Kimberley - Part 02 - Trains And Pubs
w/e 23 January 2011
All this week's pictures were taken
with a Kodak DX6490

 We
spent most of the first part around Hardy & Hanson's Brewery
site and the Midland Railway and left via Brewery Street. Resuming
at the other end of Brewery Street on Edgewood Road (left) there
is a choice of route available. A path to the left leads over
a footbridge which offers views of a walk along the former Great
Northern line (right) but I chose to follow Edgewood Road back
to Station Road.

From Station Road the footbridge is clearly visible and evidence
of the former railway line is obvious with the level crossing
gates that are still in situ. A car park now from which there
is access to the Great Northern Walk stands where the railway
lines once ran whilst the former station building stands on the
right.
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The station buildings have now been converted to residential
housing and the road onto which they front retains another link
with the railways as it is called The Sidings. Both the Midland
and Great Northern railways opened in the 1870s their main purpose
being the transportation of coal from local collieries although
I imagine more than one barrel of beer found its way onto the
trains too.
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The alternative route over the footbridge mentioned earlier rejoins
Station Road just beyond The Sidings and Station Road continues
to Main Road to the right. The incline between the two which
we followed on this frosty and misty morning is Chapel Street
which runs parallel to Station Road. Sandwiched in the narrow
piece of land between the two until the 1960s there used to be
a terrace of four or five cottages.
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The terrace has now been demolished but it would have been overlooked
by the Cricketers Rest on Chapel Street, another hostelry that
was tied to the local brewery.
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Chapel Street has been converted into a cul-de-sac just beyond
the Cricketers and the land beyond to Newdigate Street developed
to become Toll Bar Square where small events and markets can
be held.
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The square contains a number of mosaics depicting subjects that
have contributed to the town's history and heritage such as an
old windmill and a colliery.

Some of the novel seating in the square on the Newdigate Street
side also harks back to the brewing industry and is in the form
of barrels..
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Newdigate Street meets Main Road opposite James Street which
is sign posted as a Victorian shopping area and is where the
next part in this series will take us but the second pub in this
part, the Queens Head, stands on the corner of Main Street.
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Crossing to the Queens Head and turning to look back along Newdigate
Street is a good place to view the third pub that stands in close
proximity. This is the Gate Inn which as stated on another website
now serves "so called Kimberley Ales from Suffolk rather
than the nearby Hardy and Hanson's brewery following its acquisition
by Greene King."
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