The Building Stones of Clifton - Part 3

A blocked doorway on Church Lane

Retuning to the west end of Church Lane, to continue my investigation of the building stones of Clifton, the sandstone used for the surround to the blocked doorway of an agricultural building that has been converted into residential use, as part of the adjoining cottage. 

 

The Clifton tithe map (1838-1840)

The Clifton tithe map (1838-1840) on the Braithwell, Micklebring and Clifton History and Heritage website, plot 55 is described as “Homestead, Orchard” and also Nos. 54 and 55 as “two Cottages on the same plot. Freehold”.

 

A blocked doorway on Church Lane

The lintel, jambs and associated masonry to this entrance are made of a massive grey sandstone, which in parts has deep red colouration that I had seen in boundary walls and the walling to houses and farm buildings on Common Lane. 

 

A detail of the blocked doorway on Church Lane

The doorway has been blocked up with this deep red sandstone and, looking closer, the lower part of the infill masonry includes a large block of dolomitic limestone from the Cadeby Formation similar to the walling, and a large block of pink pisolitic and shelly limestone.

 

A detail of a block of pink pisolitic and shelly limestone

 

Continuing along Church Lane, I had a quick walk around the exterior of Clifton Mission (1895), which, except for a few blocks of red/brown sandstone in the porch, is built with a very finely laminated sandstone that has a dull lilac colour. 

 

Views of the Clifton Mission

 

A high proportion of the masonry has differentially weathered and, in many places, this has developed deep cavernous decay. I had encountered many examples of this kind of weathering in massive unnamed Pennine Coal Measures Formation sandstones in South Yorkshire, but I had not seen a texture like this before. 

 

Differential weathering and cavernous decay at Clifton Mission

In many places, pieces of the rock-faced sandstone have become detached from the surface and I collected a few specimens and, using my hand lens, I can see that it is very fine grained and has specks of white muscovite mica visible on the bedding planes. 

 

Fragments of sandstone from Clifton Mission

 

Earlier in the month, a member of CRAG (Conisbrough Research and Archaeology Group) told me about the use of red sandstone in Clifton and, during subsequent correspondence, I was later told that there was documentation that recorded the use of Rotherham Red sandstone from Ulley and this is mentioned in the entry for Clifton Mission on A Church Near You website. 

 

Rotherham Red/Lilac Blue sandstone in the BRE report

The stone quarried at Ulley is described in the BRE report, The building sandstones of the British Isles, as Rotherham Red/Lilac Blue, with the latter presumably reflecting the reduced state of the iron in a freshly obtained block of stone. 

 

Rotherham Red/Lilac Blue sandstone used in Clifton Park

 

I have seen Rotherham Red sandstone in very many historic buildings and I know that it has considerable colour variation, but I have only seen the Lilac Blue variety where used in the play area during the regeneration of Clifton Park in 2008. 

 

Boundary walls to the former orchard on Back Lane

 

Leaving Clifton Mission, I continued along Church Lane to Back Lane, which runs parallel to Common Lane and forms part of the mediaeval street plan, as I had seen at Hooton Pagnell and Palterton. A high wall at right angles to the road appears to be part of buildings marked on old OS maps that, along with the wall heightened with brick, are boundary walls to a plot that is listed on the 1838-1840 tithe map as an orchard. 

 

A boundary wall to the former orchard

 

Some of the dolomitic limestone used for the wall on Back Lane is thinly bedded and very fine grained, with an appearance that is more like the Brotherton Formation than the pisolitic, oolitic and shelly varieties of the Cadeby Formation that I had seen on my walk around the village. 

 

Red sandstone in the boundary wall on Back Lane

 

Although the Brotherton Formation does outcrop beyond Old Edlington, I can’t see that this would be brought to Clifton when there were a few quarries on the Cadeby Formation in the area. As with most of the walls in the village, these incorporate a few blocks of red sandstone, some of which are quite bright red in colour. 

 

A detail of the red sandstone used in the boundary wall on Back Lane

 

I broke of a small piece with my fingers and, when later examining this and a few fragments of the blocked doorway on Church Lane with my hand lens, I could see that it is medium grained and that the quartz grains are both clear and have a coating of iron oxide.

