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| A detail of Manor Farmhouse |
Arriving in Brampton-en-le-Morthen on the public footpath from Thurcroft, I made my way along Toad Lane and soon encountered a boundary wall to a later C20 bungalow, which has distinct mottled yellow to deep red colouration – a characteristic that seems to be common in the building stones from the Pennine Upper Coal Measures Formation (PUCMF) in this part of Rotherham.
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| A boundary wall on Toad Lane |
The masonry looks much older than the bungalow and is quite weathered, which suggests that it has been recycled from a demolished building but, without any kind of documentary evidence to support this, this is just speculation.
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| A detail of the boundary wall on Toad Lane |
A little further down the Toad Lane, the walling on the gable ends of the converted agricultural buildings is very different and my first thought was that this was another example of Rotherham Red sandstone, with its general plum colour and some yellow variations.
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| Converted farm buildings on Toad Lane |
I have seen so many examples of this reddened variety of the Mexborough Rock, including tits subtle colour variations, to make me feel confident to know it when I see it and, although the 1854 Ordnance Survey map marks Wood Quarry 500 metres to the north, the remains of the quarry faces that can be seen along the M18 motorway do not seem to have the same colour.
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| the 1854 Ordnance Survey map of Brampton-en-le-Morthen |
For simple agricultural buildings, given that the transport of stone adds significantly to its cost, it would probably be expected to use locally quarried stone for these; however, as the geological map for the area shows, the long established quarries at Whiston and a newer quarry at Ulley were only 4 km and 2 km away respectively and, furthermore, I have seen what I believe to be Rotherham Red sandstone used for outbuildings at Thurcroft Hall.
Making my way north along Brampton Road, the first building on my list to photograph for the British Listed Buildings website was the Grade II Listed early-mid C18 Brampton Grange, where the coursed and squared sandstone walling, which shows pink /red variation beneath the greyish patina, is dressed with Permian dolomitic limestone.
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| Brampton Grange |
Looking at the quality of the materials and the detailing, this Queen Anne style house at the northern edge of the Conservation Area was presumably designed by an architect and, although I didn’t examine the stonework closely, it is very likely that the stone was brought in from one of the established quarries in the area.
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| A house built in limestone on Brampton Road |
Walking back down Brampton Road, passing various cottages that are built of light brown/yellowish sandstone with some pink/red variation, the next building of any great interest that I encountered is not listed – probably due to the extensive changes that have been undertaken to its front elevation.
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| Details of various types of dolomitic limetone |
Having expect to see historic buildings that used sandstone for its walling, at least, I was surprised to see that that the walling comprises yellowish dolomitic limestone – usually associated with the underlying Yellow Sands Formation – for the lower part of the walling, with cream limestone in the upper part and with massive grey limestone used for the quoins and for the alterations beneath the first floor windows.
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| Various buildings on Brampton Road |
Next to this are the Old Hall Cottages, which have been converted from Brampton Hall, with the Rising Deer public house, Thackeray Farmhouse, a converted granary, the partly rendered Holme Farmhouse and Farm View Cottages all being encountered within a short distance.
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| A converted granary at Thackeray Farm |
With the sun frequently appearing and then disappearing behind the clouds, the apparent colour of the sandstone walling that I could see was changing all the time but, in general, it looked quite yellow. Also, even though some orange iron staining could be seen, distinct reddening wasn’t very obvious in any of these buildings, which date from the late C16 to the early C18.
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| Holme Farmhouse |
The Dalton Rock, which outcrops between Brampton and Thurcroft, is referred to very briefly by the geological memoir as “yellow, medium-grained sandstone with micaceous and carbonaceous partings and with plant debris”, which I noted at Great Bank Quarry in Rotherham, but I have not seen any record of quarrying of this formation in the area.
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| Town End Farmhouse |
Arriving back at Toad Lane, the stonework Town End Farmhouse (c1800) differs again from that seen along Brampton Road, with pink tones in the sandstone walling and large relatively grey coloured quoins that again could be dolomitic limestone, but I didn’t look closely at these.
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| The barns at Townend Farm and Manor Farm |
The barns at Townend Farm and the adjacent Manor Farm were too far away to get a good appreciation of the stonework but, as with most of the buildings that I had seen in Morthen, I think that it is very likely that Wood Quarry supplied the stone for these.
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| Manor Farmhouse and the attached Manor Cottages |
The last building on my list to photograph was Manor Farmhouse and the attached Manor Cottages, from the C16 and C17, which are a built in a mixture of very large blocks of iron banded sandstone, with some red stone and a central section with large blocks of dolomitic limestone.
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| Large blocks of dolomitic limestone at Manor Farm Cottages |
In Rotherham, I had never encountered a settlement that is so dominated by farms and, in addition to knowing more about the sources of its building stone, I would like to learn more about its history. The only similar place that I had encountered was Palterton in Derbyshire, the previous month, whose origins can be traced back to Norman times.
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| A boundary wall |
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