INTRODUCTION.
The Chesterfield Canal meanders for 46 miles, starting from industrial Chesterfield and passing through the towns of Worksop and Retford on its way to the river Trent at West Stockwith.
It is now a designated walk and is marked as such on the Ordnance Survey Explorer series as the "Cuckoo Way". This name derives not from an abundance of members of the family Cuculidae, but from the unusualy shaped barges that plied its waters.
Cargoes were varied, Coal, Limestone and Lead from Derbyshire with Corn, Timber and groceries going in the other direction, the most famous item carried however, was stone to rebuild the Houses of Parliament in the 1840s. The quarry was in North Anston and the stone was loaded into canal boats at Dog Kennels Bridge, Kiveton Park. From there it was carried to West Stockwith, and transferred to Trent sloops (pictured is a Humber Sloop, but I doubt there's much difference.) for the rest of the journey to Westminster, via the Humber, North Sea, and Thames.
Sunday 13th July 2008
The intrepid three, namely my wife Angela, the dog Bella and myself started our journey, the first piece at least, by parking in the very pleasant village of Misterton and walking the mile or so to West Stockwith. This first stretch of the walk shares its route with the Trent Valley Way an 84 mile trek, of self explanetary determination.
I should perhaps point out here that we are in fact walking the Cuckoo Way in each direction. Our only method of completing the journey is to start from a suitable parking space, walk between 3 to 5 miles till we arrive at another, and then return to the car, starting from where we turned back, next time.
This first section to West Stockwith was well peopled with fishermen of all ages (and sexes, which surprised me a tad, I hadn't associated women with fishing, unless thats where Carping comes from?) Also, to my considerable distress, West Stockwith had quite a nice looking pub with an inviting beer garden and many foaming pints on view. However, we steeled our resolve and turned about to Misterton. After passing our starting point - you still with me?- the section of
canal to the west of Misterton was much quieter.After a few hundred yards there are great agriculteral vistas to the north and west, giant fields of what we guessed was Rapeseed, now lay brown and withering but what a sight it must have been when in full flower. On a beautiful day like this, the distant power stations smoked like the stacks of some Ocean Liner sailing on the horizon of a watercolourists pallette of pastel shades and hues. Butterflys danced about the tall waterside plants and grasses, why is purple such a predominant colour for wild flowers? and small clouds of midges had to be ducked. We travelled, in what can only be described as beer inducing heat, as far as Smiths Bridge which seemed a suitable place to about turn.
Saturday 19th July.
The weather again favoured us but a little breeze from the west, in the more exposed stretches, caused a slight rippling effect giving the water the appearence of a gently flowing river but in the sheltered sections stillness remained. The views were as fine as last week, but today were canopied with speeding pockets of white cloud. This area, known as Gringley Carr is very agricultural and from the canal bank to the North and West the only buildings to be seen are the occasional farmhouse. The word Carr is much used in place names and geographical features in this area and simply means Fen.
Shortly after leaving Smiths Bridge, on the South bank of the canal is an old mill. I'm guessing a Sawmill, a stone chimney of perhaps fouty feet remains but it is evidence of there being industry other than farming at some time in these parts.
From here the canal travels around the foot of the promontory on which the village of Gringley on the Hill stands. Gringley is a very pleasant village with some interesting architecture such as the Parish Church, dedicated to the Apostles Peter and Paul which has stood for over a thousand years. For those who prefer their architecture a little more modernistic there is a splendid four-story tower of a now sail-less windmill. It is said that on a clear day the magnificent cathedral of Lincoln can be seen from atop Gringley Hill and thats, ooh, a long way.
The canal actually passes Gringley on the Hill in an arrow straight direction rather than the circuitous one one might expect. There are three minor roads heading north out of Gringley, the first, most easterly, crosses the canal at Shaw Bridge. At this point the aforementioned Trent Valley Way takes a turning due south. The second is Middle Bridge closely followed by Gringley
Bridge which is situated beside the beautiful and well preserved Gringley Top Lock. (Pictured) For a short but worthwhile look around Gringley on the Hill take the lane from either Middle or Gringley bridges. For a good mile and a half, the now linear canal acts as a moat to the rising ground of the south bank and as a superb vantage point for the northerly views. Two small stretches through
quite dense woodland offered a welcome shaded path on the extremely hot day we did this stretch.Abrubtly the canal turns at almost 90 degrees south and immediately the incessant hum of motor traffic can be heard. The hum gets positively stentorian as the shallow valley the canal now sits in, acts like a soundbox to the concrete bridge of the A631 Gringley by-pass perhaps fourty feet above us.
