St. Stephen's Church in Netherthorpe

 

The next stop during my day out in Sheffield on the last weekend of May 20211, having looked at the principal features of the former Netherthorpe Board School, was the Grade II Listed St. Stephen’s church – built in 1857 to the design of the architects Flockton and Son.

 

A general view from the north-west

As with most Victorian churches, there is very little of archaeological interest in the fabric of the church, with only the new entrance on the north side and the extension to the south-east corner/boundary walling being built in stone that looks different to that used in the original fabric.

 

A view of the south elevation

The cruciform plan and crossing tower of this Gothic Revival style church, coupled with its construction on a steeply sloping site, adds to its architectural interest but I was more concerned with taking a general set of record photos for the British Listed Buildings website on this occasion.

 

A view of the west end

I didn’t look closely at the masonry, but I did note in places that the fine to medium grained walling stone has the grey to brown colour variation seen in formations such as the Silkstone Rock and Parkgate Rock, which did not have reputations for producing the best building stone but were readily available quite locally.

 

Window dressings and headstops on the north aisle

 

The massive uniformly buff coloured massive and medium grained gritty sandstone is consistent with Stoke Hall stone or others quarried from the Ashover Grit around Stanton Moor and Darley Dale in Derbyshire, but petrographic analysis or use of techniques such as X-Ray Fluorescence would be needed to determine its provenance – in the absence of documentary evidence.

 

A headstop carved in gritty sandstone

As with the earlier Christ Church in Burngreave and later, with the Burngreave Cemetery chapels, when practising as Flockton and Lee, I was most interested in the frequent use of carved headstops and have since wondered if this was a characteristic feature of William Flockton’s work.

 

A headstop carved in gritty sandstone

Apart from on Victorian churches and cemetery chapels, I have seen these quite often on houses of various sizes, where they probably would not be expected - including terraced houses - yet very little is known about the sculptors; however, the growth in this trade was such that the Master Carvers Association was formed to uphold the level of training and skills.

 

A war memorial in the churchyard