Dark Lane

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This old lane linked Midhope Lane to Penistone Lane. It once provided the most direct link between Midhopestones, via the northerly section of Penistone Lane, to Langsett. Like Penistone Lane, it would have been used for centuries by travellers and local people going about their daily business. Extensive clearance work, funded by the Heritage Highways Project, revealed the original line of the old lane. Underneath the leaf mould of centuries we discovered a manmade stone surface, an indication that this was once an important route. The middle section of the lane is bounded by a drystone wall on one side and a very old hedgerow on the other. The hedgerow, now very much overgrown in height, consists mainly of hawthorn and holly. There is a walled section, again, with a good stone surface, but most of these walls are very regular in build and were probably constructed around the time of Langsett Reservoir, by the water board, as the adjacent land belonged to them. This old lane is shown on all Ordnance Survey Maps and is described as ‘a fourth class road leading N W from Midhope Lane a distance of 21 chains’ in the 1903 Ordnance Survey Object Name book. The Definitive Map reference is: BRA/146.

 

Dark Lane, after clearance work is complete.

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Under the leaf mould, a manmade stone surface was revealed.

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