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| A block of coal in the Evolution Garden |
For the November 2023 meeting of the Sheffield U3A Geology Group at the Sheffield General Cemetery, the plan for the afternoon was for me to lead the group from the Kenwood Hall Hotel through Nether Edge to Brincliffe Edge and then down Ecclesall Road to examine the Greenmoor Rock – here known as the Brincliffe Edge Rock – in quarry exposures and building stones.
Due to the cold weather, the day was cut short but, following the postponement of the April field trip to Alport Castles, which I had always considered to be badly thought out, I stepped forward to arrange a field trip that would include a walk around Nether Edge and an exploration of the Sheffield Botanical Gardens and Endcliffe Park.
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| A map of the Sheffield Botanical Gardens |
Since the COVID-19 Pandemic, while exploring the Sheffield Board Schools and undertaking many British Listed Buildings Photo Challenges, I had discovered several places in Sheffield where I could devise an ‘urban geology’ field trip for the group and the riven paving stones on Thompson Road – probably locally quarried Brincliffe Edge Rock - was a good start.
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| Paving on Thompson Road |
The Grade II Listed gatepiers at the entrance to Sheffield Botanical Gardens are built with a medium grained sandstone with a uniform colour and texture, which looks like the same stone used for the glasshouses. On my previous visit in November 2021, I had a good look at both of these and concluded that it is probably Stoke Hall stone from the Kinderscout Grit at Grindleford.
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| The gatepiers on Thompson Road |
The south lodge is built with another sandstone that is again quite different to those previously seen, but I can’t readily identify it. The nearest source of stone for general walling is the Brincliffe Edge Rock, which was produced by several quarries in the near vicinity, but the medium grain size and colour is not typical of this formation and it could be Crawshaw Sandstone.
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| The walling stone at the south lodge |
My next stop was the Evolution Garden, where the Lepidodendron stump and the large blocks of coal provide the geological highlights of the gardens, with no similar specimens now being seen in any other part of Sheffield - although a replica of the now buried stumps at Middlewood Hospital can be found at Wadsley Park Village.
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| The Lepidodendron and blocks of coal |
Post of the gardens are underlain by mudstones and the recent heavy rain had made it waterlogged and quite slippery in places. Taking care while crossing areas of muddy ground, I got back on to the footpath and made my way past several large blocks of massive, cross-bedded gritstone that was presumably obtained from the Chatsworth Grit in the Rivelin Valley.
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| The Rock and Water Garden |
Large blocks of gritstone and flagstones are also used extensively in the Rock and Water Garden, which was redesigned in 1926 by Clarence Elliott, the gardener and naturalist who was also responsible for Whinfell Quarry Garden.
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| The blue plaque for Robert Marnock |
Continuing to the north gateway, which is built with coarse grained Chatsworth Grit, which contains quartz pebbles the size of a little fingernail, I was interested to see the blue plaque for Robert Marnock, who was a consultant for Sheffield General Cemetery and designed the gardens in Weston Park and Kenwood Hall.
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| Various stones and rocks in the pavilions |
One of my previous visits to the Sheffield Botanical Gardens, which coincided with an Art in the Gardens event, I was interested to see that scattered amongst the various tropical plants and cacti, which were laid out in large Stoke Hall stone planters in the pavilions - following the restoration in 2003 – there are numerous large rock and mineral specimens, which include rough siltstone slabs, well rounded sandstone boulders and lumps of gypsum.
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| Rough siltstone slabs in the pavilions |
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