TinnerStreet

This walk properly starts at the corner of Chestnut Avenue and Storth Lane, and as I typed that, I wondered who was this man, to have a Lane named after him? Mr Storth? Sir George Storth, perhaps? Farmer Storth? Storth the milkman? I wished I had thought to ask years ago - someone may have known!

In a north easterly direction from this junction - even junction seems too grand a word for the meeting of two small streets - runs, or ran, a wide track to a high wooden bridge which spanned the railway to the west of Kiveton Bridge station. That track is probably now paved, as it is the approach road to Wales Comprehensive School. The bridge was high above the rail track in its cutting, and we loved being on it when a train went below (don't forget that the times of which I write were the good old days of steam), with smoke and steam billowing up in great clouds! The smells were delightful.

Anyway, we set off along the track, and over the wooden bridge and along a cart track (which always seemed in very good condition) for about 200 yards before meeting a five-barred gate. You know, one of the ones for allowing access to tractors, carts, balers, etc. Once through this - shut the gate behind you - the track continued across a large open field, with a wood along its north western border, and a stream on its eastern side. Sticklebacks. Yes, we caught sticklebacks in that stream; great fun, especially if you had managed to sneak a jam jar into your pocket to keep them in. Oh, in an aside, my Uncle Harry was the first on the scene when a light plane crashed in that wood, after the war though. He was then working on a farm at the other side of the wood, run by the Atkins family, one of whom, Ron and his wife Dorothea, moved to Australia, and were actually instrumental in our settling first in Melbourne.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, in that large field. Sometimes there were cows in that field, and I have always found that cows are very inquisitive people. Just try walking into a field with a herd of cows, and it doesn't take long before they wander over to have a look at you. Anyway, the herd of cows who used to use that field would meet you at one gate, and if you talked to them, would wander with you across to the gate at the far corner. They never seemed in any hurry. Then, after you had closed the gate, they would look at you for a short while, and then wander off again.

Ok, after this second gate, we were back on a track again, and after a leisurely stroll, we would come across signs of civilisation, but it really wasn't, it was only Todwick. Off to the left there, as the track ended at a road, was the local soccer field, and I can remember playing a game on it, though for whom and against whom, I cannot recall. Anyway, turning right down that road eventually led to Kiveton Lane, the main road in Todwick. Another right turn, and we were in the village proper. Again, mostly stone cottages, though there were, somewhere off to the left, the ruins of a hall, with a moat around it, but over the years this had been partly filled in.

Todwick is one of those pretty places which is pretty without really trying, and its church fits in with the village nicely, without dominating it. But it is a small place, and shortly we found ourselves leaving it for open fields between it and Kiveton Park. Along on the left is Kiveton Hall Farm, which as its name suggests, was the farm of Kiveton Hall. It and farm buildings which were stables for Kiveton Hall, are the only reminders of a great house. We left the road along here to follow a path which went south westerly, and shortly through allotments, to join Station Road at the corner of Anston Avenue, and then along Station Road, to the station, and home. However, with new housing estates in that area, it may not be possible to use that path now, so we would have to continue down Kiveton Lane to the Junction of Station Road, turning right, and passing the Saxon Hotel - not then, as it was not built - and along the front of the old rows, etc.

Credit: Sheffield Libraries, Archives and Information, Picture Sheffield
- image may not be downloaded from this site
(This image is used here with permission from Picture Sheffield)

Behind the present site of the Saxon was a chapel which was a part, if you like, of Roche Abbey. I don't recall ever seeing any evidence of its site, though it is remembered in a way through the name of the short road at that point, Chantry Place, which runs off Station Road.

© 2004, Dennis Street