A Recce for the Nether Edge Festival

 

King's Centre

 

In December 2021, as part of one of my British Listed Buildings Photo Challenges in south-west Sheffield, I walked through Nether Edge from Machon Bank Road to Sheffield General Cemetery via Union Road and Cherry Tree Road. On the 12th, 13th and 17th February 2023, I finally got round to writing my Language Stone Blog posts that record my observations of the historic architecture and the building stones used in their construction. 

 

The route of my Photo Challenge for Nether Edge

 

Based on these and other posts that I had written about the old quarries at Brincliffe Edge and on Ecclesall Road and the Sheffield General Cemetery. I was approached by the Nether Edge History Group to ask if I could give a talk on this subject. Mainly because of the irregularity and unreliability of the buses that serve Treeton in the evening, this never happened but eventually I was asked to lead a walk as part of the 2024 Nether Edge Festival. 

 

A walk during the Nether Edge Festival

My intention was to start at the old quarry off Brincliffe Lane, formerly occupied by the Baldwin Omega restaurant, which has been redeveloped as Chelsea Heights and then finish at the Kenwood Hall Hotel. I had previously undertaken a recce for a Sheffield U3A Geology Group field trip, which didn’t happen, but I decided to spend an afternoon in Sheffield to follow on from my trip to Thorpe Hesley and Chapeltown the weekend before. 

 

The west elevation of Bluecoat House

Alighting from the No. 218 bus at the Psalter Lane/Brincliffe Gardens stop, I firstly went to see if I could see any of any of the old quarry faces in the back gardens of the houses on Bluecoat Rise, but these aren’t visible from the public rights of way. 

 

The north elevation of Bluecoat House

Having attended Christ’s Hospital school, I was nevertheless very interested to discover Bluecoat House (c.1912), a former Blue Coat charity school that was relocated from East Parade in the city centre, but which has since been converted into apartments. 

 

The Boys' Charity Shown on the 1923 Ordnance Survey map

 

Although I can barely make out the inscriptions, a couple of plaques on the north elevation record some of the history of this school - founded in 1710 - and its benefactors, which include the Duke of Norfolk and Joseph Banks of Scofton. 

 

Plaques removed from the Boys' Charity School on Eastgate Parade

 

On my previous recce, I had another good look at the principal buildings on this route, but on this occasion I wanted to have a look at some of the larger houses built on Chelsea Road during the second half of the C19, which I did not see at the time.

 

Coping stones used for the surround to a garden gate

Continuing along Psalter Lane, I crossed over the road to have a quick look at the surround to a garden gate, which is made of three large tooled coping stones surround, before heading up Brincliffe Hill to the entrance of Chelsea Heights. 

 

A remaining quarry face at Chelsea Heights

 

Making note of the space available to accommodate attendees of the walk, when looking at the Greenmoor Rock in the remains of the quarry face, I proceeded to Chelsea Rise and to the entrance of Quarry Head Lodge, which is built in another old quarry and this is commemorated with a sculpture of a plug and feathers. 

 

The plug and feathers sculpture

On a previous visit to Brincliffe Edge, I took a quick look at the old quarry faces here, which have been stabilised with rock bolts, but a geologist who has led geological walks during the Nether Edge Festival reported to me that residents of this private apartment block had not been happy with a group looking at the old quarry face. 

 

The area around Chelsea Road on the 1894 Ordance Survey map

Returning to Chelsea Road, the 1894 Ordnance Survey map shows that this part of Nether Edge still remained largely undeveloped, with Brinckliffe Tower being set in large grounds that have since been turned into Chelsea Park and a few houses set in large gardens. 

 

Later Victorian houses on Chelsea road

 

None of these houses are listed buildings, but these provide examples of the use of locally quarried Greenmoor Rock and Chris Venables, who had asked me to lead the walk and attended a field trip with the Sheffield U3A Geology Group Field trip, has considerable knowledge of these houses and the people who lived there. 

 

Glenholme on Union Road

I took photographs of the various listed and other interesting buildings that I had previously encountered on Union Road, but I cannot add more to the descriptions of these in previous Language of Stone Blog posts and for the second half of the walk, I looked for boundary walls and gatepiers along the footpaths where the differences in the sandstones used for these can be clearly seen from a safe place. 

 

Boundary walls and gatepiers

 

It had taken me just over an hour to complete my walk from Chelsea Heights to Kenwood Hall Hotel and, with the sun shining brightly, I walked to St. Andrew’s church on Psalter Lane, which had opened its doors on the first day of the 2024 Heritage Open Days (HOD) festival. 

 

St. Andrew's church on Psalter Lane

 

I had visited this church during the festival a few years earlier and spent only a few minutes looking at the interior, where I noted that Ancaster limestone has been used for the arcades instead of sandstone – a feature that I had only seen in Sheffield at St. John’s church in Ranmoor – before continuing down Psalter Lane to have another quick look at Sheffield General Cemetery. 