 

Samples of red sandstone from Back Lane and Church Lane

 

The Building Stones of Clifton - Part 2

 

Moulds of brachiopod shells in an oolitic variety of the Cadeby Formation

Continuing down Common Lane, having seen that the building stones of Clifton are essentially dolomitic limestone from the Cadeby Formation, with a significant amount of dark red Coal Measures sandstone, I was interested to see that the quoins and window dressings to Manor House are made of another Coal Measures sandstone.

Manor House

 

The house is set back from the road and I couldn’t get a close look at it but, when enlarging my photos, I can see that it is grey/brown in colour with some Liesegang rings and doesn’t appear to have been very durable. It also looks quite similar to the sandstone used for the entrance to the Manor House, but I don’t know where it might have come from.

The Building Stones of England Database map explorer

 

The Building Stones of England Database map explorer shows clusters of quarries at Wickersley and Thrybergh, which worked the Wickersley Rock and others located on the Mexborough Rock in Mexborough, with the nearest working the Ravenfield Rock near Ravenfield.

 

Pisolitic limestone

 

Walking down Common Lane towards Chapel Lane, I stopped a couple of times to look at the variety of textures seen in the limestone used for the boundary walls. These includes coarse grained pisolitic limestone, similar to the one that is formed near to the base of this formation in Hooton Pagnell, a finer grained limestone that has cavernous decay and a very fine grained variety that I normally associate with the Brotherton Formation.

 

Fine grained limestone and cavernous decay

 

On the corner of Common Lane and Church Lane, Church House is another example of a building appears on the 1854 Ordnance Survey (OS) map, which contributes to the character of Clifton Conservation Area and in other locations would have probably have merited Grade II listing at least for its group value.

 

Church House

 

Further down Common Lane, I was intrigued by Holly House, which has walling composed of approximately equal proportions of dolomitic limestone and red sandstone and unusual brickwork to the window heads and between the ground floor and first floor windows.

Views of Holly House

Except for Manor House, the houses along Common Lane all have limestone lintels above the doors and windows and I can’t imagine that the brickwork, if original, was designed to be seen. On the upper storey, the red sandstone appears to be covered in fragments of what appears to be the remains of a lime render that may have been stripped off, with very crude and inappropriate Portland cement ribbon pointing applied to the roughly squared stonework.

 

 A detail of the masonry of Holly House

Walking further down the hill, I took a few general record photos of the various buildings and boundary walls on its east side, where both limestone and red sandstone are used in varying proportions, before stopping at the entrance to Hall Farm.

 

Buildings and boundary walls on the east side of Common Lane

 

Looking at the side by side version of the 1854 OS map, Hall Farm appears to be a modern building and the boundary walls to either side of its entrance look like they may have been rebuilt using material from demolished buildings.

 

 

Retracing my steps, I stopped briefly to have a closer look at the various sections of walling that I had just passed. The red sandstone varies from a deep oxblood to bright red and the limestone from cream to yellow, with the development of a grey patina. The limestone also shows a considerable variation in texture, with both pisolite and oolite and moulds of brachiopod shells where the calcium carbonate has dissolved.

 

Details of boundary walls on Common Lane

The Building Stones of Clifton - Part 1

 

Dolomitic limestone and red sandstone used in a farm building on Common Lane

When I first visited St. Peter’s church in Old Edlington in July 2023, I was very intrigued to discover that the fabric contained blocks of red/brown sandstone, which I thought was very unusual when the vast majority of the stone used in the fabric is dolomitic limestone from the Cadeby Formation. 

 

St. Peter's church in Old Edlington

Although I have seen a few sites immediately below the Carboniferous-Permian unconformity, where Pennine Upper Coal Measures Formation sandstones have been partly reddened, except for Rotherham Red sandstone, I had never encountered uniformly reddened sandstone in any outcrops until I came across those on Holmes Lane in Hooton Roberts, when I first visited St. John’s church in 2016. 

 

Views of outcrops of red sandstone on Holmes Lane in Hooton Roberts

I didn’t think about this again until I visited St. Helen’s church in Burghwallis during Church Explorers Week in 2024, when I noted that red sandstone has also been used in the fabric, which here comprises dolomitic limestone from the Brotherton Formation for the walling and from the Cadeby Formation for the dressings. 

