An Exploration of Tickhill - Part 3

 

A detail of the decoration to the west face of the castle gatehouse

Having encountered Paper Mill Dike and Mill Stream during my exploration of Tickhill, which gave me an insight into the water management of a naturally waterlogged area that presumably began when Roger de Busli established his motte and bailey castle and Mill Dam at Tickhill, I got a brief glimpse of a section of the remaining curtain wall. 

 

A section of the curtain wall at Tickhill Castle

 

The limestone ashlar facing stones have developed a grey patina, which is quite typical of the massive dolomitic limestone of the Cadeby Formation. This contrasts with the thinly bedded limestone from the Brotherton Formation, which has been used for the core. 

 

The entrance to the gatehouse

 

Continuing along the footpath to the west of the castle, I stopped very briefly to photograph a decorative detail on the outer face of the gatehouse, which is best described by the Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland.

 

The moat at Tickhill Castle

 

Tickhill Castle is still partly surrounded by a water filled moat, which I presume has a similar date to Mill Dam. The topographic map of Tickhill shows that the castle is built on relatively high ground at the southern end of an outcrop of the Lenton Sandstone Formation, around which the Paper Mill Dike would have been naturally diverted, before water engineering was undertaken. 

 

The topography around Tickhill Castle

 

The next building on my list to photograph for my British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge was the Grade II Listed No. 3 Dam Road, an early C18 house with a C17 wing and stables that is built with coursed rubble walls, some of which are rendered, and with red pantile roofs. 

 

No.3 Dam Road

Following the path to Paper Mill Dike, I took a few more photos of No. 3 Dam Road and Rolan Bridge, which according to Historic England dates back to at least the C18 and is constructed with a Magnesian Limestone clapper arch and two C19 brown brick segmental arches. 

 

Rolan Bridge

Looking east along Paper Mill Dike from Rolan Bridge, I immediately noticed the Grade II Listed early C19 building that Historic England describe as “Ancillary building to south-west of Number 3, bordering Paper Mill Dike” and which they think could be connected with industrial processes or perhaps used as a boat house. 

 

The building to the south-west of No. 3 Dam Road

 

Most of the buildings that I had seen to date were built of stone, with some being rendered, but the nearby Edlington Formation and the Roxby Formation have traditionally being used to make bricks and the 1854 Ordnance Survey map shows a brick and tile yard on the northern outskirts of Tickhill, just to the north of Common Lane. 

 

Westgate House

 

Returning to Dam Road, I stopped briefly at the Grade II Listed Westgate House, which dates back to the C18 and is yet another example of a rendered house in Tickhill – a building method that seems to be common in the villages set on the Brotherton Formation that I had so far visited – Warmsworth, Sprotbrough, Wadworth and Loversall included. 

 

The boundary wall and gatepiers to Westgate House

 

The boundary walls are built of mainly thinly bedded limestone that was probably quarried locally from the Brotherton Formation, but the massive gatepiers are made with limestone from the Cadeby Formation. Arriving back at Westgate, I took a few photos of the brick wall and railings to No. 14, before heading off along Church Lane to look at the interior of St. Mary’s church. 

St. Mary's church