Saturday, February 8, 2020

Budby, Norton, Holbeck Woodhouse, Holbeck, Creswell Crags, and Creswell

My latest themed walk took me to places which have names which don't originate in England, although several are important in English, or British, military history.

I started the walk at Budby to the south of Worksop. Less than half a mile to the east, but with no public access because it's part of the Thoresby Estate, there's a footbridge over the River Meden that's marked on the map as 'Pierrepont Bridge' - it's a French word and the name of the family which resided in the hall for many generations.

I set off and headed to the south, soon reaching Ladysmith Plantation , named after a siege in the Boer War.

I then went to the west, keeping to the northern periphery of Budby South Forest until I turned to the right and walked along a concessionary bridleway to Hazel Gap on the Ollerton to Cuckney main road; Gibraltar Plantation was just off to the north. Over the centuries there have been thirteen sieges of Gibraltar; most of them not involving British forces though.  Further away Gibralter Lodge is marked as such on the map.





I continued walking along a bridleway, passing a large solar farm before arriving at Corunna Hill Plantation and Corunna Lodge. There was a battle and a siege at Corunna in the north west of Spain during the Peninsular War. Nightingale Plantation just to the north of here is a Crimean war reference of course.

Immediately to the south Battarain Plantation is located; I was sure this name would be included on my list because it doesn't look English at all...but I couldn't find any mention of the name anywhere.

There are a lot of ornate lodges in this part of Nottinghamshire; visiting some of them is a future themed walk that I'm planning...I wasn't counting, but I think I've photographed six of them on my walk today.

The next name certainly needed some research; Fasque, which although it looks French or Spanish, is actually the name of a castle in Aberdeenshire. Fasque Screed and Fasque Plantation were the other side of Carburton Dam, about a mile away.




This roadside monument commemorates Lord George Bentinck, the third son of the fourth Duke of Portland - it wasn't made from Portland Stone though, just some sandstone that's now quite weathered and eroded. 



I walked along the road to Norton,  I had a near miss with Bunker's Hill over to my left as I headed north and then northwest to Holbeck Woodhouse and then Holbeck.







Most of the herd was far away but these three fine specimens were quite near to the estate road I was walking along; they'd just escaped from the bale jail. 







I'd lost count of the number of lodges I'd passed by the time I reached this one.



The last time I was passing the church at Holbeck the lychgate was padlocked shut; fortunately I was able to explore the churchyard today...the church itself was still locked though.









This pretty cottage made a change from all the lodges.



I did a circuit of Creswell Crags and then caught the bus back to Worksop from Creswell.















No comments:

Post a Comment