 

The geology around Hooton Roberts, Clifton and Old Edlington

 

At the end of my walk around The Crags in Conisbrough at the beginning of March 2025, I met various members of CRAG (Conisbrough Research and Archaeology Group) at Conisbrough Library who were cataloguing finds from the Firsby mediaeval pottery production site. I mentioned that I was interested in the red sandstone at St. Peter’s church and was told by a Clifton resident that red sandstone is seen in many historic buildings in the village. 

 

A boundary wall on the corner of Beacon Lane and Common Lane

I had once passed through Clifton when undertaking the survey of potential RIGS (Regionally Important Geological Sites) back in 1997, so I decided to combine a visit with my attendance of the Save Our Greenbelt event in Braithwell. Arriving at the south end of the village after walking from Micklebring, I immediately noted red sandstone in the boundary wall on the corner of Beacon Lane and Common Lane, which is mainly built with dolomitic limestone. 

 

A sheep wash on Beacon Lane

 

Continuing along Beacon Lane, a sheep wash that first appears on the 1929 Ordnance Survey (OS) map appears to have been built on the boundary wall to a large field on its south side. The wall also looks like it has been partly rebuilt with a buff/yellowish coloured limestone and blocks of red sandstone are incorporated into the whole structure. 

 

A detail of the walling stone used to build the sheep wash

 

Looking closely at the limestone used for the walling, some of it is very coarse grained, open textured with voids and, looking more closely, is largely composed of brachiopod shells. I had seen similar shelly beds at North Cliff Quarry, where the limestone is laid down as massive  horizontal beds and is overlain by a bryozoan reef. 

 

A detail of coarse grained and shelly dolomitic limestone

 

After taking note of the variations in colour, texture and porosity of the walling stone, I then made my back along Beacon Lane, where a small outcrop of limestone forms the foundations of a section of the boundary wall on the north side of the road. 

 

Limestone forming the foundation to a boundary wall on Beacon Lane

 

A full appraisal of Clifton Conservation Area has not been undertaken, but the summary describes it as an agricultural settlement, based on farms and homesteads and that the village was part of the mediaeval Manor of Conisbrough. 

 

Clifton on the 1854 OS map

 

The form of the village, as seen on the 1854 OS map, remained essentially unchanged until to the mid C20, with the name Back Lane suggesting that it has retained its old street plan. Within this street layout, several buildings have been demolished with subsequent infill development and many houses have been built to the east of Back Lane, but virtually the entire village is included in the Clifton Conservation Area. 

The Clifton Conservation Area

As also seen along the principal streets in Hooton Pagnell and Palterton on the Magnesian Limestone escarpment, various farm buildings and a farmhouse occupy the west side of Common Lane, with the old OS maps showing the Manor House sited on the opposite side of the road. 

 

The farm and farmhouse on Common Lane

 

A high wall forms the western boundary to the grounds of the now demolished Manor House, with an archway presumably being its entrance but, except for the Braithwell, Micklebring and Clifton History and Heritage website, I haven't much information about historic architecture in the village. The quoins and voussoirs to the arch are made of a soft light brown Coal Measures sandstone, which is deeply weathered and has developed severe cavernous decay.

 

The presumed entrance to the Manor House

 

Before my day out to Braithwell, Micklebring and Clifton, I added a local post code into the British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge, which gave no results for Clifton. As I wandered along Common Lane, I found this very surprising as I thought that several buildings would be Grade II listed for group value, if not for their individual architectural merit.

 

A house on Common Lane

Although cream to yellowish dolomitic limestone is used for the vast bulk of the masonry in the boundary walls and those of the houses, uniformly dark red sandstone blocks are scattered amongst the limestone in all of these.

 

Dolomitic limestone and red sandstone used in a farm building

 

Looking at the old farm buildings on the west side of Common Lane, a couple of these have had later building work done, including the changes to the pitch of the roof, and the stone used for these alterations is again dark red sandstone.

 

Dolomitic limestone and red sandstone used in a farm building

 

When I first saw the sandstone at the C12 St. Peter's church in Old Brampton, I originally thought that it must have been recycled from an older building - as has been proposed for the Anglo-Saxon churches at Laughton-en-le-Morthen and Burghwallis, using Rotherham Red sandstone from the Roman fort at Templeborough in Rortherham; however, with dolomitic limestone being readily available nearby, I can't see why anyone would bring red sandstone from afar and this suggests that this was once quarried locally.

