Grimesthorpe

 

The datestone at Grimesthorpe Board School

Arriving at Winco Road, having briefly explored the geology and archaeology on Wincobank Hill, I was consulting my map when a local resident with her dog seemed to sense my temporary loss of direction and asked if I needed help.

 

The memorial to William Batty

For the second time on my walk to date, I ended up deep in conversation and, when we had finally finished, I carried down Wincobank Lane where I came across a monument to William Batty in the form of a Peterhead Granite obelisk – a memorial left from the Methodist church burial ground that once existed here.

 

An outcrop of Parkgate Rock

At the bottom of the road, at the rear of an area of cleared buildings that is now used for parking, I encountered a substantial outcrop of steeply dipping sandstone, which I assume relates to the quarries that once used to operate here.

 

Interbedded sandstone and mudstone

 

The lowest beds are of quite massive sandstone, which are overlain by a bed of mudstone that passes up into another bed of sandstone, which appears to be much less competent. At the time, I just assumed it to be another example of the Silkstone Rock and didn’t think of collecting a specimen; however, I now realise that, when deviating from the path down Wincobank Hill, I had crossed onto the Parkgate Rock.

 

The Wesleyan Reform Church on Upwell Street

 

On Upwell Street, I stopped to take a few general record photos of the Wesleyan Reform Chapel, dated 1887, although I didn’t stop to take a good look at its stonework, which is highly blackened and doesn’t display its physical characteristics well.

 

The east elevation of Grimesthorpe Board School

 

Continuing along Grimesthorpe Road to Earl Marshall Road, I arrived at the Grade II Listed former Grimesthorpe Board School, dated 1875 - the twelfth commissioned by the Sheffield School Board and which had all been designed by the architects Innocent and Brown.

 

A general view of Grimesthorpe Board School

As was a characteristic feature of their work, they designed the building to make the most of the sloping site and here they devised a two storey building, with a basement, in the Gothic Revival style. This is considered to be one of their more striking designs, being French in character and more dramatic than their usual English Domestic Gothic designs.

 

The caretaker's house

The school originally had 757 places, to serve a village heavily involved in scissor making and grinding, but was later expanded slightly, with a caretaker’s house built in 1877 and minor alterations and extensions increasing the number of pupils to 820 by 1889.

 

A general view of Grimesthorpe Board School

 

Compared to their earlier schools at Carbrook, Walkley and Darnall, there is less architectural ornament, but there are still examples of their trademark details – including a soaring bellcote, herringbone stonework, trefoils and a datestone that includes the school board crest.

 

A detail on the east elevation of Grimesthorpe Board School

I didn’t have a close look at the stonework, although its uniform buff colour and texture would seem to suggest that Crawshaw Sandstone has been used again for the walling, voussoirs, string courses and other relatively small masonry sections. As for the dressings, massive sandstone seems to have been used only for the larger sections, which I assume to be the favoured Stoke Hall stone from Derbyshire.

 

The south elevation of Grimesthorpe Board School