An Exploration of Darnall Cemetery

 

The headstone of William Cheetham and family

My search for the 13 Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) headstones in Darnall Cemetery had taken just over 20 minutes but, as a geologist with specialist interests in building stone, I wanted to find other interesting headstones and monuments. 

 

The memorial to Samson Chambers

The memorial to Samson Chambers (d.1898) and his wife Eliza Smithurst (d.1913) is built with a pink Peterhead granite base, with the tapering pedestal, capital and urn using a dark grey granite that I presume to be a granite from Aberdeen or the nearby area, with the Rubislaw and Kemnay varieties immediately coming to mind. 

 

A detail of the memorial to Samson Chambers

Although these granites are are part of the Aberdeen and Kemnay plutons respectively, these are both derived from the East Grampian Batholith which formed c.475 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. Both are foliated and contain both biotite and muscovite. The geological memoirs for the areas where they occur, 76E/77W and 77, describe them as having a very similar texture, mineralogy and geochemistry. 

 

Views of the memorial to William Bolsover

The monument to William Bolsover (d.1890) is made with a similar granite, with pink Peterhead granite used for colonnettes. As seen in many Victorian banks, very often in conjunction with Peterhead granite. Rubislaw granite tends to have a much higher biotite content and is darker than Kemnay granite, which has a slightly pink tinge to its alkali felspar, and I think it has been used for both of these memorials. 

 

The headstone of Geoffrey Osbourne and his parents John and Marian

 

A lighter grey granite is used for the headstone of Geoffrey Osbourne (d.1958), which also commemorates his father John (d.1978) and mother Marian (d.1984). The rectangular phenocrysts of alkali feldspar are a characteristic of the granites that were once extensively quarried in Devon and Cornwall, which are largely underlain by the Cornubian Batholith. 

 

The headstone of Thomas Foster and his family

 

Gabbro, an igneous rock composed mainly of the minerals clinopyroxene and plagioclase feldspar, is used for the memorial to Thomas Foster (d.1907), his wife and very young children. Apart from the material used, which I haven’t seen very often in headstones of this age, I was very interested in the design of this headstone, with its broken segmental pediment and an urn/finial. 

 

The headstone of Frances and George Chapman

 

I am by no means an expert in cemetery monuments, but I thought that this was quite unusual and the headstone of Frances Chapman (d.1902) and her husband George (d.1907) is also surprisingly ornate and contrasts with the vast majority of the sandstone headstones in the cemetery. 

 

Sandstone headstones in Darnall Cemetery

 

When looking at the headstones in Wardsend Cemetery, Hugh Waterhouse informed me that he thought that the blank headstones, which are very probably from quarries in the Brincliffe Edge Rock around Brincliffe Edge, were supplied to memorial masons in the city, who inscribed and carved in relief as necessary, but Darnall Cemetery has several other headstones that to not have this standard design. 

 

The Parkes, Goddard and Hill headstones

Those of William Ernest Parkes, Beatrice Goddard and William Henry Hill, who all died in 1907, also have an unusual design and the decoration includes colonnettes with capitals, a pediment like feature and decoration with carved ivy leaves and other floriated details. 

 

Headstones with a clasped hands motif

 

The clasped hands motif, seen on the headstone of Harry Goddard, is a feature of the headstones of Elizabeth Stanford (d.1906) and her husband Fred (d.1925) and another where the front face of the stone has delaminated to remove the inscription. Forming a mirror image of each other, the design incorporates a depiction of tree trunks, which have had their branches sawn off, and have a dove holding a leaf in its beak on the top. 

 

The Ramsey and Speddings headstones

 

Carrara marble from Italy has been used for several headstones, including Annie Ramsey (d.1905) and Walter Ramsey (d.1923) and Jane (d.1927), Harold (d.1949) and Doris (d.1989) Speddings. These headstones have been made in the same style, with the Ramsey memorial being weathered to a much greater extent, with much of the detail of the ivy leaves having been lost.

