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| Rose Cottage |
My brief visit to Notre Dame High School in Ranmoor, to take a few photos for an illustrated talk that I was due to give to the Ranmoor Society, was the culmination of a very busy August - mainly spent getting to know the geology of Rotherham, Sheffield and Doncaster a little bit better.
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| Treeton and Ault Hucknall |
Although the weather in early September 2022 had been fine, it wasn’t until the start of the Heritage Open Days festival that I had another day out. Since 2016, I had attended several events in the Sheffield area, with trips further afield to the mediaeval churches in Barwick-in-Elmet, Scarcliffe and Methley and, although initially I thought that the logistics of travel would be prohibitive, I decided to visit the Church of St. John the Baptist in Ault Hucknall – a C11 church that I had briefly visited 30 years ago.
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| An Ordnance Survey map showing the location of Ault Hucknall |
After taking the X54 and X17 buses to get me from Treeton to Chesterfield, I caught the Stagecoach Pronto bus, which I had previously used for a day out in Mansfield and, after alighting in Glapwell, I went to find a footpath marked on the Ordnance Survey map that would take me to Ault Hucknall Lane and on to Ault Hucknall.
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| A panormic view from the Magnesian Limestone escarpment |
Now on the Magnesian Limestone, I made my way along Lime Tree Avenue in the housing estate to the escarpment, where I expected a clear view downhill to the west; however, from this point of view and when heading along the ill defined public footpath to Ault Hucknall Lane, I couldn’t immediately explain the landforms that I was seeing around me.
I hadn’t undertaken any research on the geology before setting off, but the distinctly reddened soil below the escarpment reflects the underlying calcareous mudstones, which form the base of the Permian strata here; however, it was only when I later referred to a British Geological Survey map did I learn that the red mudstone just separates the main body of the Cadeby Formation from an outlier upon which Ault Hucknall is set.
I had encountered elongated outliers, bounded by SW-NE trending faults at Pontefract and Conisbrough an erosional remnant at the island like outcrop at Laughton-en-le-Morthen but, from Glapwell to Huthwaite, the limestone plateau has been dissected by ancient tributaries of the River Meden, which flowed east from the watershed and cut down through the Permian Cadeby Formation to expose the underlying calcareous mudstones.
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| Another view of the public footpath from Glapwell to Ault Hucknall |
Continuing my walk to Ault Hucknall, the land owner had ploughed the public footpath, which made the walk across the heavy red calcareous clay soil after recent rain quite difficult, despite wearing a good pair of stout walking boots.
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| Ault Hucknall |
Eventually arriving at Ault Hucknall Lane, which has no footpaths, I met a young couple who had taken a bus to Glapwell and were undertaking a return journey of 6.5 km to Hardwick Hall with their two young children, one of whom was in a pushchair. I was very impressed by their dedication and it made me realise that, although it would entail an even longer out day from Treeton, I could get there if I really wanted to.
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| Views of the farm at Ault Hucknall |
Coming to Ault Hucknall which, consisting of a church, two houses and a farm, has been described as England’s smallest village, the Old Manse is a modern building of no interest and I just took a few record photographs of the farmhouse and the farm buildings.
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| Walling stone in the south range of the farm |
Passing the south range of the farm buildings, I stopped to have a good look at the dark buff/pink coloured walling stone, which looks nothing like the typical dolomitic limestone of the Cadeby Formation or any sandstone from the underlying Coal Measures.
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| A detail of the walling stone |
Carrying on along the Ault Hucknall Lane, I stopped again to look at the boundary wall of the church, which is built with a soft iron rich Coal Measures sandstone that contains well developed Liesegang rings and dense bands of ironstone.
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| The boundary wall to St. John's churchyard |
Apart from its different colour, it contains well defined beds that have differentially weathered, which is quite typical of the White Mansfield stone – a variety, of the Cadeby Formation that is classified as a dolomitic sandstone. I had also encountered a very similar stone in the window dressings of St. Leonard’s church in Scarcliffe – approximately 3 km to the north-east of Ault Hucknall.
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| Rose Cottage |
Next to the church is Rose Cottage, which is again built in Coal Measures sandstone with a stone slate roof. I can only speculate on the source of this sandstone, but the quarries on the nearby Hardwick Estate are a distinct possibility. With 15 minutes before the church opened, which I learned was every Saturday and not just on the Heritage Open Days, I took the opportunity to eat my packed lunch.
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| The Church of St. John the Baptist |
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