Here our journey for the day comes to a natural end for we have arrived at the 157 yards long, tow-path free Drakeholes Tunnel, the other side of which is not only suitable parking to restart our journey there is also a delightful Inn called the White Swan which means that we shall be not only be starting but ending our next leg there.
The fishermen of England sit quietly, one by one
Some are pulling Carp or Perch, but most are pulling none.
Sunday 27th July.
Not only has the good weather held for our continuation but today is undoubtedly the hottest of the year so far.
Immediately below the White Swan, is a mooring area which gives impressive width to the canal which then tapers and turns into the tunnel. I assume that in busier days this would be a holding area for craft wishing to use the tunnel, it being of course only one barge wide.
With the proximity of the Inn and some decent off road parking this next stretch proved popular with the local Angling fraternity. We keep Bella on a lead to protect the fishermens sandwiches and they respect our right of way, never grumbling at having to remove those great poles they use, for I know not what, that block the entire path.
Soon we leave them behind and find ourselves in a perfect English summers day. I think of Vaughan Williams' Lark Ascending, so matchless are our surroundings, if only there was a village cricket match over the way. and I quite expect to bump into Miss Marple at any minute.
What we do arrive at is a most romantic, ivy-clad bridge called Lady's Bridge. Without leaving the canal-side, there are Private Property signs, one can determine that the track over the bridge is part of an old driveway that led down to Wiseton Hall. This track is very straight and neatly fenced with paddocks down one side, it reminds me of the path in Windsor Great Park that takes the eye to the Castle. This it must be said, is a smidgeon smaller and al
as, no castle at its end, though Wiseton Hall was impressive in its day, built in 1771 it became in the mid 19th century, part of the estate of Lord Althorpe later the Earl Spencer. Sadly the building was demolished in 1960. The view back up the canal framed by Lady's Bridge is a delight.The canal continues in a somewhat meandering southern direction. What has been noticeable in the short distance walked so far is how the waterside Flora changes. Suddenly, and not seen prior, large swathes of Water Lily are growing opposite the towpath. We have been accompanied by Moorhen since the start of our walk but now, in the changed vegetation the dashing white faced slightly larger Coot are more prevalent.
As the village of Clayworth is approached the canal is crossed by the B1403 which is clearly marked as a Roman Road. I can find no name for this stretch of road and assume that it possibly ran from Lindum (Lincoln) to Danum (Doncaster) this seems to be its general direction. The canal at this point veers south to give the village a wide berth before again encountering the Roman Road at Clayworth Bridge. Situated on the canal by this bridge is the rather imposing home of the Retford and Worksop Boat Club, formerly The White Hart public house.
Saturday 2nd August.
Starting from the Boat Club for the first few hundred yards of this section you are walking alongside many of the fine and beautiful barges that are moored here. There rarely seems to be a shortage of something to do if you own one of these boats. We pass people painting, cleaning, re-wiring, fixing T.V aerials in fact all manner of chores, oddly, what we see only one of, is a boat actually plying the waters.
Leaving the moored barges behind us, the first striking thing about this stretch is the abundance of a Gunnera type plant, this time prevalent on our side of the water. Not Amazonian giants but some of the leaf plates were upwards of two feet across.
The canal now gently turns to the South-West. On the eastern side the land rises easily, dotted with a few farm buildings and some very pleasant private residences. To the west, rich and abundant farmland. This land is drained by the River Idle and just a little farther west, sizeable Sand and Gravel pits.
The canal is now crossed by the B1403 at the point the road enters the village of Hayton. Here there is a delightful waterside resting area with benches and a local points of interest information board. Also, the Boat Inn.
Here we about turn for the day. Our drive home from the Boat Club takes us through the village of Clayworth, and very pleasant it is too. If time allows, the local church is adorned with Murals by the Scottish Arts and Crafts movement artist Phoebe Anna Traquair. Phoebe Anna Traquair's place in history is unique. She was the first important professional woman artist of modern Scotland, working in such diverse fields as embroidery, enamelwork, 
leather book-cover tooling and, not least, manuscript illumination and mural decoration.
Sunday 3rd August.
From the Boat Inn the canal continues in a southerley direction bypassing but running parallel to the villages of Hayton and Clarborough.
