural character, I set off on my walk more in hope than expectation – at least as far as my interests in geology and historic buildings were concerned.

 

Various bridges and locks on the Chesterfield Canal

Although I did stop to photograph various bridges that crossed over the canal, I quickly walked to Worksop and it was only when I later looked at various maps that I got a better appreciation of the industrial history here - particularly the exploitation of the underlying mineral resources.

 

The geology between Shireoaks and Worksop

The Lady Lee limestone quarries and limekilns on the Cadeby Formation to the south of Rhodesia were once served by a now infilled spur of the Chesterfield Canal, marked by a brick bridge, and both brick works and various sand pits were located on the Edlington Formation – which in the Worksop area has a soft sandstone in its upper part.

 

A commemorative plaque at Canal Lock

Large squared blocks of dolomitic limestone are used along the length of the canal from Shireoaks to the centre of Worksop and, at Canal Lock, a rough untooled boulder of limestone, with a plaque fixed to it, marks the bicentenary of its opening.

 

The Pickford's Depository

Continuing along the towpath under Bridge Place, I came to the old Pickford's Depository which, like the nearby Canal Cottage, was built in the early C19 with pink/orange/yellow coloured bricks and Carboniferous sandstone dressings.

 

Various red brick buildings in Worksop

The bricks are markedly different in colour and texture to the bricks that are used for most of the older buildings that I have seen in Nottinghamshire. The Permian marls here have been widely exploited to produce typically red bricks, but those seen at Canal Wharf have more in common with the calcium rich/iron poor bricks made from the younger Jurassic and Cretaceous strata further to the east.

 

A detail of a rebuilt gate pier