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| Silkstone Rock along the northern approach to Sheffield station |
Having obtained a decent sample of Silkstone Rock from the remaining exposure of the quarry face at the old Clay Wood Quarry, at the edge of the Cholera Monument Grounds, I thought that it would now be a good moment to describe my previous efforts to see the best example of this rock formation in Sheffield.
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| The line of the railway cutting from the Parkway to Sheffield station |
When approaching Sheffield railway station from the north, starting at the Sheffield Parkway, the train enters a vertical sided cutting that is perhaps 10 metres deep and approximately 650 metres long, which is lined partly with sandstone masonry retaining walls, but also has extensive exposures of Silkstone Rock along its length.
In places, the cutting is interrupted by short lengths of tunnel but, in several places along its length, it is crossed by various bridges; however, for safety reasons, these exposed sections are surrounded by high brick walls, which need a ladder to be able to see over.
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| A view along the Sheffield railway station cutting |
Nevertheless, being curious, on a couple of occasions when passing time before journeys on the train to Leeds, I discovered a couple of places where I could step up onto some kind of ledge or rail and take a few ‘blind’ photographs, without using the viewfinder on my camera.
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| Silkstone Rock in the Sheffield railway station cutting |
If I captured an area of the cutting, where the rock was exposed, it was more by luck than judgement, as I really didn't have much idea of what I was photographing and, sometimes, although I encountered a good exposure of sandstone, the part of the cutting was in deep shadow.
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| A view along the Sheffield railway station cutting |
Although the restricted number of points of access, with their limited views, prevented me form obtaining a good comprehensive record of the Silkstone Rock here, I was able to determine that is was a yellow/brown flaggy sandstone with cross-bedding.
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| Silkstone Rock in the Sheffield railway station cutting |
Having determined, by trial and error, the places where I could get a view of the bedrock and the best time of the day for them to be illuminated, I made a mental note to return at another time in the not too distant future, when I was in the area.
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| A view of the Sheffield railway station cutting |
With the arrival of the COVID-19 Pandemic in March 2020, just as the weather was improving, my subsquent visits to Sheffield were few and far between for essential shopping only. When finally returning to the site, after the best part of two years, I was very surprised to discover that parts of the best exposures were now substantially overgrown with vegetation.
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| Vegetation growth along the Sheffield railway station cutting |
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