 

An Ancaster limestone column in St. Andrew's church

 

A Search for Ironstone in Chapeltown

  

The geology of the area around Chapeltown

 

Looking at old Ordnance Survey maps and the LIDAR map, several areas between Kimberworth and Tankersley show a large number of bell pits, which were dug to exploit both the coal and the economically viable ironstone seams that occur in the upper part of the Pennine Lower Coal Measures Formation (PLCMF).

 

The strata in the upper Pennine Lower Coal Measures Formation

 

The Claywood Ironstone and the Tankersley Ironstone, which are placed above the Silkstone Coal and Flockton Thin Coal respectively, were the principal horizons worked – as described on p.142 of the geological memoir for the Barnsley district – but the distribution of the bell pits show that some of the intervening ironstones were also worked.

 

The description of ironstone in the geological memoir

Although I have encountered bell pits at Bray Plantation, which worked the coal and ironstone beneath the Parkgate Rock, and also those that mined the Claywood Ironstone at Kimberworth, I have never seen any exposures of ironstone.

 

A selection of geological sites shown on the SAGT website

Following my brief exploration of the area around Thorpe Hesley, where my British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge was cut short due to my failure to access or locate the public footpaths during a walk from the A629 to Thorpe Hesley, I wanted to investigate the geological site listed as Hesley Park - one of several sites that I had seen on the Sheffield Area Geology Trust (SAGT) website and had visited during previous walks.

 

The Measures between Thorncliffe Thin and Parkgate Coals

 

Without giving any details in a very general account of the “Measures between Thorncliffe and Parkgate Coals”, the geological memoir does mention ironstone bands known as the White Mine and Yellow Mine, but SAGT refers only to “Strata above Thorncliffe Coal”.

 

The site of the Hesley Park geological site

 

Using a simplified online Ordnance Survey map, I entered the grid reference of the Hesley Park site and, once I had alighted from the No. 135 bus from Thorpe Hesley, I made my way up through Chapeltown Park to the old railway line that now forms the Blackburn Valley Trail and followed this to the small housing development at Coppice Rise.

 

An outcrop of an unnamed PMCFM massive sandstone

I had a walk around the area pinpointed by the grid reference provided, but all I could see were a few outcrops of what I had identified from the geological map as being the unnamed sandstone between the Silkstone Rock and the Parkgate Rock.

 

Fig.11 in the geological memoir for Barnsley

This comprises an upper layer of massive sandstone and a cross-bedded flaggy sandstone at a lower level, but there was no sign of the dark grey shales with nodules or the black platy shale with ironstone band, which have been recorded between this sandstone and the Thorncliffe Thin Coal in Fig. 11 on p.37 of the geological memoir

 

Specimen 1

 

With my Estwing hammer, I obtained 3 specimens form the lower outcrop, with the first of these being very fine grained with a light muddy brown colour. It has a thin layer of ironstone along the joint plane and iron staining extending approximately 1 cm into the body of the rock and contains several fragments of carbonized plant stem fossils.

 

Specimen 2

 

The second specimen has the same very fine grained texture and light muddy brown colour, but it is obvious thinly bedded and has three bedding planes exposed, with tiny flakes of muscovite mica visible. The third specimen has the same general colour and texture and has noticeable lamination, with it breaking into three pieces when carrying it home in my rucksack and the bedding planes also exhibiting muscovite.

 

Specimen 3

Listed Buildings in Thorpe Hesley

 

Thorpe Hesley war memorial

I have used downloaded 1:25,000 scale Ordnance Survey (OS) maps to plan a walk that involves crossing open countryside very many times but, except for the walk from Glen Howe Park to Spout House Hill - where I think that the signposts have been deliberately defaced – and on the recce of Ilkley Moor for the Sheffield U3A Geology field trip, I had not lost my way until my walk from the A629 to Thorpe Hesley. 

 

The west elevation of Holy Trinity church

Having been unable to photograph 4 of the 9 buildings on my British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge and the midday sun on the last day of August sapping my energy and my enthusiasm, I slowly made my way along Wentworth Road to the track that leads to the Grade II listed Holy Trinity church (1839), by J.P. Pritchett, in Thorpe Hesley. 

 

The south elevation of Holy Trinity church

 

I had seen some of his later work in Huddersfield – the Grade I listed Huddersfield railway station and the Grade II* listed Lion Buildings and St. Peter’s church – but this church, described by Historic England (HE) as in the Gothic Revival style with Early English windows, seems to be a hangover from the Georgian architectural style. 

 

Quarries shown on the Building Stones Database for England map explorer

As noted in my previous post, the 1854 OS map show various small quarries in the area, which worked unnamed sandstones from the Pennine Lower Coal Measures Formation that were presumably used for the vernacular architecture, with the Building Stones Database for England map explorer showing a quarry in Thorpe Hesley.

