Roe Gate

 

Footpaths BRA/55 and BRA/54, runs from Dungworth Green(SK 28429 89939) towards Stacey Bank(SK 28711 90507).

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This was part of a route across the Loxley Valley as well as giving access to the water powered industry on the River Loxley. It is now a public footpath from Dungworth Green to a bridge over the River Loxley (marked as a ford before Damflask Reservoir was built) and then up Stacey Bank to end on the Loxley Road by the Nags Head. There are signs that the route continued straight up the hill with a distinctive possible holloway and this is probable as a packhorse route to Holdworth and beyond.

The name is old and this is probably an important packhorse route across the river Loxley. Gate means a narrow track or way and 'Roe' means red in Norse, or could derive from the much older ‘Celtic' language (Scottish Gaelic) odh, meaning ‘water edge’, and/or possibly ro' (for troimh), ‘through’, which would denote a route. 

 

The area is rich in clay and coal with numerous old pits and mines. This clay is a fire clay' which has a very high firing temperature and was added to other clays to make bricks and pipes for use in kilns, and was especially important for the Sheffield steel industry. Until the mid-nineteenth century both the clay and coal would have been transported by pack horses along these local routes. The clay found here contains a significant amount of iron. This could explain the name Roe'. The stream along which Roe Gate passes, Sykehouse Brook, can become a bright rust colour in spring caused by dissolved iron from the clay settling as a sediment in the water run off from the old mines. (see Pudding Poke) This iron oxide could well have been used for its colour in dye and paint since ancient times.

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The images below show long lived and large oak and holly trees that
indicate that a track is old. The stone path is now grass covered.