History
Woods where the site of Wood Hall is located Traffic on the A1 was congested as I drove slowly to Darrington - a village south west of Leeds and about twenty five miles north of Sheffield. Then I was off the busy road and heading east along byways to the ancient village of Womersley. It was an area I had not walked in before - what I call virgin territory. Map study at home showed me that there had once been a moated medieval manor house called Wood Hall - a mile and a half north of Womersley. I planned to plod there along farm tracks and that's what happened. As half expected, the woods that have grown up on the manor house site have become almost impenetrable. Not many walkers go there and beyond it there are spoil heaps connected with former coal mining activity in the area with the addition of waste from remaining power stations. I had almost given up locating something of interest but then, through the perimeter fence, something caught my eye and I scrambled in. It was the arc...