Outcrops of Red Sandstone in Clifton

 

An outcrop of red sandstone on the west side of Common Lane

After spending not long over an hour walking around the village of Clifton, to have a good look at the building stones that have been used in its historic architecture, I returned to Common Lane and set off down the hill on my way to Conisbrough. 

 

Red sandstone on the west side of Common Lane

Just before I left the village, with the high boundary wall of the former Beech House Farm to my right, I was very interested to see a small outcrop of red sandstone projecting from the base of the garden wall on the opposite side of the road. 

 

An outcrop of sandstone on the east side of Common Lane

 

Also, another small section of sandstone forms the foundations of a low retaining wall on the east side of Common Lane, a part of which has been covered with concrete to presumably fill a void and provide some structural stability to the wall.

 

Flaggy sandstone

To the north of this band of concrete the upper part of the section is seen to comprise very thinly bedded flaggy sandstone and, although I didn’t have my Estwing hammer with me, I managed to pull a loose piece of this from the outcrop with my hands. 

 

A piece of flaggy sandstone

 

Although the section is being encroached upon by ivy and is likely to be completely overgrown in the not too distant future, just beyond the flaggy sandstone it was still possible to see that this is underlain by a more massive sandstone, which displays cross-bedding. 

 

Massive cross-bedded sandstone

Lying between the retaining wall and the boundary wall to the former Beech Hall Farm, pieces of the sandstone had been left in a small pile and I took one of these. The specimens that I collected are both fine grained and the red/purplish colour is consistent with the blocks that I had seen scattered amongst the dolomitic limestone walls throughout the village. 

 

A  specimen of red sandstone

 

Looking at the geological map of the area, these small outcrops form part of an unnamed Pennine Upper Coal Measures Formation (PUCMF) sandstone that crosses Common Lane and which is displaced by a NNE/SSE trending fault. 

 

The geological map showing PUCMF sandstones near Clifton

When I first visited St. Peter’s church in Old Edlington, I looked at the old Ordnance Survey maps and found a few quarries in the area that were located on the Cadeby Formation, but I could not see any quarries on the unnamed PUCMF sandstones that form small outcrops in the area.

A vertical section of the sandstones above the PUCMF Ravenfield Rock

Page 93 of the geological memoir for the Barnsley district refers to red beds that have been seen in PUCMF sandstones in the area around Micklebring, Clifton and Crookhill Park, without providing any precise details of their locations.

 

A brief description of red beds in the geological memoir

Looking at the LIDAR map, the area around Crookhill Park and Old Edlington show obvious signs of quarrying, which coincide with the position of quarries marked on the OS maps. They are found very near to the unconformity between Carboniferous and Permian strata and the OS map marks them as limestone quarries. 

 

Crookhill Park on the LIDAR map

To the west of St. Peter’s church in Old Edlington, an unnamed PUCMF sandstones appears to immediately underlie the Cadeby Formation. Given that Clifton’s historic buildings contain a small proportion of red sandstone, it is possible that the Edlington quarry cut down into the underlying red sandstone, which may then have been used with limestone in the immediate area.

A LIDAR map view of the Edlington quarry

  

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.

 

A specimen of sandstone from the wall on Back 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