Society History Wales Copy Prohibited and Internet Park Reproduction Kiveton 2 Society History Wales Copy Prohibited and Internet Park Kiveton andRailways Wales around Reproduction Kiveton Alan Rowles 3 Society History Wales Copy Prohibited and Internet Park © Copyright Notice This book is producedReproduction as part of the Kiveton Park and Wales History Project 2007. All material in this book is copyright of Alan Rowles, unless otherwise stated. This version and the design work Kivetontherein is copyright of the Kiveton Park and Wales History Society, with acknowledgement to the editorial and design contributions of Holly Greenhalgh of Kiveton Creative and John Tanner as editor. No material can be used without express written permission. If you wish to use material found in this book, please email the History Society with your request. For an explanation of copyright laws and how they apply to the internet please go to: http://www.intellectual-property.gov.uk/faq/copyright/internet.htm Infringement of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) can result in civil or criminal prosecution. 4 CONTENTS Introduction and Acknowledgements 7 The Coming of the Railways 13 Kiveton Park Station Society15 Charles Peace 18 The Midland Railway Branch 20 Lines that might have been History 22 Kiveton Bridge Station 23 The Waleswood Curve and Waleswood Station 28 Wales Copy Epilogue Prohibited 33 and Internet Park Reproduction Kiveton 5 Society History Wales Copy Prohibited and Internet Park Reproduction Kiveton 6 Series Editor’s Introduction The railways have been crucial to the social and economic evolution of this corner of South Yorkshire and acted as the major spur behind the positioning of the deep pits at both Kiveton Park and Waleswood. This book perfectly complements the research that local people haveSociety carried out into their mining heritage over the last year, the results of which can be seen at www.kivetonwaleshistory.co.uk. This is an excellent short book and in writing it Alan has provided a real service that will be appreciated both now and long into the future. The railways, particularly in the age of steam, have entranced young and old alike. This book, including its manyHistory professionally taken photographs, gives a real insight into their history and importance to this area. Wales Copy ProhibitedJohn Tanner and November 2007 Internet Park Reproduction Kiveton 7 Society History Wales Copy Prohibited and Internet Park Reproduction Kiveton 8 Introduction This book was written at the suggestion of John Tanner of the Kiveton Park and Wales Community History Project. As one who has been interested in railways but was not born and bred in the area it gave me the opportunity not only to learn about railways in and around the village but also the chance to document my findings. Society This book is not meant to be an academic or technical history. It is simply an attempt to chronicle in a few short pages an important segment of our village’s recent past. Finally, I am happy to dedicate the followingHistory record to all those who assisted me with my research. The final text however is entirely of my own choosing, and the blame for any errors must be laid at my door, not theirs. I hope readers find few such anomalies.Wales Copy ProhibitedAlan Rowles and November 2007 Internet Park Reproduction Kiveton 9 Society History Wales Copy Prohibited and Internet Park Reproduction Kiveton 10 Society History Copy I am indebted to Geoffrey Hurst for permitting me to make use of his Wales excellent work Prohibitedto Alan Smalley for providing me with a number of superb photographs. The visual aspect of railways is where most people’s and interests lie and these excellent pictures help the text come alive. The Great Central East of Sheffield, Volume 1 Internet Acknowledgements Park Reproduction Kiveton and also 11 Society History Wales Copy Prohibited and Internet Park Reproduction Kiveton 12 1 THE COMING OF THE RAILWAYS The arrival of the railways in the 1840s signalled a huge step forward for coal mining in this area and was to bring benefits, not just to the industry, but the district in general. The North Midland was the first railway to arrive in this locality, opening its route from Leeds to Derby via Woodhouse Mill and Beighton on May 11th 1840.Society Nine years later, on February 12th 1849 the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway began running its trains via Woodhouse to link up with the North Midland at Beighton Junction. Later that same year, on July 17th, the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire began running trains on its new 45 ½ milesHistory cross-country route from Woodhouse Junction to Bole, just west of Gainsborough, where it connected with the Great Grimsby and Sheffield Railway. This provided a continuous line of railway from Manchester to the North Sea coast at Grimsby and Hull Copy Traffic on the route would have been