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This walk is in the county of South Yorkshire,
and is around the small village of Fishlake,
some 9 miles east of Doncaster.
For such a small village, Fishlake has a lot of history,
as we going to find out on this walk.
It starts out at The Landing,
takes a route through the church grounds,
past the old pinfold and school,
and takes a trip into Fishlake’s interesting past
before arriving back at the start.
It’s around 3 miles long, and should take about 2 hours.
First mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086,
Fishlake was part of Hatfield Chase,
which was under the Lordship of the Warrennes of Conisbrough Castle.
The Landing was once called “Cuthbert’s Haven”
in memory of the spot were St. Cuthbert’s
body was brought ashore in the late 9th Century.
St. Cuthbert travelled widely to spread the
Christian message to the people of the North of England,
and after his death in 687, his faithful monks
carried his bones for 7 years to escape
from the invading Danish non-believers.
From The Landing, we cross over the road to Hall Farm.
This brick building used to be called The Old Hall,
and although it was rebuilt in the mid 18th Century,
the plaque over the door was re-used, showing the early date of 1610.
Two of the second floor windows are blocked off,
evidence the house was subject to the Window Tax,
which was introduced in England in 1696,
and was imposed until 1851.
Next, we head towards the church, but on our way,
we encounter the first of Fishlake’s two limestone crosses.
Both of these have the base intact
but only a portion of the shaft remains.
It could be these medieval crosses replaced the older
Anglo Saxon ones on the same spot.
On to the oldest building in the village of
Fishlake – the church – which was built by the Normans
in the 12th Century – making it somewhat
older than The Hare and Hounds pub.
The church is dedicated to St. Cuthbert, as it
is reputed the monks of Lindisfarne rested here
with the body of St Cuthbert on their way
to his final resting place of Durham Cathedral –
with Fishlake being the furthest south of all the
places the monks travelled to avoid the Danes.
The church has been added to throughout the middle ages,
but the oldest part can be dated back to 1170.
The more modern front shelters possibly
the most lavishly decorated doorway in Yorkshire.
Although today much decayed,
it is rich with cravings of dragons fighting, knights tilting,
a griffin, an angel and a demon.
The door itself is believed to have come
from the nearby Roche Abbey in Maltby.
Most of the rest of the church dates from 1351.
The tower belongs to the reign of Edward the 4th,
and inside a canopied niche on the west side
is the figure of St. Cuthbert holding the
head of St. Oswald- the former king of Northumbria - in his hand.
We leave the church yard through the gate
and past the vicarage.
In the middle ages, Fishlake was a sizable port,
and had a population of about 1,600.
Today, it’s around 700.
We continue over the stile and the bridge,
through the small new housing estate
back to the main road – called Pinfold Lane.
And this is the Pinfold –
an area used as a pound for keeping stray animals.
The keeper of the Pinfold would look
after any animals and a toll would be charged on the owners.
The keeper’s title was the Pinder...
hence the street name Pinder Court....
From the Pinfold we head down the
Public Footpath towards the school.
Fishlake Endowed School was founded in 1641
by the Reverend Richard Rands for his
friends and countrymen of the village.
It was one of the oldest educational establishments in the area.
The endowment of £300 was used to purchase land,
and the income from this paid the
salary of the headteacher –
who, until the early 1900s,
had to be an Oxbridge graduate with a degree in Latin.
Today, the site is awaiting further demolition,
with the school finally closing in September 1994.
Now we turn left back onto Pinfold Lane,
and past the Fishlake Cricket Club on the left.
At the next road junction,
we turn left and head down the
long straight path of Mill Field Road.
The remains of two of the
original three corn grinding mills
in Fishlake still exist,
and the oldest is this one,
built in 1771 – now fully restored as Fishlake Mill
– a luxury self-catering accommodation,
complete with a hot tub and Jacuzzi.
From Fishlake Mill, we head towards the village,
and the remains of the second of Fishlake’s limestone crosses.
But what were they used for?
Some people think they were market crosses –
although if Fishlake did have a weekly market,
it had disappeared by the 16th century...
Although some locals believe they were preaching crosses...
possibly marking the spots where St Cuthbert’s bones rested.
From the cross, we take the path the avoid Far Bank Lane.
Drainage was a major problem in Fishlake
due to the low-lying nature of the land,
and in 1626, Charles the 1st brought the
famous Dutch engineer Cornelius Vermuyden
to drain 70,000 acres of land –
although the scheme wasn’t successful.
A left turn at the end of the path
takes us down to the main road called
Fishlake Nab, and a left here shows
the other remaining windmill,
which survives to its original height,
and is probably made from local brick.
Now, it’s just a short walk to our start point,
leaving you surprised just how much history a small village can have..
Subtitles copyright 2011 Nova Subtitling