 

A marble headstone that has lost its lead lettering

As with the CWGC headstones in the cemetery, where the Portland limestone has also lost much of its detail, the deep saccharoidal weathering and significant loss of the surface is probably the result of sulphurous pollution from the steelworks in the Lower Don Valley and another marble headstone has lost nearly all of its lead lettering. 

 

The headstone to members of the Nicholson family

Another example of the use of gabbro is seen in the headstone (1919) that commemorates several members of the Nicholson family. Finer grained gabbros are now imported from India and China, but before this South Africa was supplying coarser grained gabbro from the Bushveld Complex, although I don’t know when this was first used in Britain. 

 

The headstone of members of the North family

 

The last headstone that I noted is that of Samuel (d.1891) and Julia (d.1919) North, which I first thought was another use of gabbro but, looking more closely at this, I could see that it is predominantly composed of intergrown crystals of feldspar and that it is a variety of larvikite, which has a colour that I am not familiar with but could be Marina Pearl.

 

A detail of the North family headstone

War Graves in Darnall Cemetery

 

The regimental crest on the headstone of Private T. Sproson

A couple of days after my walk from Tinsley to Brightside, in the industrial east end of Sheffield, I took advantage of another fine April day to undertake a British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge in Darnall, which I had first visited 4 years earlier when exploring the Sheffield Board Schools and then when photographing the chapels and war memorial in Tinsley Park Cemetery. 

 

The Listed buildings in Darnall Ward

Of the 53 listed buildings in Darnall Ward, 47 of these had already been photographed – all but 3 by myself – and the last 6 were all structures relating to the steel industry that have very little interest to this Language of Stone Blog. I therefore compiled a list of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) headstones at Darnall Cemetery to start off my day. 

 

The CWGC headstones in Darnall Cemetery

 

Although one of the smaller cemeteries in Sheffield, with an area of approximately 2.2 hectares, it is not always easy to find the headstones - as I had discovered at St. Lawrence’s churchyard in Tinsley earlier in the week - and I managed to find a plot map that would help me to locate the 13 CWGC headstones that are recorded in this cemetery. 

 

The plot map of Darnall Cemetery

The only regiment on my list that I had not yet encountered was the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps, to which Private A. Smith was attached, but its crest is a simple maple leaf - as I had previously seen at St. Mary’s churchyard in Bolsterstone, on the headstone of Private P. Woodhead of the Canadian Infantry. 

 

The headstone of Private A. Smith

 

Looking closely at the Portland stone, the surface has weathered significantly and many of the details of the crest have lost their sharp profiles and parts of the inscription are now becoming illegible, which is probably attributable to the sulphurous atmospheric pollution that was generated by the numerous steelworks in the east end of Sheffield. 

 

A detail of the headstone of Private A. Smith

The Headstone Schedule for Private. A. Smith also includes those of Aircraftman F. Hemmings of the Royal Air Force, Private G. Roe of the Leicestershire Regiment, Corporal W. Ellis and Private T. Sproson of the Royal Army Service Corps. The headstones are all made of Portland stone, with that of the latter being a replacement, and the details of the crests and inscriptions of the others having deteriorated considerably. 

 

Various headstones made with Portland stone

 

Portland stone is also used for the headstone of Private J. Grayson of the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, which has again weathered with a loss of detail and, quite surprisingly, has a covering of lichen. The CWGC take great care to clean their headstones, with this undertaken both by employees and volunteers, and I can’t recall seeing a headstone in such a condition. 

 

Lichen on the headstone of Private J. Grayson

 

I next encountered the headstones of Private J. Macrae of the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and Private G. Stones of the York and Lancaster Regiment, which are clearly different to those described above. They immediately reminded me of the headstones of Private T. Sharp and Private E. Stickland in Handsworth New Cemetery, which I thought are made of Welsh slate. 

 

the headstone of Private J. Macrae

On both of the slate headstones in Darnall Cemetery, the stone had been broken to reveal very fine grained slate, but the headstone of Private G. Stones looks on my photos to be greenish in colour, with part of the broken surface having the same colouration - a characteristic usually associated with volcanic green slate.