upWales and running a few months earlier had not a terrible accident taken place in the Rother Valley near WoodhouseProhibited Junction. Here, on the 30th of September 1848,and work on the huge thirty-six-arch viaduct spanning the valley was nearing completion when disaster struck. Just before ten o’clock, the 19th arch under which four men were workingInternet suddenly collapsed. It was followed almost immediately by the fourteen adjoining it and soon afterwards six more gave way in rapid succession.Park Two of the men died almost instantaneously and another succumbed to his injuries a few hours later. The catastrophe was attributedReproduction to the premature removal of the centres and to insufficient foundations, the situation being further accentuated by heavy rainfall Kivetonwhich had flooded parts of the valley. The collapsed structure effectively dammed the already swollen River Rother, causing the water level to rise to fifteen feet above the river bed. Despite this setback work proceeded rapidly and the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway half-yearly meeting on the 13th March 1849 was informed that the viaduct would be completed in early May at a cost of £17,000. 13 Leaving the Rother Viaduct the route passed through open countryside, the collieries at Waleswood (1858), Beighton (1902) and Brookhouse (1929) being still some years in the future. The contract for this section of the line which commenced at Woodhouse Junction and ended at Retford was awarded to Miller and Blackie at the tendered price of £125, 564. The section was also notable for being the first on the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Rly to be equipped throughout with semaphore signalling. Designed by W. W. Cutts of Sheffield the signals were a quality product and made a very favourable impression on Captain Wynne who inspected the new railway. Society Two miles beyond the Rother Viaduct was the second largest civil engineering project on the line, the huge cutting at Wales. Here, 400,000 cubic yards of material were excavated to allow the railway access to Kiveton. FromHistory Woodhouse East junction to where Kiveton Bridge Station would eventually be sited, the gradient was and still is severe at 1 in 115, the steepest on the whole route between Sheffield and the East Coast. Beyond the summit at Kiveton Bridge, the line falls at 1 in 179 to Kiveton Park Station and continues on a falling gradientWales all the way Copy to Worksop and beyond. Prohibited and Internet Park Reproduction Kiveton 14 2 KIVETON PARK STATION When the new line opened in 1849 there were only three stations between Sheffield and Worksop. These were at Darnall, Kiveton Park and Shireoaks. Opened on the day trains began running, Kiveton Park Station was built by James Drabble and Company from Carlton. It is interesting to note that it had originally been intended to call the station ‘Dog Kennels’, the adopted name of the area which was home toSociety the Duke of Leeds’ kennels. History Wales Copy Prohibited and Internet Park Since the arrival of the Chesterfield Canal in 1777 there had been lime kilns in this vicinity and soon after the Reproductionrailway became operational more were constructed. It is worth a mention at this juncture that the Chesterfield Canal Company was swallowed Kivetonup in the tide of railway-mania and duly became part of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway on July 9th 1847, a full two years before the railway ran its first trains through Kiveton. On one side of the canal at this time was Mr. Grizzell’s wharf from where stone was shipped to London for the construction of the new Houses of Parliament, and on the other was that of Messrs. W. Wright and Company who worked Anston Quarries. 15 Along with the continuing increase in lime output a proposal was put before the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire board by one of its members, Samuel Watkins, that they provide a weighing machine for lime at Kiveton Park. The date of the meeting was April 3rd 1857 and the cost was an estimated £160. Thirteen years later, on October 2nd 1870, a Mr. Coggan asked the company to provide a siding two miles east of Kiveton Park to a stone quarry at which he intended erecting some lime kilns. It was estimated that these would generate traffic of between £1,000 and £1,500 per annum. The board sanctioned the siding on condition that SocietyMr. Coggan paid the whole cost of the block telegraph and the wages of the watchman. On January 29th 1872 the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway board were contacted by agents of the Duke of Leeds for a sidingHistory at Kiveton Park, to which the company agreed subject to negotiation. In 1873, the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway improved facilities at Kiveton Park and the board undertook to ask the Duke of Leeds to purchase ten acres of land for sidings and station enlargement.