Old Mansfield.
Another part of Mansfield that not too many people would know where it is situated is Cinderella Walk. I shall therefore endeavor to take those of you who are not sure where it is, on a journey that I have taken many times.
Starting at the top of Old Victoria Street, you passed the bottom of New Victoria Street on the right,with the post office run by Mr. and Mrs Platt on the corner. On the opposite corner ( still on the right ) was the newly built Salvation Army Citadel which had moved from Belvedere Street.
Co-op Dairy
To the left of you was the Co-operative Dairy and Warehouse with the milk loading bays, a little further up. To your right you pass the bottom of Princess Street . It had a pair of semi-detached houses on one side, one of which was occupied by the Parnwell family. On the other side stood a round ended shop.
The road now becomes unmade, and actually leads nowhere. That is apart from a wide gate that leads you into a big old house to the right.
The Railway
Next to the wide gate is a smaller gate that gives access to the railway lines. On the left,over the fence, and by the rail lines was a large Signal Box that operated the stop and start signals and train direction lines. To the left of the smaller gate is an opening to the foot-bridge that would take you over the railway lines,down the other side, and here we have one end of Cinderella’s Walk.
Cinderella Walk
Cinderella’s Walk was/is only about six feet wide, had weeds growing either side. A fence along the right side as far as Bradder Street was made of sleepers stood on end. From the foot-bridge to Sibthorpe Street there was a three foot stone wall, it had a small entrance gate giving access to the lines and the train turntable at the rear of Sibthorpe St.
The ” Footbridge ” crossing over the Railway lines at the start of Cinderella’s Walk….The bridge has altered over the years…. The steps were not open as in the picture, they were all wooden steps and sides leading down to Cinderella’s Walk….The large Signal Box situated at the side of the lines has long since disappeared ….
The ‘Tippin’
Passing the top of Sibthorpe Street with houses only on the left, we came to the ” Tippin “Which was originally another Mansfield sand quarry that had been filled in. I believe the filling in had something to do with the closure of the Brick Works which was close by.
Bradder Street
At the end of the tippin we come to Bradder St. This is where the sleeper fence ended and a 6 foot wall began. It was here that Cinderella’s Walk crossed the top of the Bradder Street. and the old brick works were the other side of the lines,( behind the Ten Row). On the left, with their gardens to the front, were another row of stone houses I believe there were about ten of them.
Engine Sheds
Just before we come to the Engine Sheds with a high wall around, we have the back lane of Bradder St., and another foot-bridge. Just before the bridge we have wide gates that gave the only access crossing over the lines to the brick yard and Sutton Road. These gates were locked after four o clock in the evening.
We now have a long walk past the Engine Sheds with a six foot high wall along Cinderella’s Walk. We pass the foot-bridge, the fence has now changed to a three barred fence until we reach the crossing of the spur line to the sheds. It once again changes to the old sleepers up to the pedestrian gates. We cross the lines on foot, obviously being very wary of the trains. We go through the gates on the other side of the lines and Cinderella’s Walk does a right turn. There is a six foot wall on the left, and on the right we are back to the three barred fence.
Miss Burney’s Allotment
Over the wall on the left were allotments, I remember Miss Burney a teacher from Moor Lane School had an allotment there. She taught me at school and I always wondered how she managed an allotment.But of course, there was a war on.
we now come to a pedestrian bridge that crosses over Sheep Bridge Lane It is a narrow bridge,iron base and wooden sides. Down the side is access to Sheep Bridge Lane we used to call the 39 steps.
Bad Man’s Road
We then come to yet another gate which gave access to the Hermitage and what was locally called Bad Man’s Road. To the right of the gate was another large house with a beautiful garden. A very good friend of my father’s lived there,his name was Mr. White, and he too was a Railway man.
It is at the Hermitage that we would have our picnic’s, taking a bottle of water and doorstop sandwiches so we could have a paddle in the river Maun.
So there you go ! Cinderella’s walk follows the railway lines from the Old Dairy foot bridge, to the Hermitage.
Comments about this page
Thank you Alan.
I have been reading all the wonderful memories that you and others have told on this site. I am new to the area and I love the history of the mills, ponds, The Hermitage and discovering more and more interesting points along the cinderella path.
I have heard that Hermitage Mill pond has been called deadman’s pond. Would you happen to know why? I’ve heard locals call it this are you familiar with it?
As for Mr White. I Think he must have lived in a house near Cinderella Walk on a corner and not in Hermitage House. I think I mis-read what you had written.
I’m going to take a walk about and see if I can spot some of these wonderful historic places that you speak of.
I love the names of fattymans bank! Cocoa pond, cabbage club. Cinderella Walk. Sheeps bridge lane. The 39 steps.
I have heard locals talking about the knitters? or knitters cottages?. Which belonged to a mill. Would this be at Hermitage Mill do you think?
I am looking forward to finding out more about the area I live in.
Kind regards, Suzanne
Hello Suzanne, thank you for your interest, and hopefully I can help.. Unfortunately, much of the area around Cinderella’s Walk has changed dramatically. But it appears Cinderella’s Walk has escaped any dramatic changes, which is rather pleasing, because the walk has a tremendous history.. Certainly to my family and I.
To answer your first question Suzanne, I can only verify that the White family lived in the house at the end of the walk up to 1949, but I believe they lived in it for much later ..
The start of Cinderella’s Walk starts as soon as you step off the last wooden step of the Pedestrian Footbridge nearest the old Dairy.. The walk continues following the railway lines , keeping them to the right of you. Passing , what was , the old Train Turntable , Sibthorpe St.. The old Sand Quarry (filled in ).. Becoming locally known as The Tippin. Bradder St. where I lived. Also on the left, passing the Back Lane, and the Engine Sheds The Walk continues past the sheds until you reached the offshoot of the Railway lines that took trains into the sheds , also to the remaining viaduct.. Here there was a pedestrian level crossing, with safety gates , unmanned .. Here the walk turned right, alongside many allotments with a high wall along the left.
