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| A view across the Loxley Valley towards High Bradfield |
Following on from my trip to Gleadless and Beighton, to look at their Sheffield Board Schools, historic architecture and some geology, my next day out was to Stannington, a suburb to the north-west of Sheffield that I had never visited before.
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| The listed buildings in Stannington |
As had now become the pattern of most of my walks, I planned a route around the historic buildings on the British Listed Buildings that did not yet have a photograph, of which there were 11 in the near vicinity of the old village.
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| The geology of the area around Stannington |
Also, although I didn’t take my Estwing hammer with me on this occasion, knowing that Stannington is set on a ridge of high ground between the rivers Rivelin and Loxley, I was interested to know how both the local topography and building stone related to the underlying geology.
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| Stannington War Memorial |
Taking the No. 81 bus from Sheffield city centre, I alighted at the Uppergate Road/Church Street bus stop in Stannington and the first place on my list to photograph was Stannington War Memorial, a wheel-headed Latin cross on a tapering ashlar shaft, which is made with coarse grained Chatsworth Grit from the Rivelin Valley, with red Peterhead granite panels.
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| Peterhead granite panels on Stannington War Memorial |
On the opposite side of the road is a large horse trough, which is also made of coarse grained Chatsworth Grit and, like many other similar troughs that I have seen in the upland villages of Sheffield, it takes advantage of a natural spring formed at the boundary of the Crawshaw Sandstone and the underlying mudstone/siltstone.
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| A horse trough on Uppergate Road |
Continuing up Bankfield Lane, the later Victorian Rose and Crown public house was the first sandstone building that I encountered, with its masonry comprising moderately sized blocks for the rock faced walling, with massive sandstone dressings to the doors and windows.
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| The Rose and Crown public house |
The stone is quite dirty but the generally uniform light brown colour can still be determined and, although gentle iron staining can be seen in some of the blocks, there are no obvious Liesegang rings and, I have assumed that this is the local Crawshaw Sandstone, rather than the Rough Rock or Middle Band Rock.
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| The junction of Stannington Road and Spout Lane |
Continuing down Bankfield Lane, which approximately follows the line of a fault that separates the Middle Band Rock to the east and the Crawshaw Sandstone to the west, I crossed over to Spout Lane, where I tried to photograph Spout House before returning to Stannington Road and continuing east – a stretch of road that runs parallel to a distinct escarpment formed by the Crawshaw Sandstone.
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| The escarpment of Crawshaw Sandstone |
A short distance along the road is the Unitarian Underbank Chapel (1743), which is built with squared and coursed sandstone walling, with ashlar dressings made of a different sandstone and a stone slate roof. I didn't examine the stone closely, but my photos show that it has the same generally uniform light brown colour as the Rose and Crown and also has planar bedding, which has been highlighted by differential weathering.
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| The Underbank Chapel |
I took a few quick photos of the various elevations of the chapel that I could see, had a quick wander around the churchyard and found the Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone for Petty Officer H.G. Pond and stopped briefly to enjoy the panoramic view over the Loxley Valley to the north.
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| A panoramic view across the Loxley Valley |
At the time of my visit, the chapel had been opened by Reverend Maud Robinson, who allowed me to look around the interior but, seeing nothing of interest to this Language of Stone Blog, took a photo of the adjoining mid C18 Keeper's House and then crossed over the road to photograph the old school (1853).
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| The Keeper's House and the old school |
Having finished photographing the listed buildings in this part of Stannington, I made my way up the escarpment via the public footpath and, although the upper steep slopes are covered in heather and no outcrops can be seen, it is not difficult to imagine that the Crawshaw Sandstone could easily be exposed and quarried here – as at the former Riggs Quarry, which is marked on the 1855 Ordnance Survey map and, being only 500 metres further along the escarpment, probably supplied much of the stone for the Victorian buildings in the village.
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| A view west along the escarpment of Crawshaw Sandstone |
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