 

The headstone of Private G. Stones

It certainly doesn’t look like the slate from the Borrowdale Volcanic Group, which I spent 6 weeks mapping as an undergraduate geologist and I tend to immediately recognise. I would have to take another look at this, but Welsh slate does often contain bands of volcanic ash – as I had seen on Neville Street in Leeds the year before. 

 

The headstone of Private L. Brown

 

The next headstone that I encountered, Private L. Brown of the York and Lancaster Regiment, is made of a granite that is not recorded on the Headstone Schedule, which also includes Gunner J.R. Willoughby of the Royal Garrison Artillery, Private T. Whiteley and Private F. Benson of the East Yorkshire Regiment and Private A. Glover of the York and Lancaster Regiment. 

 

Various headstones made of granite

Creetown, Inver and Rubislaw granites are recorded on the Headstone Schedules on a few of the headstones that I have encountered in various cemeteries in Sheffield and, corresponding with the CWGC, I have been informed that Glenaby and Vire Blanc granite from France have been used when the limited availability and cost of the Scottish granites became prohibitive; however, looking online, I have not found definitive examples of these French granites to enable me to identify them.

 

A detail of the headstone of Gunner J.R. Willoughby

 

Taking a closer look at the headstone of Gunner J.R. Willoughby, it looks like the Creetown granite that is recorded as having been used for Driver C.H. Eagers of the Royal Engineers at Crookes Cemetery and which I think has also been used in Handsworth New Cemetery. 

 

A detail of the headstone of Driver C.H. Eagers in Crookes Cemetery

As a geologist with specialist interests in building stones, I have seen many granites and have included some of those from the British Isles in the Triton Stone Library, which has since been transferred to Sheffield Hallam University.  I am not an expert in the identification of granites and I submitted a close up photo of the headstone of Private L. Brown to the British Geological Survey Asset Bank, but the results were not very helpful.

 

A detail of the granite used for the headstone of Private L. Brown

  

A Walk From Tinsley to Brightside

 

Glacial erratics at the former Papa's Fish and Chips on Attercliffe Common

 

After photographing St. Lawrence’s church and its lychgate in Tinsley, to start my British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge, and then finding the Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstones in the churchyard, I headed to Bawtry Road and came to a shopping parade where large rough blocks of iron rich sandstone have been used for landscaping. 

 

Sandstone blocks used for landscaping on Bawtry Road

 

From my general knowledge of the area and having completed a few Photo Challenges around the industrial east end of Sheffield, I knew that I wouldn’t find much subject matter that is of interest to this Language of Stone Blog. Nevertheless, I was just pleased to have a walk in the sunshine and learn something more about Sheffield’s industrial history. 

 

A boundary wall on Bawtry Road

A little further along Bawtry Road, a substantial boundary wall, which now fronts a mid C20 block of flats, is built with a sandstone that looks very similar to the sandstone used for the boundary wall of St. Lawrence’s churchyard, although it is quite well coursed and squared. 

 

The Tinsley Council School war memorial

 

Crossing over to have a quick look at the former Tinsley Meadows Primary School, which has now been moved to a much larger school in extensive grounds on the opposite side of Bawtry Road, I noticed an obelisk in a small green adjacent to it. Going to investigate this, an inscription shoes that it is a war memorial that commemorates pupils of Tinsley Council School who died in WWI. 

 

A detail of the war memorial

 

I didn’t look at it closely with my hand lens, but this massive uniformly buff coloured medium grained sandstone is probably from Derbyshire or West Yorkshire, where Stancliffe Darley Dale stone from the Corbar Grit and Bolton Woods stone from the Elland Flags respectively have often been used for war memorials. 

 

Tinsley Carnegie Library

 

Crossing over Siemens Close, I stopped to take a couple of photos of the former Tinsley Carnegie Library by the architects Holmes and Watson, which looks very neglected. It is not a listed building but the inscription above the entrance is carved with raised lettering on brick, which is quite unusual, and this building has now been registered on the South Yorkshire Local Heritage List.

