Oldcotes Dyke

Just below the Abbey complex, the river is joined by Hooton Dike. This rises close to the 425-foot (130 m) contour on land which was once the edges of Thurcroft Colliery, until its closure in 1991. It flows eastwards under some old railway embankments which were part of the colliery, and the former junction of the Thurcroft Colliery Branch and the defunct Braithwell and Laughton Railway.[10] Beyond the embankments, it is called Brookhouse Dike, and flows under the main road in Brookhouse and the Worksop to Doncaster freight railway. To the south of the hamlet of Slade Hooton, Hooton Bridge carries Hooton Lane over it, and there is a sewage treatment works on the north bank. Like the Maltby treatment works, it is strung along the bank, because the valley has steep sides. Beyond the works, the river is called Hooton Brook.[1]

The course of the river turns towards the north-east, and it enters Laughton Pond, a large artificial lake, created by Capability Brown and completed in 1776.[6] At its north-eastern is a 10-foot (3.0 m) cascade, also built as part of Brown's landscaping project. It is constructed of irregular Magnesian Limestone blocks, arranged in tiers.[11] Nearby is a tunnel, which enters the bank wall below the pond. From it, a channel connects to the Maltby Dike. It shows signs of being adapted in the 1760s, but its origins are clearly older, probably medieval.[12]

The river and its banks below the junction of Hooton Dike and Maltby Dike continues to be part of Sandbeck Park,[6] almost to King's Wood Lane, at the hamlet of Stone. Just before the bridge was another corn mill, called Roche Abbey Mill.[13] The grade II listed mill farmhouse dating from around 1800 still exists, but the mill itself does not.[14] Beyond the bridge, and before the next bridge, is Stone Mill. The mill house and attached mill building survive. They date from the 17th century, but were enlarged in the 18th and 19th centuries. The position of the wheel is indicated by an ashlar-faced wall, and internally, there is evidence that it drove two sets of wheels.[15]

The river now becomes Firbeck Dike, and passes under New Road to curve around the northern and eastern edges of the Firbeck Hall estate. There is a lake at the junction with Lamb Lane Dike. This rises to the south-west of Letwell and flows northwards under Lamb Lane, here designated the B6463. It is joined by another stream, flowing south-east from a large lake at Lingodel Farm. It then enters the grounds of the Park Hill estate. There was a fishpond with a dam at its north-eastern end in 1902, and there are further lakes, which were in front of Park Hill,[16] a large house once owned by Anthony St Leger, famous for initiating the St Leger Stakes horse race in 1776. The main house was demolished in 1935, but there are still some grade II listed farmbuildings, which were probably stables for the main house, nearby.[17]

A small outbuilding at Yews Mill, on Firbeck Dike, which is thought to have been a mill, and carries the date 1806.

Another set of lakes are in front of Firbeck Hall, a country house with a 16th-century core, which was remodelled and extended in the 18th and 19th centuries. It became a country club in 1935, when Cyril Nicholson, a Sheffield stockbroker, invested £80,000 in its art deco renovation.[18] The club was short-lived, due to the onset of the Second World War, and it was subsequently used as a rehabilitation centre until 1990,[19] after which it fell into dereliction.[20] The level of the lakes is controlled by a weir, built as part of a single-arched bridge constructed in the early 19th century for H. Gally Knight, who owned the hall at the time.[21]

Below the junction of the two streams, and a little further to the east was Yews Mill. Little remains of the original building, although parts of it, dating from the early 18th century, have been incorporated into Yews Mill House. The mill race is still visible, and there is a suggestion that it was once a paper mill, which might account for its small scale.[22] It was shown as a corn mill on the map for 1902.[23] On the main course of the river is another small building connected to a bridge, which carries the date 1806, which is also thought to have been a mill. Neither the wheel pit, not any of the machinery survives.[24]

The mill stream rejoins the main course to pass under a bridge carrying Haven Hill, and the river becomes Oldcotes Dyke. It passes to the south of Oldcotes, and Goldthorpe Mill is situated to the west of the A60 Worksop to Tickhill road. It is an early 18th century building, with later additions, and has been converted into a house. It still contains a steel water wheel dating from the late 19th century, and parts of the wooden machinery.[25] The mill race and main stream combine on the eastern side of the A60 road, and soon it reaches Oldcotes Mill, to the east of the village. This dates from the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The wheel drove 3 sets of stones, and much of the machinery is still in situ. It is inscribed "John Thornton Millwright Engineer & C Worksop".[26] Both mills were producing flour in the 1880s.[27]

The river passes through Fishpond Plantation, and turns to the south east, running parallel to the A634 road from Oldcotes to Blyth. As it nears Blyth, it drops below the 50-foot (15 m) contour, and is joined by Hodsock Brook. The river turns to the north-east to pass under the A634 at Old Bridge. Beyond the bridge is a gauging station, to measure flow, and the river sweeps round in an arc to join the River Ryton by Bawtry Road, Blyth.[1]

Hodsock Brook rises as a series of springs near Gildingwells. The stream flows eastwards, through Langold Holt, a wooded area with a pond in its centre, crosses the border from the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham into Nottinghamshire, and enters the upper of two lakes that are part of Langold Country Park. A weir lowers the level into the second lake, and the overflow from this flows through woods and through a culvert beneath the remains of the railway sidings for Firbeck Colliery, Langold. Next is passes under the A60 Doncaster Road and to the north of Hodsock Lodge Farm. There is a sewage treatment works on the northern bank, opposite the farm. On the edge of woods called New Plantation, it is joined by Owlands Wood Dike and turns abruptly to the north, to join Oldcotes Dyke.[1]

Owlands Wood Dike begins at a pond to the south of Gildingwells, and initially flows south. The Rotherham and Nottinghamshire border follows the course of the stream, which then turns to the east. The border turns to the south and leaves the river just before it reaches Corn Mill Farm. Here it is joined by a stream from Wallingwells, once the site of Wallingwells Priory and now occupied by a 17th-century country house. The house was divided into seven dwellings in 1926.[28] The stream is the outflow of two lakes, connected together by sluices. On the eastern edge of Holme Wood, Owlands Wood Dike splits, and the two channels both enter Carlton Lake, which feeds South Carlton Corn Mill. The building dates from the late 18th and mid 19th centuries, and the cast iron water wheel is still in situ. It drove three sets of stones, and internally, most of the machinery still exists although it is not functional.[29] A two-arched bridge with a stepped overshoot for the mill race, built in the 1830s, carries Church Lane over the Dike. After passing under the A60 Doncaster Road, it heads north-east, to reach Hodsock Priory. There are a number of channels in the vicinity of the Priory, a country house originally build in 1829, but remodelled by George Devey between 1873 and 1876.[30] While the Priory is Grade II listed, the Gatehouse and a bridge over a dry moat are Grade I listed structures. The gatehouse dates from the early 16th century, and the bridge is slightly later, although it was restored in the 18th and 19th centuries.[31] To the north of Hodsock Priory, Owlands Wood Dike joins Hodsock Brook.[1]