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Ecclesall Woods 'tramway'.


Calvin72

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I walked through Ecclesall Woods this morning and explored them properly for the first time. I came across this stretch of stone 'tramway' presumably for horse drawn carts from the several nearby Ganister mines and other quarries. Certainly early 19th century, or even earlier, and in great condition. It veers around corners with long straight runs in between. Anyone seen this before? Might be well known, just not to me until now! 

Ecclesall woods tramway.jpg

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It's quite a few years since I walked the woods and I always thought it was just a pathway. The edging stones could be old ( what evidence do you have that makes you judge they are early 19th century?) or, then again, could be much more recent. The centre of the pathway would be regularly maintained by filling with smaller stones...which is exactly how it looks from the illustration....One possibility is that it was a "Job creation" project from the dark days of Sheffield's great depression when public work was found for those on the dole.

 Have you checked on an OS map to see if it is marked as a pathway or a tramway?

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I have found it mentioned in the Friends of Ecclesall Woods website.

They think it's a trackway rather than a tramway.

 Friends of Ecclesall Woods

It's not clear at all what it was used for but they have this to say about it.

There have been several theories about the purpose of this trackway. The most likely is that is was used by packhorses or mules. The centre gap between the stone lines would have been filled with small stones, to help the heavily loaded animals keep their footing. They could have been carrying coal from the Dore mines down to Abbeydale Hamlet.

 

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Some interesting thoughts here. There were tramways in the woods from ganister mines (one information board says that there was one in use until 1910 in a different part of the wood). I have seen several such stone tramways on Exmoor/Dartmoor dating from around 1800-30 (i.e before the spread of the railways). It does look like those. 

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The Dore Coal Company had its registered office at The Devonshire Arms pub in Dore and mined a shallow coal seam.

A form of charcoal known as "White Coal" was produced in Ecclesall woods and this was used in Dore and Totley for smelting lead from galena, brought over the hills from the lead mines in Derbyshire. The available Derbyshire** wood for smelting in the traditional "campaign" was fast being used up and Ecclesall woods offered a suitable alternative...  especially when used to produce "white coal" which, when used in a furnace with water powered air bellows ,permitted lead to be smelted in smaller and more manageable quantities...an early form of industrialisation?

My ancestors were engaged in lead smelting at Totley at the time of the Restoration. and, of course, Dore and Totley were still a part of Derbyshire until 1934 ( many old Dore villagers still considered themselves to be "Tups" and not "Dee Dahs" even in the 1990's)

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