Meadowhead to Brincliffe Edge - Part 2

A detail of a house on Brincliffe Edge Road

On the first leg of the walk from Meadowhead to Brincliffe Edge, to determine its suitability for a Sheffield U3A Geology Group field trip, we discovered many points of interest that would take up most of the morning, with a lunch break at the north entrance of Graves Park at Woodseats. 

An old quarry on the Chesterfield Road

Between here and the old quarry now occupied by Homebase and Dunelm Mill, there is a built up area consisting mainly of brick built shops and we covered the distance of just over 1 km as quickly as possible. Stopping briefly, we considered the best viewing point, before walking down towards Norton Hammer, where there are some small outcrops of the Greenmoor Rock. 

Exposures of Greenmoor Rock on Chesterfield Road

Walking up the steep slope to Meersbrook Park, which I had previously thought was a potentially good place for the Group to have a midday break, we had our own late lunch while admiring the magnificent views over Sheffield, but decided that this was an unnecessary diversion. 

An unusual example of weathering at Heeley Retail Park

After visiting Heeley Retail Park, where an unusual example of weathering is exposed in an old quarry face, together with a spring line, we found a way under the railway line and discovered an interesting example of red gritty sandstone in the retaining wall. 

Reddened Millstone Grit on Little London Road

The commercial and industrial development is quite unsightly but the River Sheaf flows along the axis of a plunging syncline here – as seen by the different directions of the dip of the Greenmoor Rock along Chesterfield Road and the old quarry on Marden Road, the next stopping point. 

Marsden Road

The last leg of our journey entailed a walk up Brincliffe Edge Road, where there are many good examples of the Greenmoor Rock in boundary walls and the vernacular architecture, although the escarpment of Brincliffe Edge does not have any exposures of rock. 

Vernacular architecture at Brincliffe Edge

We finished our reconnaissance for the day by walking down Quarry Lane to Brincliffe Hill, an area where there were several large quarries produced Brincliffe Edge Rock, which was used extensively in Sheffield, for walling, paving, kerbs, road setts and monuments. 

An outcrop of Greenmoor Rock on Quarry Lane

The old quarries have been redeveloped for housing and the car park to the old Omega restaurant is no longer accessible, but glimpses of old quarry faces can still be seen. Walking down Psalter Lane to Ecclesall Road South, my colleague Paul caught the bus home at this point; however, continuing down Ecclesall Road towards Sheffield, there is a large old quarry face, which was once the site of a brickworks.

A detail of the old quarry face on Ecclesall Road