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| An outcrop of Greenmoor Rock in Cobnar Wood |
Following on from my brief exploration of St. Margaret’s church and the listed buildings in Swinton, I returned to Sheffield to continue my investigation of the Norton, Norton Lees and Meersbrook Sheffield Board Schools.
Starting at the south-west entrance to Graves Park at Meadowhead, however, I firstly wanted to investigate the escarpment of Greenmoor Rock on the east side of Cobnar Wood and then take a few photographs for the British Listed Buildings website near to the north entrance to the park.
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| The valley cut into the Greenmoor Rock in Cobnar Wood |
I last visited this part of Sheffield in 2019, when leading a field trip with the Sheffield U3A Geology Group, but when attending one of the meetings of the Friends of Graves Park, I had been told that there were some good exposures of the Greenmoor Rock here.
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| The valley in Cobnar Wood |
Following the path, which skirts the edge of the escarpment, there are fantastic views of the valley that has been carved through the Greenmoor Rock into the underlying mudstones and which is now occupied by Graves Park Beck.
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| Small outcrops of Greenmoor Rock |
I passed by several hollows that were once the site of quarries, but I didn’t deviate from the path on this occasion and only discovered a handful of very small outcrops alongside it, which most visitors to Graves Park probably wouldn’t even notice.
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| An outcrop of highly laminated Greenmoor Rock |
The Greenmoor Rock, or the Brincliffe Edge Rock in Sheffield, is best known for its dense, flaggy sandstones that were once prized for the very high quality of its paving, gravestones and road setts; however, the mudstones occurring beneath the sandstone were equally prized and were used to make bricks in several places along its outcrop in Sheffield.
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| Samples of Greenmoor Rock |
Leaving the escarpment of Greenmoor Rock, I then continued up on to the area around the playing fields, where I stopped to take a look at the landscape formed by the overlying Grenoside Sandstone, before encountering the outbuildings at the Grade II Listed Bolehill Farmhouse.
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| A panoramic view of the Grenoside sandstone forming the skyline |
Although the Greenmoor Rock doesn’t provide stone that is suitable for large quoins, it has been used for basic walling stone wherever it outcrops and the barn adjacent to the path provides a good example of its use for this purpose.
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| A barn at Bolehill Farmhouse |
Moving on to the early C18 farmhouse itself, better quality and slightly more massive stone has been used for the walling and, although the individual stones have not been shaped, more regular courses have been achieved.
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| Bolehill Farmhouse |
All the buildings at Bolehill Farmhouse also have their original stone tile roofs, for which the thinly bedded Greenmoor Rock is also very suitable and, just outside the park on Cobnar Road, the Poplars – dated 1670 – is built in similar materials, with thicker beds used for heads and cills.
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| The Poplars |
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