A Walk From Heath to Kirkthorpe

 

The village entrance marker at Kirkthorpe

Starting by taking photographs of Nos. 1 and 2 Horse Race End on the southern edge of Heath Common and finishing by photographing the Kirkthorpe Lane Heath Hall bus stop, which very unusually is marked by an old gate post, it only took me 53 minutes to briefly explore Heath.

 

The Kirkthorpe Lane Heath Hall bus stop

 

In my travels in and around South Yorkshire as a ‘heritage tourist’, the villages of Wentworth as an estate village, Edensor as a model village and Elsecar for its industrial heritage have all made a great impression on me. Even from such a short visit, I place Heath alongside them and would like to see further information about its history or a Conservation Area Appraisal that emphasises its heritage value, such as the one that has been produced for Whitwell. 

 

Listed buildings in Heath

Criss-crossing the common, I could only obtain access to a mounting block and two pairs of gate piers that were on my list of 9 items on my British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge, but I did manage to photograph the listed buildings that are scattered around its edges.

 

A signpost on the Transpennine Trail

 

Nonetheless, this provided a great start to my day out and heading along Kirkthorpe Lane on my way to the Church of St. Peter the Apostle in Kirkthorpe, to attend their Heritage Open Days event, I was interested to see what I would find along the public footpath that was marked on my copy of the Ordnance Survey (OS) map and the sign showed as being on the Trans Pennine Trail.

 

The public footpath to Kirkthorpe shown on the Ordnance Survey map

Following the path down the escarpment of the Oaks Rock, I eventually came to an information panel that informed me that I was now in the Southern Washlands Nature Corridor. Many parts of this, especially to the north of the railway line, were quarried for sand and gravel and had been despoiled by a coal mine and other industrial uses.

 

An information panel for the Southern Washlands Nature Corridor

Continuing along the footpath, I got occasional glimpses of an oxbow lake that had become detached from the River Calder, which is marked on old OS maps as The Half Moon. There was no sign of any rock exposure but I collected a couple of samples of medium grained grey/light brown sandstone that I presume is the Oaks Rock.

 

A view of The Half Moon

Not long before I arrived at Kirkthorpe, the path turned into a track and I carried along this until I reached Half Moon Lane, on the corner of which is a sandstone built house with a stone slate roof, which has three arched windows in the south and north gable ends and looks like a chapel.

 

The Old Sunday School

 
A building here is marked on the 1907 OS map, but not the 1894 map, as a Sunday School, which dates it to the very late Victorian or early Edwardian era and, although not listed, it appears in modern planning application documents as the Old Sunday School.

 

Sycamore Cottage

A little further up Half Moon Lane is the unassuming Sycamore Cottage, where a mid C16 timber frame - which can still be seen beneath the eaves - was encased c.1690 in masonry that comprises large sandstone blocks. Although not mentioned in the Historic England description, this C17 remodelling probably included the insertion of stone mullioned windows, which have since been removed during later alterations.

 

Frieston's Hospital

I could only get views of the northern end of the Grade I Listed Frieston’s Hospital (c.1595), former almshouses designed to accommodate 7 poor men, which the Historic England description further states was ingeniously contrived so as to require only one fireplace.

 

The muncipal boundary marker on Half Moon Lane

 
At the end of the front garden wall is a sandstone municipal boundary marker of unknown date, which records the meeting of the parish of Warfield cum Heath and the City of Wakefield, but it has been moved from its original location.

 

The village stocks in Kirkthorpe

Arriving back on Kirkthorpe Lane, I took a couple of photos of the Grade II Listed village stocks before having a quick walk around the extension to St. Peter’s churchyard, where there are 4 Commonwealth War Grave Commission headstones.

 

A deail of the headstone of Pilot Officer R.M. Woodhead

Of these, the headstone of Pilot Officer R.M. Woodhead most caught my attention, mainly for the regimental crest of the Royal Canadian Air Force, which I hadn’t seen before. Also, the memorial mason’s worksheet has a stamp that marks it as being made from Stancliffe Darley Dale gritstone, when I can clearly see that it is Portland stone that has weathered to the extent that the large fragments of oyster shells stand out very proud.

 

The worksheet for the headstone of Pilot Officer R.M. Woodhead