Best walks from Dodworth

Barnsley Interchange Station to Dodworth Station

This section uses a surviving part of the Barnsley Canal towpath to leave the town centre. The canal was built in the late 1790s to exploit the area's rich coal reserves cheaply, running north to join the Aire & Calder Navigation near Wakefield, but mining subsidence ultimately closed it in 1953. Leaving Barnsley Interchange, the route descends Eldon Street and follows the riverside before walking the headwall of the dam at The Fleets, an artificial lake and stillwater fishery beside the River Dearne that is also a good bird-watching spot. It then joins the towpath of the derelict canal, passing a community farm and a small fishing pond before climbing through Wilthorpe Park, an attractive urban park. The walk crosses the A635 past Tesco, then follows footpaths and field paths past Higham, with the Engineers Arms pub, and Gawber's St Thomas' Church, dipping beneath the M1 motorway. The Barnsley area's industrial past is linked not only to coal but to glassmaking, with coal-fired furnaces dating from 1615. The route skirts the Dodworth industrial estate, on the site of the former Dodworth Colliery, before reaching Dodworth station beside its level crossing.

9km.

Documented by Penistone Line Trail / Penistone Line Partnership.

Dodworth Station to Silkstone Common Station

This shorter section passes through the centre of Dodworth at Dodworth Cross, where a World War I and II memorial of a serviceman stands guard at the crossroads, then heads through Silkstone Fall Wood and along back lanes into Silkstone Common. Leaving the station the route passes St John the Baptist Church and the cemetery before entering Silkstone Fall Wood, a coppice woodland whose name reflects the traditional method of felling one compartment a year, and where evidence of early bell-pit coal mining survives. The walk runs parallel with the railway, passing a fenced pond, before climbing through the woods and reaching Hall Royd Lane. A bench here offers an excellent viewpoint towards Ingbirchworth, Hoylandswaine, Green Moor and Upper Denby, with landmarks such as Cannon Hall, the Emley Moor TV mast, the Holme Moss transmitter and the Royd Moor wind turbines visible, and the Peak District beyond. Nearby Jays Wood was planted by miners on the site of the old Hallroyd Pit. The section ends at Silkstone Common station beside the Station Inn.

4km.

Some of the walk is through woodland and around an arable field, so paths can be muddy in wet periods. Adders live in Jays Wood, so keep children supervised and dogs on a lead.

Highlights: Silkstone Fall Wood (A coppice woodland traditionally managed by felling one compartment a year, with evidence of early bell-pit coal mining).

Documented by Penistone Line Trail / Penistone Line Partnership.