Reaching a footbridge that crossed over Sheepbridge Lane, there on the right , before the bridge were stone steps which provided access down to, and from, Sheepbridge Lane. These steps were cut out of the stone, but maybe that is another story.
After walking over the foot bridge , you came to another pedestrian safety gate, where the White’s House was situated on the right.
Passing through the gate, Where many would say was where Cinderella’s Walk ended. But you could cross what was an unmade rough road, and enter what appeared to look like a continuation of the walk, and took you past some cottages on the left that could only have originally been , workers cottages. At the end of this little walk was a foot stile Once over, you were in what was a large grass field with the river Maun running along the bottom of the banking of the field. This Field was always called The Hermitage.
The actual Cinderella’s Walk lead you to the many factories and places of work where the Ladies spent many hours.
Hope this helps.
Did Mr White live in Hermitage house? If so when? I
am trying to research Cinderella Walk and the Hermitage. Still a little confused as to where you entre the Hermitage from Cinderella Walk.
Just a suggestion but could you make a map ?
Kind regards
Suzanne
I like the town of Mansfield a great deal I’ve seen many changes since I do my shopping in your town, especially the museum showing the history of local areas of Mansfield then and now. I couldn’t believe that there has been so much transformation in areas of Kirby in Ashfield, Sutton Ashfield and of course Mansfield during its time in history. I live in Derby.
I walked Cinderella’s Walk many times in the 1950s as a young boy with my dad on a sunday morning crossing the railway lines via the foot bridge at the top of Victoria Street you could see the whole of the Mansfield Midland Railway network from the bridge, lots of sidings, the goods yard, station and North Junction signal box, not so today just two through lines everything else has gone. North Junction box near the footbridge controled the divergence of the line to Rolleston Junction via Farnsfield and Southwell with the Mansfield to Nottingham line. A little further on we’d pass the end of Bradder Street and the engine sheds then cross the line passing through two kissing gates this was Mansfield South Junction controled by South Junction box which was by the bridge crossing Sheepbridge Lane. The South Junction line crossed the Maun Valley on a viaduct as did the North Junction line and met at East Junction which was somewere near the back of PC World, now only South Junction viaduct still stands. After crossing the line at South Junction we either crossed the footbridge over Sheepbridge Lane or just before crossing the bridge on the right there was and still is a long flight of steps down onto Sheepbridge Lane. In the 1950s these were stone and very badly worn, very slippery if it had rained. I now often cycle that way, a lot of it has changed beyond all recognition but I can still recognise quite a bit of those walks with my dad (god bless him) from all those years ago.
Sorry Dave, although you are quite correct in saying the pathway along the back walls of Lord Street. My Grandfather used to live at number 15 Lord Street, and many is the time I have climbed the wall into his back yard as a short-cut to visit when I was a youngster. That pathway ended at the steps on Quarry Lane, where the then railway viaduct began. It is also true that it led you to the rear entrance of field mill football ground, and the many allotments either side of the Pathway. You are a little mistaken in saying that if one continued along, it would lead you to what is Cinderella’s Walk. You used to be able, in, and long before the 1930’s, to see the footbridge and Cinderella’s Walk,over the many railway lines between the two pathways. There were many lines that led to the Wharf Road Sidings, also the Railway Turntable, all being between the two pathways. The two paths travelled more or less in the same direction. It was always Cinderella’s Walk to my Grandparents who were born in the mid 1800’s. If as you say the programme described the path as Cinderella’s Walk, I’m afraid they too made a mistake, all of which I am sure someone reading this will agree. I can imagine why the programmes quoted that end of Field Mill as the Cinderella Walk end as Quarry Lane end was one end, and the nearest recognizable landmark was Cinderella’s Walk…The pathway to the allotments , and the rear entrance to the football ground…was in the main for people with an allotment, I know, we had one of the allotments. Alan
I always knew the footpath from Portland Street to the back of the North Stand at Field Mill as Cinderella Walk. This path was along the rear gardens of Lord Street. I’m sure it was listed as such on the old programmes before the stadium was redeveloped. If you imagine this walk carrying on past the stadium it would indeed have gone past Bradder Street and on to the footbridge as mentioned. Perhaps it was a little longer than the other ‘poster’ remembered?
Hello Tony, I’m replying to one of your questions, here on this page, as the question relates to Cinderella’s Walk. Wow, it is now over a year since I placed this page on this site, where has the time gone? There are several stories of how Cinderella’s Walk came to be, and I am not sure if Cinderella should be in the singular or plural. I cannot ever remember seeing Cinderella Walk on any maps. This story is a simple one really, during the early years, Mansfield was a hive of industry, mainly quarrying that employed hundreds of big strong men, and Mills that employed hundreds of young girls. The young girls working in the Mills took the shortest way to work, and so twice a day the walk was a daily trek for the young ladies. The path became a cinder track with ash and clinker from local works. The men from the quarries on seeing the young ladies would whistle and shout to the blushing girls, and I would guess it was how many a couple met in those days. With the cinder track and the daily walk of the ladies, the name soon caught on, and from that time it became known as Cinderellas Walk! I wonder if somewhere in our past times, the word Ellas, was a nickname for a group of ladies? When the railways came along, they allowed the walk to stay, and so built two foot bridges over the lines for pedestrian access, and protected the walk with railings. That was one of the stories passed down, and seems to be very feesable.
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