Wednesday, June 5, 2013

The Disused Pit Of Gloom

I'm doing a lot of teaching this week, so there will be little time for any real modelling until the weekend. Fortunately I have another history post to keep you all entertained.

While looking into the history of the railway in Penistone I've seen a number of brief references to there having been a turntable not far from the station, but it wasn't entirely clear where it had been positioned. During my research into the apocryphal cow I spent some time looking at old maps, at which point the location of the turntable, just south of the station, was easy to to spot (this specific map dates from 1931).

By 1965 the turntable had disappeared from the maps and I so I assumed it had been filled in or built over, especially as I'd never seen any sign of it while walking to and from the station. It isn't always easy to relate old maps to the current terrain, especially given how much the area around Penistone station has changed since the maps were drawn, so imagine my surprise last winter when I almost fell into the turntable pit.

There are actually two footpaths along the railway linking our house with the station. Originally there was just a path right alongside the line, but a couple of years ago a second path was added a little further from the line side to give better pedestrian access to a new housing estate. During the summer this new path is full of interesting wildlife and plants, including a fantastic display of lupins and some interesting caterpillars. During the winter it isn't quite so interesting but it is slightly shorter, so on one icy day I followed the path hoping I'd reach the station without falling over. A combination of the snow highlighting things differently and the lack of undergrowth meant that suddenly there was the turntable pit. Unfortunately I didn't have a camera on me so I had to go back a few days later for some photos.

Given the number of trees growing within and around the pit it's impossible to get a good photo showing its full extent, but from the left hand photo you should be able to get a fairly good idea of its size. I'd hoped to explore the pit a little more during the summer when it wasn't quite so wet and boggy looking, but of course as soon as spring arrived more shrubs grew up making it less accessible. When winter comes around again I'll try and take a better look.


  1. Mark it wants digging out and preserving. Set the local hysterical society on to the job. It's sad that such examples of our industrial heritage can be allowed to disappear.

  2. I, too, love old maps. In fact I love maps. To find the pit like that, though, was a real find. I'm with Adrian on this one too.