As good a place as any to record another return visit to Doncaster. Another scene inside the 1920s themed Earl of Doncaster hotel and restaurant, not far from the Racecourse where Benetthorpe, Roman Road and South Parade merge. The rear windows of the hotel overlook Roman Rd. and Elmfield Park beyond, this now in its 101st. year since being opened as a municipal park. It compliments a very pleasant part of the town with lots of Georgian buildings along South Parade and the town’s museum nearby. Mainly intended to go to Sandall Park, but found some pathways angle-dep in water, especially around the lake, so didn’t stay long.
Also visited the rail station again, just to sit and watch! This time found St. George’s Church open (Doncaster Minster). A George Gilbert Scott complete rebuild of the 1860s but the features mostly reflecting genuine Gothic architecture; so-much-so that, along with the weathering of the stonework over the past 150 or so years, without knowing its history it would be tricky deciding if it were mock-gothic or genuine. Its predecessor, victim of a serious fire, was mostly of the Perpendicular style of the early 15th century and had in-turn its predecessors, these, it was later discovered, built on the site of a Roman fortress. As regards internal fixtures and fittings, the ‘Brief Guide’ records details which show that no expense was spared in the Gilbert Scott rebuild.
Interestingly, in this 40th anniversary of the Miner’s Strike, a modest memorial in the town centre (not an area I like) records the names of the coalmines of the past in the region. Coal from some of these was transported on the Hull-Barnsley Railway through the tunnels and cuttings of the southern Yorkshire Wolds to Alexandra Dock mostly for export, a trade somewhat in decline by the 1920s but still employing many workers who could take the bus Saturday nights to dinner and dance at ‘The Earl’.