The Springfield Board School

 

A detail of the 1892 extension on Bolton Street

“How in the name of fortune the School Board have persuaded the ratepayers of Sheffield to tolerate their extravagance of spending £100,000 in the building of fourteen or fifteen schools as substantial as so many castles!” were the words of the Liberal MP, David Chadwick, when invited to open a Sheffield school in 1875.

 

A general view of Springfield Board School

The Darnall, Park, Grimesthorpe and Pye Bank board schools were also opened in 1875, but I wouldn't be surprised if Springfield Board School, the latest work by Innocent and Brown, prompted this comment – especially since it was also described as ‘without exception the most handsome block of buildings the board have erected’ and, at a cost of £24,000, only the Central Schools were more expensive than this.

 

A general view of Springfield Board School

 

The original building has a 35 metre frontage onto Cavendish Street and rises to three storeys, with gabled projecting wings at each end, with the eaves of the recessed central part being punctuated with dormer windows and a soaring bell tower at the south-east corner.

 

The Sheffield Board School heraldic device

Looking closely, there are many of the trademark Innocent and Brown details, including a gabled niche containing the Sheffield School Board heraldic device, with a head in profile on a background of crossed arrows, a cannon, a castle, an elephant, crossed scimitars and a date.

 

The north wing

On the north wing of the main building in particular, there are also several other of their English Domestic Gothic details, including recessed arches with herringbone stonework, trefoil window heads and winged grotesques on each end of the gable.

The Bolton Street extension of 1892

 

As with all the Sheffield Board Schools that were built not long after the 1870 Education Act, Springfield Board School was extended to accomodate Sheffield's rapidly growing population. A single storey building was firstly added on Bolton Street in 1892, with a further two storey addition to this in 1897 – doubling the number of places from 725 to 1490 in just over 20 years.

The Bolton Street extensions of 1892 (L) and 1897 (R)

 

Like the previous schools that I had seen, the materials used for each extension blended in seamlessly with the original building, although the very overcast conditions didn’t show the colour of the sandstone in the best possible light.

 

A detail of the 1897 extension

The overall physical characteristics of the walling stone, however, are consistent with the Crawshaw Sandstone that I had seen - well bedded medium grained sandstone of a uniform appearance, without pronounced iron staining or banding and laid out in thin courses.

 

The Sheffield School Board carved initials

The massive stone used for the dressings in the original school is probably Stoke Hall stone, as was specified for very many of the Sheffield Board Schools but, without any documentary evidence to back this up, I am just relying upon my experience as a geologist and building stone specialist. 

 

A general view of the rear elevation and schoolmaster's house