Elsecar village

This surprisingly tranquil scene was just a few hundred yards from Elsecar Heritage Centre. It is the beginning of the Elsecar Canal, a branch of the Dearne and Dove Canal. The canal network was created to carry coal and other cargo (including pig iron) from the mines and ironworks. The coming of the railways and subsidence from the mining meant that their viability was short-lived. It is only in recent years that they have been restored. 

Across the canal, the spire of Holy Trinity Church stands tall over the village. Built in the early 1840s, it was part of Earl Fitzwilliam's investment in the area. Like Sir Titus Salt in Saltaire, his Christian paternalism meant that he wanted his workforce to have good housing and facilities like schools and a church. 

I wondered if it might be the church that my ancestors attended but I've since researched some of their children's baptisms and it seems they were non-Conformist chapel-goers. The church itself was locked up but there was a pretty angel on a grave in the churchyard. (I love to see Victorian angel statues.) 

From the churchyard you could see an old corn mill, now a craft centre, at the side of the canal. Through a gap in some houses, there was a good view over the lower part of Elsecar village. 

Old Row (below) appears to be one the few remaining terraces of houses that Earl Fitzwilliam had built for his coal miners in the late 1700s. Plain but substantial, stone-built with slate roofs, they must have been rather superior dwellings in those days, each with a private walled yard at the front and back, and an allotment. They are now Grade II listed, reflecting their importance to the history of this area.  I bet they're still quite nice houses to live in.