Worksop

Awoke to light rain which continued on until mid morning before turning to drizzle.  The question was whether to wait a day or risk the weather and move to Worksop.  I the end we decided to cruise and that proved to be the correct decision because the drizzle stopped leaving us with a dull but warm day.  The canal is back to being shallow (but no weed) or perhaps the toilet tank is starting to fill. 

Osberton Lock with its canal cottage

We caught up with the Chesterfield Canal Trust boat doing the annual canal survey at the three bridges near Manton.

There’s what appears to be an old engine house near Ryton Aqueduct

At Kilton Top Lock we reached the residential outskirts of the town. The suburbs look to be mostly public housing.  Apparently Worksop’s major industry in the 19th & 20th Century was coal mining but the last of these closed in the early 1990’s.  This resulted in a period of high unemployment. drug abuse in the area also soared.  However with the arrival of new service industries the situation has now reversed and the town unemployment rate is lower than the national average.

We found ring moorings in the centre of the town and after a late lunch I made a trip to Discount Glass.  We have cracked the triangular glass pane in one of the cratch windows and I wanted a replacement.  The window frame is on lift-off hinges so it was an easy job to take the entire frame with me.  The glazier cut a new piece whilst I waited (£34.40).  It’s 8mm thick safety glass so the cost didn’t surprise me.  Two further trips took me to Halfords and Screwfix.  I bought a tube of clear silicon sealer from the latter and a small tin of auto body filler from the former.  The silicon is obviously required to seal the new pane in the frame but I hadn’t anticipated the need for the body filler.  I had been expecting the screws holding the timber beading around the glass to be concealed by oak plugs, however the painter had used body filler.  It took a couple of hours to remove all the filler from the holes and clear the grooves in the philips (cross top) screw heads.

The glass has now been replaced and the frame fitted back into the cratch board.  Once the silicon has set I’ll use the body filler to reconceal the screw heads.  It will then need a number of coats of paint to return it to its former glory.

I should have realised Worksop was on the edge of Sherwood Forest when we saw the sign to Robin Hood Airport.   I remember travelling past Sherwood Forest with my parents in the late 50’s.  My father pointed out the forest from the car and even at the age of eight I wasn’t all that impressed with it’s size.  I would imagine it’s even smaller today.  Robin would have great difficulty hiding in it today!

Accordingly to Wikipedia Worksop is known as the gateway to the Dukeries (never heard of them!)  This has taken a little research on my part and I hope I have it right.  A Duchy is an area of land ruled by a Duke or Duchess.  There are four reasonably close to Worksop

• Thoresby Hall – Duke of Kingston

• Clumber House – Duke of Newcastle

• Welbeck Abbey – Duke of Portland

• Worksop Manor – Duke of Norfolk