 

Weathered masonry and replaced blocks 

I didn’t spend much time examining the cross-bedded sandstone used for the walling, but it contains a considerable proportion of fine grained sediment that has been differentially weathered and several blocks have been replaced. 

 

A Rotherham Red sandstone door surround

 

Rotherham Red sandstone from the Mexborough Rock has been used for the door and window surrounds, but for the cappings to the buttresses, string courses, plinth band, window sills and for the ashlar to the spire, a massive light brown sandstone of unknown provenance has been used. 

 

The tower and spire

Outside the west side of the church is Thorpe Hesley war memorial (1920) which, according to a report in the Rotherham Advertiser, was made by Tyas and Guest of Swinton, who were also responsible for war memorials in Conisbrough, Mexborough, Laughton-en-le-Morthen, Wombwell, Thurnscoe and other places in the area. 

 

Thorpe Hesley war memorial

The last building on my Photo Challenge for Thorpe Hesley was the Grade II listed Nos. 67-71 Thorpe Street, which HE describes as “C16 core to left-hand part, extended and altered C18 and C19”, but the masonry has very little of interest and I just took a few general record photos before catching the hourlyly bus to Chapeltown. 

 

Nos. 67-71 Thorpe Street

A Walk From the A629 to Thorpe Hesley

 

A field of sunflowers

On my day out to Halifax and Huddersfield, I left Treeton at 8:30 am and arrived back home at 7:30 pm, with 6 ¾ hours of this time being spent in transit on 4 bus journeys and 2 train journeys. Although I would have liked to have spent more time in Halifax, I nonetheless had a very productive day and it took me nearly 6 weeks to write the 15 Language of Stone Blog posts that record my adventure.  

 

The British List Buildings Photo Challenge for Thorpe Hesley

A few days later, on the last day of August 2024, my next walk was undertaken much closer to home, around Thorpe Hesley, to undertake another British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge, before continuing to Chapeltown where I hoped to find exposures of the strata above the Thorncliffe Coal – as part of my continuing investigation of the Pennine Lower Coal Measures Formation (PLCMF) in South Yorkshire. 

 

Former farm buildings at Monks Smithy House

 

Alighting from the No. 135 bus at the Upper Wortley Road/Kirkstead Abbey Mews stop on the A629 road, the first building on my list was the Grade II listed Monks Smithy House, which Historic England (HE) dates as probably C16/C17 but with reused mediaeval masonry and round headed windows that may possibly be Norman, but which Heritage Gateway suggests are C16/C17. 

 

The farmhouse at Monks Smithy House

 

The house and associated farm buildings were previously known as Kirkstead Abbey Grange, which supposedly is a link to the Cistercian monks from Kirkstead Abbey in Lincolnshire, who were provided with a charter of 1161-1166 that allowed them to mine the ironstone and build forges. 

 

Nos. 41 and 43 Scholes Lane

 

I just took a few general photographs that show the sandstone fabric and the stone slate roofs, but didn’t have the opportunity to examine the stonework and continued with my walk. Being unable to get through the brambles that were blocking the public footpath to Grange Lane Farmhouse, I returned to Scholes Lane, where Nos. 41 and 43 (previously named Nether Fold) were the next buildings on my list to photograph. 

 

Converted farm buildings at Nos. 41 and 43 Scholes Lane

HE describe it has having have a late C15/early C16 timber framed core, with tree-ring analysis of timber from No. 43 dating it as c.1495, but later alterations were carried out and further additions are dated to the C19. The underlying bedrock is an unnamed PLCMF sandstone and the 1854 Ordnance Survey (OS) map shows quarries nearby, but I didn’t  look closely at the walling stone. 

 

Grassed over rock waste to the north of Nos. 41 and 43 Scholes Lane

Continuing along the footpath, I passed a grassed over pile of waste rock that first appears on the 1892 OS map and which the 1935 edition marks with an air shaft. Several air shafts are marked in the vicinity and the whole area was widely exploited for both coal and iron ore, with the sites of Scholes Colliery and Scholes Old Colliery being both less than 250 metres away. 

 

Old collieries shown on the 1892 OS map

My plan was to keep going along the footpath until I came across one of the two paths at right angles, which would take me to my next building to photograph in Scholes and then find another path that would take me to the bridge and cascade at Morley Pond in Wentworth Park. 

 

Another view of the grassed over rock waste

 

The footpath that I was following was not clearly defined and, after looking back at the waste tip to get my bearings and carrying on past a field of sunflowers, I did not see any signpost for the footpath marked as Little Lane and inadvertently continued along a minor path that diverges from the public footpath that I should have taken. 

 

A distant view of Hoober Stand

 

After crossing over another public footpath that would have taken me to Scholes, but which again I didn’t identify, the views of Hoober Stand and the spire of the new Holy Trinity church in Wentworth suggested that I was heading in the right general direction, but I soon discovered that I had arrived at Wentworth Road in Thorpe Hesley and not Scholes Lane. 

 

A view of the steeple of Holy Trinity church in Wentworth