 

Dolomitic limestone and red sandstone used in a converted farm building

 

A Walk From Micklebring to Clifton

 

A view of Beacon Hill in Clifton from Micklebring

After spending a couple of hours at the Save Our Green Belt Coffee Morning, talking with various people potentially affected by the Whitestone 1 Solar Farm at Conisbrough Parks, my friends Lindsey and Pete gave me a lift to Micklebring where they showed me the Millennium Viewpoint, which has a toposcope that show places of interest in the landscape. 

 

The Millennium Viewpoint

 

Set on the Magnesian Limestone escarpment, although it does not provide a good view of the western part of Conisbrough Parks to the north of the M18 motorway, where the bulk of the 327 hectare solar farm is proposed, the prominent local landmark of Beacon Hill and its television masts can be clearly seen. 

 

A panoramic view from the Millennium Viewpoint

I was interested to see a dry valley a short distance to the north, which formed the head of The Brook, a stream that flows northwards across Conisbrough Parks and joins Kearnsley Brook, which is joined by Den Brook and then culverted under Sheffield Road and Low Road, before flowing down to the River Don. 

 

A dry valley marking the head of The Brook

 

The area known as Five Lane Ends in Conisbrough is in a medium risk flood zone, which residents fear will be exacerbated by runoff from the solar panels and, looking at the topographic map of the area, the drainage pattern of the above mentioned brooks is well established. 

 

The topography of Conisbrough Parks

 

Conisbrough Parks is essentially underlain by impermeable mudstones of the Pennine Upper Coal Measures Formation above the Ravenfield Rock and a Google search with the question “do industrial scale solar farms cause drainage problems where underlain by impermeable rocks?” suggests that residents’ concerns may be justified – although a hydrologist experienced in such matters needs to be consulted.

 

The geology of the area around Conisbrough Parks

 

Leaving Lindsey and Pete to get on with the rest of the day, I walked up Greaves Sike Lane and, from a higher elevation, I had a better view of the agricultural land below the Magnesian Limestone escarpment at Clifton, which would be covered by solar panels to a point that is only just over 500 metres to the west of the village. 

 

A panoramic view from Greaves Sike Lane

Continuing to the Grade II Listed C17 Manor House, which I photographed for the British Listed Buildings website, I was about to take the public footpath to Clifton when I bumped into a couple who was coming the other way. 

 

The Manor House

 

During a long impromptu conversation about Conisbrough Parks and the proposed solar farm, like most people that I had spoken to, we agreed that brownfield sites and roofs on industrial buildings and warehouses would be much more appropriate than building them on unspoiled farmland. 

 

The Ordnance Survey map of Micklebring and Clifton

Passing under the motorway, I had panoramic views of the productive arable fields that stretch from the limestone escarpment westwards as far as the eye can see. I found it quite incredible that anyone would think that it is a good idea to cover this land with solar panels that are said to be as high as a double decker bus. 

 

A panoramic view to the north from the path to Clifton

 

Continuing along the public footpath, I looked back to the south-west to take in the panoramic views of the escarpment at Micklebring that I just left and those to the west. The Whitestone proposals have since been strongly objected to by every MP in South Yorkshire whose constituents might be affected - except for Ed Miliband with his Net Zero policy - for the proposed scale, loss of amenity and wildlife value and negligible benefits to the local communities. 

 

A panoramic view to the south-west and west  from the path to Clifton

 

Earlier in the day at the Ruddle Centre, I had seen a display of the remains of a Romano-British villa that had been discovered at Conisbrough Park Farm, which received Scheduled Monument status later on in the year. It makes me wonder how many more archaeological finds are still to be made, to add to those currently marked on the Heritage Gateway map. 

 

Archaeological features and finds shown on the Heritage Gateway map

Ascending the Magnesian Limestone escarpment, I walked along the footpath towards the centre of Clifton village, which runs along the side of a ploughed field and, as I had seen during very many walks where the underlying bedrock is the Permian Cadeby Formation, Mid-Pleistocene glaciofluvial pebbles are scattered in the soil. 

 

Glaciofluvial pebbles

 

Before going to have a look at the historic architecture in Clifton, which during a visit to The Crags at the beginning of the month I had been told contains a lot of reddened sandstone, I took in the panoramic views of the landscape, which are as good as any I have seen along the Magnesian Limestone escarpment in Doncaster and Rotherham.

 

A panoramic view from the escarpment at Clifton