From Thorpe Salvin to Kiveton Park

A view of St. Peter's Church from Lady Field Road

The last leg of my circular walk, from Kiveton Park station to Thorpe Salvin, involved a 2 km walk from St. Peter's church along Lady Field Road – passing an area of agricultural land on a plateau of generally horizontally bedded dolomitic limestone of the Cadeby Formation.

 

The geology between Thorpe Salvin and Kiveton Park station

On the geological map, Lady Field Road is seen to cross a fault, to the immediate south of which is marked the calcareous mudstone that forms the lowest strata of the Cadeby Formation. The road then continues along the line of this fault for a short distance, with the Permian Cadeby Formation to the north and the Upper Carboniferous Mexborough Rock to the south.

 

A viiew towards Harthill

Setting off from St. Peter’s churchyard, after taking a photo of the north elevation of the church, I soon realised that I probably wouldn’t see much from this stretch of road, as I took in the views across the wheatfields towards Locscar Wood and Harthill to the south-east.

 

A roadside exposure of dolomitic limestone

The geological map shows a small expanse of Quaternary till straddling the road but, not seeing any exposures of soil next to the roadside, I just carried on until I reached the farm at Bunker’s Hill, which is built on the site of an old quarry.

 

A detail of a roadside exposure of dolomitic limestone

Noting the position of a bridleway on the north side of the road for future walks, I photographed the small outcrop of limestone that is exposed immediately below the hedgerow but, except to record its rubbly nature, I didn’t examine it closely.

 

A view north towards the Chesterfield Canal

Continuing down the hill and crossing the Carboniferous/Permian unconformity that separates the Cadeby Formation and the Mexborough Rock, apart from a change in slope at the foot of the limestone escarpment, I couldn’t see much evidence of this in the soil or vegetation.

 

A view across the Carboniferous/Permian unconformity

Walking for a few minutes more, I then stopped at Peck Mill View where, looking to the south-east, the red soil covering the rising ground clearly marks the position of the underlying ‘Rotherham Red’ variety of the Mexborough Rock.

 

Reddened soil on the Mexborough Rock

Arriving at the crossroads at the bottom of Lady Field Road, the Mexborough Rock continues to produce a noticeable landform, with a gentle escarpment running parallel to Manor Road in an east-west direction.

 

The Mexborough Rock at Manor Lane

Finally reaching Kiveton Park station, after a leisurely 4 mile walk that had taken just under 3 hours, my timing was just right on this occasion and I only had a couple of minutes to wait before the X5 bus arrived to take me back towards Treeton.

 

My circular walk from Kiveton Park station to Thorpe Salvin

Once on the bus, I checked the bus timetables on my mobile phone to see what route home I should take. Finding that there were no connections without a long wait, I decided to stay on the bus all the way to Sheffield Interchange. Here, I took advantage of the late afternoon sunshine at the Old Queen’s Head, where I reflected on the various geology and architecture that I had seen earlier - with a couple of pints of Thwaites’ Wainwright.

Relaxing at the Old Queen's Head