The Meersbrook Bank Board School

 

A view of the 1899 extension from Binfield Road

Continuing my investigation of the Sheffield Board Schools, having photographed the Heeley Board School, I quickly made my way through the back roads to Meersbrook Park and then to Binfield Road, where the former Meersbrook Bank Board School is set on a steep hill.

 

A view of the 1894 school

I had briefly visited the school a month earlier, after a further exploration of the geology and historic architecture in Graves Park and the Norton and Norton Lees schools but, having interrupted my walk to have a coffee with an attractive woman I was talking with in the park, I only took a few photos on that occasion.

 

A view of the 1894 school

 

The original single storey school was commissioned by the Norton School Board and opened in 1894, with a design by T.H. Wilson, who was also responsible for the very plain Norton School in 1875. In 1899, a much larger junior school was added by Joseph Newton, who later designed the Norton Lees Council School.

 

A detail of the 1894 school

Looking at the masonry, although quite dirty in places, the walling is constructed with thinly coursed blocks of well bedded, medium grained sandstone that is uniform in colour and without any significant iron banding or Liesegang rings.

 

The rear elevation of the 1894 school

I could see nothing to suggest that anything but the usual Crawshaw Sandstone has been used for the walling and, taking the snicket to Derbyshire Lane, the cleaner masonry on the rear elevation of the original block appears to support this view. Furthermore, it contrasts with the grey/brown sandstone used for the boundary walling, which looks like the local Greenmoor Rock.

 

A view of the 1899 extension from Derbyshire Lane

 

Moving round to the 1899 extension, I could see no obvious change in the pattern of the materials used; however, the Victorian Society book Building Schools for Sheffield states that it has local stone used for walling and “Dunford Bridge facings and Grenoside Sandstone dressings”.

 

The Binfield Road elevation of the 1899 extension

As with the author of the article on the Sheffield Area Geology Trust website, I assume that Dunford Bridge refers to the Huddersfield White Rock (equivalent to the Chatsworth Grit), which I have not knowingly seen; however, having seen the Grenoside Sandstone in a few places, including the village of Grenoside where it is distinctly yellow, I have to say that I couldn’t see anything resembling this in the school.

A general view of the 1899 extension