This stretch is very pleasing on the eye, with the land slightly rising on the eastern side where the villages lie and on the path side of the river more fine agricultural land. You soon arrive at the Gate Inn which has a nicely kept garden and many tables at which one can take refreshment and soak up the tranquility on offer. Perhaps because of the again splendid weather or the proximity of Retford, this stretch of water has far more activity on it than we have seen previously. How the sleek and slender canal barges grace the water so. Often brightly and intricately painted bedecked with flower pots and bicycles and almost always at the helm someone who looks entirely at peace with the world. The gently throbbing engine is as a heartbeat to the canal.
Perhaps the oddest name you will come across on this walk, or any other for that matter, will appear shortly after passing the Gate Inn when you will arrive at Whitsunday Pie Lock. Whitsunday Pie Lock, the highest wide lock on the Chesterfield
Canal, is said to have got its name because a local woman baked a huge pie one Whit Sunday for the navvies who had just completed the lock. However, some recently discovered maps spoil this good old story by showing a Whitsunday Pie field. The maps were drawn centuries before the canal existed!
Soon the peace is broken by the gentle hum of traffic as the canal arrives on the outskirts of Retford, we end for the day where it crosses the A620 at the Hop Pole Inn.
Sunday 10th August.
Todays walk takes us through the heart of Retford and we are unsure as to what to expect. We are however pleasantly surprised as for the most part the towpath is maintained in excellent condition and many agreeable houses and gardens back on to it.
Even a small number of small wharves and warehouses remain to remind one of the canals primary purpose. There are also a couple of extremely tight sections of the canal here, where certainly only one boat could pass at a time, I don't know the reasons for these, perhaps because of engineering difficulties it was not possible to build to the normal width. Talking of engineering, in the centre 
of Retford the canal aquaducts over the swift flowing River Idle. Whilst there will be greater feats of engineering to come and indeed other aquaducts, I think its relevant here to give a mention to the canals illustrious architect, James Brindley.
Brindley was born at Tunstead, near Buxton in the Peak District in 1716. He always showed a mechanical aptitude and at 17 was apprenticed to a Millwright in Macclesfield. On completing his apprenticeship he set himself up as a Wheelwright in Leek, Staffs. He established a reputation for ingenuity which brought him to the attention of the Duke of Bridgewater who was looking for a way to improve the transportation of his coal. The subsequent Bridgwater Canal was regarded as a triumph of engineering and Brindleys name was made.
The first public meeting of the proposed Chesterfield Canal Co. was held at Worksop’s Red Lion on 24 August 1769. Brindley was present and he confirmed that a canal from Chesterfield to the River Trent was viable. Work started in 1771 and was progressing well when in September of 1772 James Brindley died. Brindleys assistant John Varley, and later his Brother-in-Law Hugh Henshall continued with the project. It must be said therefore that most of the actualite' of the design and build would be down to his successors but Brindleys presence looms large over the undertaking.
The canal forms a U shape as it passes through the centre of the town neatly enveloping its northern half. The canal leaves Retford heading in a North Westerly direction. On the outskirts of the town the canal passes under the East Coast Mainline railway tracks and my does the bridge rattle and hum if an express zips over it while you're underneath.
We were startled at this point by the unnerving sound of a pack of dogs in full voice, happily they never get any nearer and are in fact a Kennels on the Babworth Estate which we are now passing through. Soon we arrive at a road crossing in some pleasant woods, named Lady Bridge, we cease for the day. The shape the canal takes through Retford allows us the diversion of coming off the canal and making our way back to our starting point by walking through the town. A not unpleasant experience.
Sunday 17th August.
The next reach of the canal exemplifies just how beautiful this area of rural Nottinghamshire can be. The walk proceeds with the beautiful Lady Bridge woods on the other side of the canal. Trees are to become a stunning feature of this section with a number of large willows bowing gracefully and tickling the canal surface. There are some very distinguished examples of Oak and Beech also.
The first of four locks on this stretch is reached after about half a mile. As we explore about the lock a most striking thing is the abundance of fish. At any point on the canal so far a studied gaze into the water will reveal shoals of fry or small groups of larger fish. Here some of the fish were at least 14" to 16" inches long. I add here that I am not a fisherman so this estimate is probably pretty accurate. I am also unsure as to which variety they were, though a little googling suggests they may have been Roach.
The canal is now crossed by a track which bears the grand name of Old London Road. For those who like a diversion, taking this track south will bring you to Babworth via HM Prison Ranby. A stroll north from the bridge takes you to Barnby Moor and the A638 Great North Road. From here three to four miles north you will find the village of Scrooby.
