Shireoaks

Shireoaks
Shireoaks Level Crossing
OS grid reference	SK555811
District	Bassetlaw
Shire county	Nottinghamshire
Region	East Midlands
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	WORKSOP
Postcode district	S81
Dialling code	01909
Police	Nottinghamshire
Fire	Nottinghamshire
Ambulance	East Midlands
UK Parliament	Bassetlaw

Shireoaks is a former pit village in Nottinghamshire, located between Worksop and Thorpe Salvin.

The Chesterfield Canal and River Ryton both run through the village. The main A57 between Sheffield and Worksop passes close to the village and there are rail services to Sheffield, Lincoln and Cleethorpes on the Sheffield to Lincoln Line, which has a station at Shireoaks railway station.

Facilities

Current facilities include a newsagent, which is also the post office, a small shop, butcher, school, village hall, cafe and Miners Welfare, with bowling green and football pitch. The village has one pub, the Hewett Arms, in the park, due to the conversion of the old Station Hotel into a house during the past few years.

British Waterways Shireoaks Marina is a few minutes walk along the towpath from the village making it easily accessible for visiting boaters.

Steetley Cricket Ground

The cricket pitch along with its bowling green and tennis courts used to belong to the Steetley works in the village and was the home ground of their sporting teams. This is now under private ownership and the pavilion has been converted into a house; the new pavilion is a converted groundsman shed. The village went without a cricket team for many years until, in 2002, Shireoaks Cricket Club was re-established; it has gone from strength to strength, fielding two adult teams on a Sunday and providing opportunities for youth cricket to flourish. The club also fields a midweek 20/20 team, and a 7-a-side indoor team, known as the Shireoaks Snails. Shireoaks no longer use the cricket ground for home games. Woodsetts CC play 1st team fixtures at this picturesque venue.

Over the years the ground has been used for many minor county cricket matches involving the second team of Nottinghamshire, and has played host to 2 first class matches, these were;

• 5 July 1961 County Championship 1961 Nottinghamshire v Sussex

• 7 July 1979 West Indies Women in England 1979 3rd ODI England Women v West Indies Women

which is quite impressive for a village of this size where the local team used to only attract a few dozen spectators. Total list of matches played: [1]

The ground has recently been used as a training ground for the Worksop Town Football Club Academy.

Future

Since the closure of Shireoaks colliery in the early 1990s there have been many plans for its uses. So far the majority of there have not come to anything, the only one being the construction of a marina at the former location of the barge loading area adjacent to the Chesterfield Canal. The area remains mostly undeveloped, but more than likely will be used for housing in the future

Due to the number of housing developments in the village and the rapid expansion of the area of Gateford nearby Worksop, there is a concern that Shireoaks along with the neighbouring village of Rhodesia will soon become just a part of Worksop itself.

Trivia

The original mine shaft was sunk around 1860 but the memorial plate says 1854. It was abandoned on the 25th May 1991 and was capped in August 1992. The depth of the shaft was 483.5m and the shaft's diameter was 3.66m.

External links

Media related to Shireoaks at Wikimedia Commons