It’s been an exciting start to 2023 on Martyn’s Blog, with three trips out (one of which has yet to be published; expect it on Sunday) and two new areas for me to explore further.
The first journey of the year took me to South Yorkshire and the former mining village of Kiveton Park, located between Worksop and Sheffield. I had a very nice, but muddy, walk around a former coal pit which has been turned into a community woodland. I also visited both stations in the village; Kiveton Park and Kiveton Bridge.
This was part of a new feature on the blog. In addition to visiting all the stations in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire and the East Midlands Ranger Area, I will be trying to visit all the stations in South Yorkshire. You can see the map and the progress I have made so far at this page here.
The Martyn’s Blog Empire will also be expanding to territories to the south of Burton on Trent, specifically the Cross-City Line which runs between Lichfield Trent Valley to Redditch and Bromsgrove, passing through stations in Birmingham on the way. The first of these trips took me to Bromsgrove, one of the two southern termini of the line.
Like with the South Yorkshire stations, you can see the map and the progress made by visiting this page.
Forthcoming Attractions
Coming up on Sunday 5th February is a post where I have visited another two stations on the Cross-City Line, which involved getting up at stupid o’clock on Saturday morning. There are two trips I have scheduled for the month. I don’t like to reveal where they are, just in case something happens and I don’t go for whatever reason. I will say that one is a place I have been to before in Nottinghamshire, and the other is in the Peak District.
Lost Pubs of Burton
Last year, I launched my Lost Pubs of Burton project, which I worked on in the summer of 2021 and didn’t publish until April 2022. I have always meant to get around to updating it and taking more photos of some of the surviving pubs, but I haven’t yet. It’s on my to-do list.
Sadly, another pub has closed in Burton. The Prince Alfred on Derby Street has been shut since October. Oddly, the local newspaper haven’t mentioned it; they’re usually on top of these things. At the time of writing, it’s unknown if it will re-open as a pub, or be converted into flats as has happened to so many pubs in the town.
That’s it for this month, see you next month for the next one, hopefully.
Martyn's Blog 
You must be logged in to post a comment.