Origonally known for a large manor house that was a pied-à-terre of the Archbishop of York. It was in the late 16th century the home of William Brewster, one of the chief architects of the journey to the New World in the Mayflower, and a number of his companions were from the Babworth and Scrooby parishes. The pub in the village is named the Pilgrim Fathers. The late medieval church of St. Wilfreds is fine example of its type and also worth a look. If you get the chance to visit Scrooby...do.
The canal now passes another lock, continuing its course in a south westerly direction. Passing a heavily wooded area on the side of the towpath you become aware of a faint droning sound that increases in volume with every step. This is the major A1 trunk road, and at a group of buildings known as the Barracks the canal turns due south to run paralell to it for the mile or so into Ranby.
Ranby is a not unpleasant village with some splendid properties and gardens and a delightful looking waterside pub, though sadly not on the towpath side. As the canal winds away from the village you pass under the roaring A1 but are immediately returned to unspoilt countryside.
We are now equidistant from Retford ans Worksop which I'm sure accounts for the slight increase in river traffic. Not that this is a problem, the graceful barges that crawl the canal hold me with a schoolboys enthusiasm, and we are yet to encounter anything other than great bonhomie from those afloat.
Across a field to our right, the north, is a most magnificent stand of Copper Beech, the leaves iridescent like oil on water, shimmering in the brilliant sun. Then ahead we
get our first glimpse of a striking church, unencumbered by any other buildings. Scofton church has an imposing bell-tower and at each corner, stilletto sharp perpendiculars puncture the air. As our path draws us ever nearer the mystery deepens as to why the church, which doesn't appear to be of great antiquity, is there at all.
We next arrive at Osberton Lock, yet another piece of striking engineering that sits aside an equally enchanting keepers cottage, though modernised and extended from the original. Immediately through the lock it becomes apparrent that we are alongside a large country house, partly hidden by a bank of trees and shrubs it isn't until a few yards further up the path that the full extent of the house can be seen. This is Osberton Hall one of the family homes, through marriage, of the Foljambe family. The Foljambe family are one of the oldest landowning families of the area, indeed Francis Foljamb
e of Walton Hall, Walton, near Chesterfield, Derbyshire, was Member of Parliament for Pontefract in 1626, the year that Charles 1 disbanded parliament. The family has returned other Members and Privy Councellors up to the 20th c.
The thirty or forty acres of landscaped lake and gardens were for many years considered the finest in the county. The mystery of Scofton church is also solved by Osberton Hall, built as the families place of worship.
The walk continues past the house with some pleasing views back towards it. The next mile or so is an engaging stroll through tall clusters of waterside flowers and thickets of denser vegetation that tumble over the sides of the path. Where the bank is more substantial tasty Blackberries make for a sweet distraction. The next landmark is soon reached, a nine span railway bridge that crosses the canal on the outskirts of Worksop.
Monday 8th August.
The canal through Worksop is a short but necessary drag, few points of interest crop up as we walk through the "Gateway to the Dukeries" and there is little sign by way of warehousing or wharves of what must have been a place of major importance at the canals inception.
There are five locks in the town and as the canal exits to the west it passes Sandhill Lake, a recreation area. An intriguing signpost on the western edge of town indicates Rhodesia.... which turns out to be a small village comunity the "other side of the tracks" from its more industrial neighbour.
We are soon once more walking through delightful countryside and not for the first time one has to remind oneself of exactly where we are, hardly a heartland of the britsh tourist industry but just as spectacularly interesting and beautiful as many of the places that are.
As you approach the former pit village of Shireoaks one is somewhat taken aback by the sudden emergence of a splendid Marina. This is Shireoaks Marina and stands as testimony to what can be achieved by thoughtful regeneration standing as it does on the site of part of the workings of the aforementioned pit.
The pit was capped in 1990 after working for almost 140 years. At its deepest the shaft was almost one third of a mile.
1955.5th July 1961 County Championship 1961 Nottinghamshire v Sussex
7th July 1979, 3rd ODI England Women v West Indies Women, this is more than impressive for a village of this size where the local team used to only attract a few spectators. In fact I wonder if there has ever been a smaller venue by way of population for a first class cricket match?.
one however, seems more tolerent of our presence and not until we are almost on him does he explode into flight with great whooshing wings. We watch him settle just fifty or so yards away in the middle of a ploughed field and are delighted to see two other Herons already there.
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