A Walk From Meersbrook to Lowfield

 

A detail of the main gable at Lowfield Board School

When taking photographs of the caretaker’s house at the former Norton Lees Council School, I noticed an interesting building at the top of Argyle Close, which wasn’t included on the British Listed Buildings website and so I went to investigate.

 

Views of the J.D. Cook and Beard Homes

I discovered that this was the J.D. Cook and Beard Homes, a terrace of almshouses built in 1934 for aged or infirm people, which was opened in 1935 by Mrs. Maria Beard - in memory of her brother J.D. Cook and her husband J.J. Beard.

 

A plaque at the J.D. Cook and Beard Homes

Continuing with my walk down to Meersbrook Park, while looking for the Grade II Listed drinking fountain - dated 1891 and erected by the Society of United Oddfellows in memory of William Westran – I must have appeared to have looked like I was lost and got chatting to a very attractive Asian woman, who had asked me if I needed directions.

 

The drinking fountain in Meersbrook Park

After taking a couple of photos, to mainly record the pink Peterhead granite columns, we went to get a cup of coffee and, although I passed the Meersbrook Bank Board School on the way, I decided to come back and take a closer look on another day.

 

Views of Meersbrook Bank Board School

Having had a good chat and made provisional arrangements to meet up again, I continued with my walk down the Chesterfield Road towards Heeley and stopped only to photograph two high level inscriptions on Meersbrook Buildings, one of which appeared to have been quite recently cleaned.

 

Inscriptions at Meersbrook Buildings

 

I carried on along the main road through this run down old industrial and commercial part of Sheffield for several hundred metres before arriving at Queens Road, where I stopped to take photos of a building that I had passed many times and had always thought must be an old bank.

 

The former Heeley branch of the Sheffield Savings Bank

 

When getting close enough, I could see that this was the Heeley branch of the former Sheffield Savings Bank, which was built in 1900 with fine ashlar, whose uniform buff colour suggests that it is one of the best quality sandstones from the Millstone Grit in West Yorkshire or Derbyshire.

 

A detail of the former Sheffield Savings Bank

I finished my walk by having a quick look at another Sheffield Board School on London Road, the Lowfield Board School, dated 1874, which was the 13th school that I had seen by the architect C.J. Innocent of the Sheffield based architectural practice Innocent and Brown.

 

The 1878 extension to the Sheffield Board School

Starting at the 1878 extension on Queens Road, although the overcast conditions did not show the stonework in the best light, the now familiar buff coloured Crawshaw Sandstone was immediately recognisable, with its distinctive planar bedding.

 

The bell turret

Although the school only has a single storey, it incorporates similar features to its two storey predecessors, such as the fish scale slate bell turret and shouldered windows. It also has an apse like projection on the London Road end of the north wing - similar to the one in Darnall.

 

The London Road elevation of the original school

One particularly attractive feature is the offset gable on the London Road elevation of the original block, containing the Sheffield School Board crest and many other architectural details that are considered to be trademarks of C.J. Innocent’s work - including the trefoil headed windows, set in a gable with a recessed arch and herringbone masonry. 

 

A detail of the gable on the London Road elevation