Heron Way - 1 Rossington

The 55 and 55B buses from Doncaster travel to and from Rossington.

[1] From the church walk towards Rossington Colliery, going straight ahead at the roundabout and across the level crossing.

[2] Pass St Joseph's Primary School and take the 2nd road on the left. Walk all the way along Grange road, continuing passed the end of the houses, where it becomes a surfaced lane, and past the cemetery. The lane becomes a track. Keep straight ahead at a junction of tracks. Between 2012 & 2017 the bridleway passes over the edge of a spoil heap which is being excavated. Beware of heavy plant crossing the right of way. Cross the River Torne by the footbridge and continue forward.

[3] After about 800m, and after passing under power lines, turn left along a track. After about 200m take the right-hand fork along Egg Lane, continuing forward when the right of way becomes a cross-field path.

[4]Turn left along the road, passing Wellingly Grange on the left, to the junction and turn right along a lane to the crossroads at Four Lane Ends. Turn left along Stancil Road (No Through Road) and continue until you reach Stancil Farm.

[5]At the farm take the footpath curving round to the right to go alongside a wire fence for 150m and then cross the stile on the left to follow the footpath across fields, bearing right before the wood, to cross the River Torne again by a wooden footbridge. Continue across fields onto a track which eventually becomes a surfaced path between houses, emerging onto Radburn Road.

[6] Turn right and continue along Radburn Road, past The Poacher public house, and turn right into Gattison lane. Pass the shops and walk down to the end of the road to the junction with Station Road. Turn right and walk back to the church.

(A)      Rossington Bridge is the oldest area of settlement, situated where the Roman road from Lincoln to York via Doncaster crosses the River Torne.  A Roman fort, situated between Sheep Bridge Lane and the River Torne, was built here in about AD50, when Governor Didius Gallus needed to subjugate Queen Cartimandua of the Brigantes tribe, who occupied land to the north of the Don.  Rossington Bridge was the location for pottery kilns from the same era, from where some fine drinking vessels were sold as far away as lowland Scotland. The Roman fort garrisoned up to 3000 soldiers.                                                                                                                                                             The name Rossington is Anglo-Saxon for farm on the moor.

(B)      Rossington Colliery was started in 1912 and closed in 2006.  In 2012 Recycoal was given planning permission to clean up 13 million tonnes of colliery spoil.  They aim to recover 950,000 tonnes of coal for electricity generation then restore the land to open space.

(C)     Permission has been given for a rail-freight terminal on the land to the north of Carr Bank, with a link to junction 3 of the M18, two miles to the north.  It is claimed that the rail-freight terminal will reduce freight traffic on the roads.

(D)     Stancil was the site of a Roman villa, built here no doubt because of the good farmland by a rich Roman or a prominent local man who had accepted the inevitability of Roman rule.  The buildings must have been very impressive because in later times the settlement acquired the name of Stancil, a corruption of 'stone dwelling-hall'. In the area several 4th century Roman coins and sherds of pottery have been found, as well as medieval coins and metal work.  About a thousand years after the Romans, in 1086, Stancil was recorded in the Domesday Book and later again, in 1357, fifteen married couples and twenty-seven single persons were old enough to be assessed for the poll tax.  Two hundred years later Stancil was farmed by only four families and soon the settlement was reduced to a single farm.