A walk from Ecclesfield Common to Horbury Lane

Distance: 3 miles
Time: Allow 1 - 1.5 hours

A Medium walk, reasonable for fit walkers. Mostly level on surfaced paths / roads but with some uphill sections through woods across fields. Some stiles. Good views across farmland near Ecclesfield. Boots or stout shoes are advisable.

Walking from Ecclesfield Common to Horbury Lane

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The Route Points of interest are shown in bold

From the Jumaira Spice restaurant, cross Chapeltown Road with care and go up the hill. Immediately after ‘The Red House’ turn left on a public bridleway (sign can be difficult to spot). The start of the bridleway has a tarmac surface and goes between the houses.
Continue on the bridleway through the pleasant oak woodland with good views down over fields. Hunshelf Quarry (now disused and overgrown) is on your right.
After about a mile follow the track round to the left. Don’t go through the gate into the field. At the gate to Windmill Hill Farm on your right you have a choice of routes. Both ultimately reach the same point on Horbury Lane.
- Shorter Route. This route is on level, tarmac lanes. Continue straight ahead on the track. At the junction with Horbury Lane turn left at the junction with Chapel Road.
- Longer route. This route involves stiles and steep, possibly slippery, slopes before reaching a level tarmac lane. Take the footpath over the stile on the left and go down the hill, across the small stream and up the other side to a stile by the side of Horbury Hall. Turn right and follow the lane (Horbury Lane) to the junction with Chapel Road.
- Both Routes. At the junction with Chapel Road turn left and continue straight on.
Just after a house on the left with a fox design on the metal gates, turn left onto the public footpath. Follow the path along the back of Sweet Pea Row cottages. At the grassy area near the children’s play area follow the paved path round to the left and past the sign for Fox Springs Wood. Go left into the woods and follow the path straight on, aiming for the top left corner of the wood.
Go through the wooden gate out of the wood into a field (beware of horses). Continue to the left diagonally and uphill across the field, aiming for a single storey building in the top corner. The large house at the top of the field is Barnes Hall.
Go through the kissing gate in the wall and turn left down the road (Elliot Lane). There are good long distance views from here towards Keppel’s Column and Hoober Stand and a seat dedicated to the late Councillor E. Wadsworth, chair of Ecclesfield Parish Council from 1978 to 1979. Continue down the road. Just before the entrance to Whitley Hall, in the wall on your right is a stone which may be the base of a cross with the date 1470.
At the road junction at the bottom of the hill, turn left onto Whitley Lane. There are no footpaths here so please take care when walking and facing on-coming traffic. Follow this lane down to the junction with Church Street, turn left and cross Chapeltown Road (with care!) to return to the starting point.

Details

Map: Ordnance Survey Explorer 278 Sheffield and Barnsley.
Start: Jumaira Spice Restaurant, junction of Church Street and Ecclesfield Common.
Public Transport: For information on public transport ring the South Yorkshire Traveline on 01709 515151 or visit www.travelsouthyorkshire.com.
Car Parking: Avoid parking on the common. There is a small car park in Ecclesfield park opposite Morrisons.
Public Toilets: None on route.
Refreshments: None on route

Points of Interest

Arundel Public House

The building which is now the Jumaira Spice restaurant was previously the Arundel Inn. It was named after the duke of Norfolk who also had the title of the Earl of Arundel. From 1920 until it was demolished in 1959 the Cinema House also stood on this corner. The cinema was renamed the Essoldo in 1950.

Barnes Hall

The present hall was built by William Smith in 1824, demolishing an earlier c14th hall on the same site. Barnes Hall was the home of the Smith family until the 1950s. The former physical education teacher training college at Wentworth Woodhouse was named after one of the last inhabitants of the Hall, Lady Mabel, who lived here from the time of her marriage until her death in 1951.

Hoober Stand

Another folley on the Wentworth Woodhouse estate, this triangular tower with a round structure on top is visible in the far distance beyond Keppel’s Column. It was built for the First Marquis of Rockingham in honour of George II following the quelling of the Jacobite Rebellion in 1745. It is occasionally open to the public.

Keppel’s Column

The slender column you can see on the horizon from the footpath leading in front of Barnes Hall to the top of Elliott Lans is Keppel’s Column. It was built in 1776 by Lord Rockingham of Wentworth Woodhouse to commemorate the acquittal of his friend Admiral Keppel on a charge of cowardice. At one time it was possible to ascend the staircase inside the column to view the surrounding countryside, but the column is now closed to the public.

Stone mounted in the wall near Whitley Hall

It has been suggested that the stone could be the base of a cross and may be connected with Ecclesfield Church and Priory, which are known to have been in the possession of St Wandrille’s Abbey in Normandy by 1142.

Whitley Hall

Records show a house called Launderhouse occupied the site of the present Whitley Hall as early as 1406 but the oldest surviving part of the present building dates from 1584. From the early c17th to the late c18th the Hall was the home of the Shirecliffe family, until it was sold and became a boy’s boarding school for some 80 years. Whitley Hall became a hotel and restaurant in the late 1970s. For more information see J. & M. Jones (2002) Whitley Hall - an illustrated history