An Exploration of Heath - Part 2

 

A view towards Marsh Close (L) and the Old School House (R)

Continuing my exploration of Heath, the mounting block to the north of Beech Lawn was the next listed structure on my British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge, but it is on private land and I only took a quick snap of it from a distance. 

 

A mounting block

 

Further along the east side of Heath Common, where large logs are laid alongside the roads to presumably deter travellers and other unwanted car parking, I went to have a look at a row of small houses with various dates that were not on my list to photograph. 

 

A cluster of houses on Heath Common

 

The first of these was the Old School House (c.1660), with the master’s house added c.1751, but I didn’t get close to look at the stonework, which Historic England describes as gritstone but is actually most likely to be Oaks Rock from one of the quarries that once existed on the common. 

 

The Old School House

 

Marsh Close has an inscription that dates it to 1665, a year that is best known in England for the Great Plague of London, and the small mullioned windows on the ground and first floors are quite typical of buildings from this era. The original roof was presumably constructed with stone slate, but this has since been replaced with Welsh slate that looks quite incongruous. 

 

Marsh Close

 

Next to this is a pair of Grade II Listed early to mid C18 gate piers, where there was once access to the east entrance of the Dower House, but which have been incorporated into a later garden wall that has a doorway built into it. 

 

Gate piers at a former entrance to the Dower House

 

This presumably wasn’t considered to be of interest to either of the people who had undertaken a Photo Challenge in Warmfield cum Heath more than ten years earlier, but for me it provided a good reason to have a good look around this wonderful village. 

 

Briar and Vine Cottage

 

Briar and Vine Cottage is a house that was originally a pair of cottages that date to the early C18, but the most noteworthy feature is its red pantile roof with stone slate eaves, which is a feature of vernacular architecture that is set on the Magnesian Limestone and not the Coal Measures. 

 

A cluster of buildings on Heath Common

 

Retracing my steps, I carried on along the road towards another cluster of buildings that aren’t listed or otherwise possess much architectural merit, where sandstone, red brick and rendered walls are seen in the walls and Welsh slate for their roofs. 

 

The Kings Arms

Arriving at the Kings Arms, which is set on a part of Heath Common where several road converge, I was reminded of the area around West Side Common on Wimbledon Common in south-west London, where the very popular Fox and Grapes, Crooked Billett and Hand and Hand public houses are set on its edge. 

 

The Royal Coat of Arms inn sign

 

Especially since the Just Thai on the Heath restaurant is next door to the Kings Arms, I wish that I had had the time try a pint of beer from the Ossett brewery, which I had never encountered before, followed by some good food, but it was too early in the day and I still had another 6 buildings on my Photo Challenge to find and walk to St. Peter’s church in Kirkthorpe. 

 

School House on Kirkthorpe Lane

 

On Kirkthorpe Lane, the windows on the gable end of the C19 School House caught my eye, but this building is not listed and I haven’t seen any information about it. Carrying on along Kirkthorpe Lane, I went to find the next listed building on my Photo Challenge, but firstly stopped to photograph the stone built bus shelter, which appropriately has a stone slate roof.

 

The bus shelter on Kirkthorpe Lane