 

Views of the Sheffield and Tinsley Canal

The next building on my list to photograph was Carbrook Hall, which is set back from Attercliffe Common, a busy road with very little of interest along it and I therefore decided to walk along the towpath of the Sheffield and Tinsley Canal, where I hoped that I might see a kingfisher. 

 

The Looping Boat

 

I had first walked along this section of the canal during the COVID-19 Pandemic in September 2020, not long after a walk along the Chesterfield Canal when I was very impressed by the set of locks, but the Looping Boat by Alex Chinneck had not been installed at the time. 

 

The Marble Players

Leaving the canal towpath by a footbridge that crosses the railway line, I continued along Lock House Road to Attercliffe Common and stopped to take a few more photos of the Marble Players by Vega Berjemo Castelnau, whose work can be seen elsewhere in Sheffield. 

 

Views of Carbrook Hall

 

Arriving at Carbrook Hall (c.1632), which was once owned by Sir John Bright who fought on the Parliamentarian side during the English Civil Wars, I had a quick walk around the exterior to take general record photos. I didn’t examine the stone used for the plinth or the mainly mullioned windows, but several quarries worked the Parkgate Rock along the north side of the Don Valley and it is quite possible that this has been used here. 

 

Sections of masonry restored in red sandstone

 

On the south end of the west elevation, however, I was very interested to see that a bright red sandstone has been used to restore mullions and transoms on some of the windows, as well as the string course above, which suggests that the original sandstone is reddened, but I can’t confirm this from my photos and I would have to take another look. 

 

Views of the Sheffield Forgemasters buildings on Attercliffe Common

 

Leaving Carbrook Hall, I took a few photographs of the building that contains the electric arc furnace at Sheffield Forgemasters, together with the tall buildings that filter dust and gas from the furnaces and form a landmark on the way from Sheffield to Rotherham. 

 

Glacial erratics outside the former Papa's Fish and Chips

 

Continuing along Attercliffe Common past the now closed Papa’s Fish and Chips, I was surprised to see that five large glacial erratics have been placed quite randomly on the grass and paving, without any associated formal landscaping or planting. 

 

An erratic with possible glacial striations

 

I didn’t closely examine them with my hand lens, but the largest erratic appears to be a gneiss, with three of the others possibly being quartzite, with what may be glacial striations. The other erratic has a distinctly green appearance, with the iron minerals within it developing a brown patina, which I think is from the Borrowdale Volcanic Group in Cumbria. 

 

An erratic from the Borrowdale Volcanic Group

 

Turning into Hawke Street, I continued past buildings owned by Forge Solutions Ltd. and stopped to take a photo of the Abyssinian Bridge over the River Don, where Staffordshire Blue bricks have been used for the walling and very coarse grained Chatsworth Grit - very probably from the Rivelin Valley - for the coping stones. 

 

A detail of Abyssinia Bridge

Arriving at Brightside Lane, there is another complex of Sheffield Forgemasters buildings, the River Don Works, which includes the Grade II listed Vickers Building, with the central offices (1906) by A.F. Watson for Vickers, Son & Co. with adjoining workshop ranges (1911) for Vickers, Son & Maxim/Vickers Ltd. In addition, the remaining early C20 wall incorporated into the later C20 works on the south side of Brightside Lane is also Grade II listed.

 

Views of the River Don Works on Brightside Lane

A passer by who used to work there informed me that the interior is lavishly decorated - highlighted by Historic England as marbles and terrazzo for the floors and stairs - but the only material that I noted when reading the blue plaque was the granitic stone to the main door surround, which I think might be a variety of larvikite. 

 

The blue plaque on the Vickers Building

 

After a walk of nearly 4 miles that had taken me 2½ hours, before catching the X3 bus back to Sheffield, I took a few photos of The Scorpion (2013) by Robin Widdowson and Sara Beavan, which was fabricated by apprentices at Sheffield Forgemasters.

 

The Scorpion