Spouthouse Lane
Spouthouse Lane has its name from either a small cottage that's situated by a spring-fed trough or from the trough itself. It was once rustically picturesque, the trough consisting of two rectangular stone cisterns, a smaller one atop the larger one (one for human consumption, one for beasts, I suppose), the topmost cistern fed through a large diameter cast iron pipe from the hillside. So pleasant and rustic an aspect did it provide that someone (presumably the Local Authority) decided to make it into a 'feature'. So badly has this been done that its immediate surroundings now totally desecrate its previous charm. And, since somebody tried to steal the troughs, they are now bound to the ground by deeply unlovely metal brackets. The aforesaid nearby cottage, once delightful, is now an eyesore too, surrounded by a modern, ten-foot-high wall which is lined with parked cars. Ah, it was all so pretty when the elderly Misses Richmond lived in the house. Bromley even had a blacksmith until right at the end of the 20th Century.
This is a view west from Spouthouse Lane, on the way from Howbrook to Bromley. For as far back as I can remember the byway was known as Spoutwell Lane, but I suppose maps don't lie and the locals must have had faulty memories. It's probably obvious, but these black bundles are poly-wrapped hay. When I was a kid, hay bales were rectangular and bound with twine but they gave way to cylindrical rolls, first, and then the rolls ended up wrapped. The hay keeps its nutrients better that way. The following are more views on the way from Howbrook to Bromley.
Part of Roaming South Yorkshire.