Brackenhill Explained

Country:England
Static Image:Brackenhill, Ackworth - geograph.org.uk - 249315.jpg
Static Image Caption:Bracken Hill, a street in the village
Coordinates:53.642°N -1.356°W
Label Position:top
Official Name:Brackenhill
Metropolitan Borough:Wakefield
Metropolitan County:West Yorkshire
Region:Yorkshire and the Humber
Post Town:PONTEFRACT
Postcode District:WF7
Postcode Area:WF
Dial Code:01977
Os Grid Reference:SE427164

Brackenhill is a village in West Yorkshire, England, which forms part of Ackworth parish. It is situated on the A638 road on the eastern bank of Hessle Beck, west of Ackworth Moor Top and north of Fitzwilliam Country Park.

A major industry in Brackenhill was quarrying, and at the end of the 19th century the majority of the male inhabitants of the village were occupied in the quarries.[1] The stone is counted among the Pennine Upper Coal Measures which originated in the Carboniferous age.[2] Quarried materials include magnesian limestone[3] and sandstone.[4] The quarries were served from 1914 to 1962 by the Brackenhill Light Railway, a subsidiary of the London and North Eastern Railway. It branched off the line between Sheffield and York east of Ackworth and joined the line between Wakefield and Doncaster at Hemsworth Colliery near Fitzwilliam.[5] Brackenhill inhabitants also worked in Hemsworth Colliery.[6]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Saywell, J. L.. The Parochial History of Ackworth, its history and annals. Section 2. Ackworth, Yorks.. 1894. London. Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co..
  2. Sourcing stone for the conservation and repair of historical buildings in Britain. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology. 46. 7 November 2013. 405–420. Graham . Lott. 4. 10.1144/qjegh2013-004. 111250617.
  3. Book: Watson, John . British and Foreign Building Stones. University Press. Cambridge. 1911. 294. 9781107505780.
  4. Book: Directory of Mines and Quarries. British Geological Survey. 2014. Keyworth, Nottingham. D. G. . Cameron . T. . Bide . S. F. . Parry . A. S. . Parker . J. M. . Mankelow. 1–107.
  5. Web site: BLR Brackenhill JN - Hemsworth Colliey [sic!]. In: Railway Ramblers Wakefield]. Lost Railways West Yorkshire. 19 March 2017.
  6. Web site: Ackworth in 1927. From Kelly's Directory of the West Riding of Yorkshire. Ackworth Heritage. 19 March 2018.