Strange Structure On Ronksley Lane

[vox]

Any ideas what this might be ?

It is on (or just off) Ronksley Lane at Rivelin. Somewhere around here near the bend Satellite view

Spotted it over the wall about half way up on the right. Almost completely overgrown now.

It is a concrete dome with as far as I can see no entrance apart from a small brick slot on top. The whole thing is surrounded by (or it seems) clad in a neat stone wall which has partially collapsed on the lower side. A short piece of broken pipe is visible leading in (or out) on the lower side.

There is a small stream running down the side of it, but water doesn't appear to go inside at any point.

It resembles a pill box, but is far too small and (one would think) completely in the wrong place.

Very difficult to get anything like a clear picture because of the trees.

[vox]

OS maps have it marked as "Issues" Don't know what that means.

It seems that Ronksley Lane is also known as Onksley Lane.

[SteveHB]

'Issues'

[vox]

Thanks - That's cleared up that issue then. lol

[hilldweller]

Thanks - That's cleared up that issue then.

The other thing to look out for on large scale OS maps is "sinks" which refers to a point where a spring or stream goes back underground.

My guess is that the thing pictured is connected with an old private water supply.

Perhaps it was built over a spring, or it filtered water from the nearby spring and it was piped to the farm situated downhill.

The other possibility is that it contained an "Hydraulic Ram" which was a simple mechanical gizmo which used a head of water from further up stream, to pump a small quantity of water to a higher point. They operated in a cyclic fashion by interrupting the flow from the higher point which caused a momentary pressure rise in a cylinder and used this to pump either the same water or a different supply to a higher point.

They operated with a clack, clack, noise.

The map shows one in the Mayfield Valley but it is on private land.

They are still used today for private water supplies, their advantage is that they require no external power supply other than the energy from the required head of water.

HD

[vox]

Marvellous HD

Thanks

[hilldweller]

Marvellous HD

Thanks

Had a look on the Old-maps site and the small scale 1854/55 OS map is difficult to read but it appears to be marked "Well" where your mystery object is situated.

HD