Was there ever a pub on Houndkirk Road?

[hillsbro]

I wonder if at times the two cottages had different names. It seems doubtful, but I found this web page that mentions the Badger House and Oxdale Lodge: "...Along the old coaching Houndkirk Road you stumble across the site of the Badger House and Oxdale Lodge once the homestead of the Duke of Rutland’s gamekeeper and family. This site is situated midway between Fox House and Ringinglow, close to the Thieves Bridge that spans the infant Redcar Brook (feeder of the River Sheaf) on the fringe of the moor..." There must be a story behind the name "Thieves Bridge"!

 

I've only ever walked along Houndkirk Road once, and I just looked in my schoolboy diary. It was in June 1966 that my much-loved uncle Sid took me (and his Labrador) for a walk from Bents Green to Ringinglow and then along Houndkirk Road to Fox House. We both enjoyed the walk (and the dog loved it). Despite being almost 50 years older and two stone heavier, maybe I should go again and take Mrs hillsbro with me. It's a pity the pub isn't there though, but sustenance should be available at Fox House..

[Runningman]

Just a side note of which many of you will be aware and for those who haven't walked the old road ( Hillsboro, get thi boots on ! ) The view east on a clear day is superb. Binoculars will pick out Lincoln Cathedral and the many cooling towers are easily seen.

Many years ago when the moorland around there was badly damaged by fire and obviously the ground became more visible, many old artefacts were discovered. I read an article referring to this, but can't remember where !

[hillsbro]

Hi Runningman - well that settles it, we'll have to take a walk from Ringinglow to Fox House, and pick a clear day!. The fire was evidently in 1976 and affected "Lady Canninng's Plantation" marked on the OS map alongside Houndkirk Road. Here is a link to an article in the Totley History Group's journal that mentions the fire: "We fringe the side of Lady Canning’s plantation, it was here that the disastrous fire in 1976 caused severe damage to large areas of Burbage Moor, an act of vandalism".

[Pugg]

My parents were keen hikers in the 1930s, and my mother told me several times that the building you refer to was one where hikers and cyclists could get boiling water to mash tea, and buy snacks; I took her to mean that this was a sideline rather than its main business.

Does anyone else have similar recollections?

JohnE

[seirreh]

There was also a decoy airfield and factories in WW2 on the brow of the hill on Houndkirk Road looking down at Fox House. There is a concrete base for a control centre where operators set things going from a bomb-proof blockhouse. It was apparently quite elaborate. It had large tanks of oil, tinfoil, lighting and apparatus to mimic the sparks from tram wires. At the approach of aircraft, fires would be lit to mimic furnaces, flashes from 'trams', followed by other fires to represent burning buildings, with flashes like explosions.

 

The concrete base apparently takes a bit of finding!

[Peri Patetic]

I think this might be the pub that my Dad used to tell me about.  When he was a very young man, probably in the early 1920s, he and a friend would cycle out to Derbyshire and sometimes they used to stop at a pub half way between Ringinglow and I can't remember where.   He described an isolated moorland place, with chickens and pigs out the back and sawdust on the floor.   The interior was dark and low and there was a scullery with a big pot of little potatoes boiling for the pigs.  It was run by two middle aged sisters who seemed to be busy with customers.  My Dad and his friend would beg some 'pig potatoes' which would be scooped out of the pot onto tin plates.  They would try to ask Annie, the younger one, because she would give them a bit of butter well.  The older one, maybe Mary, drew the line at that.  

 

I got the impression he went very often, and it was always exactly the same, but maybe he only went once or twice.  They couldn't have been constantly boiling pig potatoes!

 

Edited June 19, 2021 by Peri Patetic