From the Rivelin Valley to Hillsborough

 

A bridge over the River Rivelin

After walking down the steep hill from Bolehills in Crookes to St. Michael’s Cemetery in Walkley, I had to revise my original plan to further explore this part of Sheffield. Although I had already seen several interesting historic buildings and obtained samples of Crawshaw Sandstone, I had only covered a distance of less than 3 km and still had plenty of energy to continue my walk. 

 

A weir near the site of Spooner's Wheel

Leaving the cemetery and going to have a quick look at the Rivelin Paddling Pools, which had been built in 2013 on the site of the New Dam, constructed in 1853 as a supplementary water supply to Spooner's Wheel - where scythes and cutlery were made – I contemplated following the Rivelin Valley Trail to Malin Bridge.

 

Hollins Bridge

 

Deciding to leave this to another time, when I would join the trail a few kilometres further upstream, I stopped briefly to photograph the Grade II Listed Hollins Bridge, which was built in the early C19, and carried on walking along the Rivelin Valley Road. 

 

The confluence at Malin Bridge

 

20 minutes later, I arrived at the confluence of the River Rivelin with the River Loxley at Malin Bridge, where much of the river bed is heavily stained by rusty red coloured iron oxides/hydroxides. Several mines in the vicinity produced coal, ganister and fireclay, which can often be a source of pollution but the only ochreous seepage that I have seen is in the bank of the River Loxley a couple of hundred metres upstream. 

 

A sculpture at Hillsborough Place Garden

Continuing down Holme Lane to Hillsborough, there isn’t a great deal to see but, arriving at Hillsborough Place Garden, I was interested to see a small sandstone sculpture that suddenly appeared on 7th May 2020, which commemorates the work of the NHS (National Health Service) during the COVID-19 Pandemic. 

 

Architectural details on Holme Lane

 

Next to this, I very surprised to see that a very ordinary two bay detached brick built house has an extremely elaborate doorway, with the columns and pilasters to the sandstone surround having capitals that are finely carved with floral details. 

 

The weir on the River Loxley at Hillsborough

 

Stopping briefly to admire the civil engineering work involved in the weir and two bridges either side of it, where large blocks of stone – probably the coarse Rivelin Grit (Chatsworth Grit) – have been used in their construction, I carried on up Walkley Lane to investigate the prominent Catholic church of the Sacred Heart. 

 

The Church of the Sacred Heart

 

Built in 1936 by C.M.E Hadfield, of the same family architectural practice that had built St. Michael’s Cemetery and St. Joseph’s church in Handsworth more than 50 years previously, its very austere construction in red brick reminds me of Battersea Power Station; however, the west door has some fine stone sculpture by Philip Lindsey Clark, who also undertook much of the carving at the church of St. Theresa in Manor. 

 

The tympanum at the Church of the Sacred Heart

The stone used for the tympanum and the column beneath it, which is carved into a figurative form, is not a sandstone but a Jurassic oolitic limestone. In the East Midlands and Yorkshire, Ancaster stone is the most common limestone seen in dressings, but Clipsham stone is occasionally found and - as at Crookes Cemetery - Bath stone has been brought all the way from the Monks Park mine in Wiltshire. 

 

A sculpture by Philip Lindsey Clark

Carrying on to Langsett Road, I ended my day at the Supertram stop in Hillsborough, where the unlisted Walkley and Hillsborough District Baths, built in 1926, is now home to the JD Wetherspoon Rawson Spring public house.

 

The former Walkley and Hillsborough District Baths