Sheffield Cathedral - The Exterior

A general view of Sheffield Cathedral in March

My trip to Killamarsh to see St. Giles’ church didn’t take as long as I had envisaged and, after returning to Sheffield on the tram, I decided to have a look at Sheffield Cathedral - the parish church before it was raised to this rank when the Diocese of Sheffield was created in 1914. 

A general view of Sheffield Cathedral in July

The original C12 church, built by William de Lovetot, was rebuilt in the Perpendicular Gothic style from c.1430 but, apart from the tower and crocketed spire, the external fabric seen today is the product of several phases of rebuilding that took place during the C18 and C19, with further additions in the C20. 

The crocketed spire

With so little of the original fabric being retained, it hasn’t been a priority for exploration since starting my archaeological investigation of mediaeval churches in 2016. Its stonework is not entirely without merit and, having briefly visited it several times, I have found various points of interest for readers of this Language of Stone Blog. 

Views of a pair of grotesques on a gate post

Entering the churchyard from the south-east, a magnificent collection of grotesques adorn a set of four gateposts that were removed in the 1960’s and replaced during the Gateway Project. They always make me smile and I have photographed them several times in different lighting conditions, the last being to provide some inspiration for a ceramic project at the Art House - along with those that I have seen at All Saints church in Youlgrave.

A ceramic grotesque made at the Art House in Sheffield

The latest additions to the cathedral, completed in 1966, are built in a medium grained gritstone that has an extremely uniform buff colour, which is a characteristic of stone quarried from the Ashover Grit in Derbyshire - such as Stoke Hall, Stanton Moor and Darley Dale; however, the western part of the St. George’s Chapel uses stone that has a distinct light pink tinge, which is a probably a variation from within the same quarry. 

20th century additions to Sheffield Cathedral

The extensions added between 1936 and 1948 are again built of uniformly buff coloured medium grained sandstone, with its cross-bedding being exposed by differential weathering, which is not a feature of the 1960’s extension. Sometimes, the accumulation of dirt on sandstone after abrasive cleaning can generate a similar pattern but I have not yet examined the stonework in detail. 

Cross-bedding in the Rivelin Grit 

The Victorian and earlier elements of the fabric, at least to the east of the south transept, are built in the much coarser grained Rivelin Grit, which is seen in many of Sheffield’s older buildings and the Wicker Arch and associated railway viaduct. Geologically, this is the same as the gritstone that form Burbage Edge and Higger Tor, where the formation is better known by the more recent name of Chatsworth Grit. 

A detail of the Rivelin Grit

Sheffield Cathedral was also one of the stop off points on the field trip for the Sheffield U3A Geology Group, when investigating the building stones of Sheffield, when they had a good look at the Rivelin Grit and also the plinth to the statue of James Montgomery, which is made of grey granite from Cornwall/Devon. 

The statue of James Montgomery

A particularly interesting feature, which is tucked away at the rear of the cathedral, is a tomb slab made of alabaster. This was once inside the cathedral, but was taken outside in the 1960’s and, being exposed to the elements, and this rock form of the soluble mineral gypsum has been deeply weathered. Looking closely, the sides are incised with sharp furrows that have an appearance of a badlands landscape in miniature.

An alabaster tomb slab