A Further Exploration of Hillsborough

 

The north-west tower at Hillsborough Barracks

Arriving in Hillsborough, after my further exploration of Crookes and Walkley, I went down Forbes Road to take another look at the Ancaster limestone stone carving on the west front of the Church of the Sacred Heart, by Philip Lindsey Clark. 

 

Details at the Church of the Sacred Heart

Walking down to Hillsborough Corner, I photographed Nos. 25 and 27 Holme Lane for the British Listed Buildings website and then had another look at the condition of the weir, which was damaged during the floods of 2019. 

 

The weir at Hillsborough Corner

 

I never tire of seeing the weir and the bridges over the River Loxley here, as the large blocks of the gritstone used in its construction provide good examples of the use of the local Chatsworth Grit from the Rivelin Valley for civil engineering purposes. 

 

The damaged section of the weir

During a visit to Hillsborough the previous year, to look at the Hillsborough Board School, I photographed part of Hillsborough Barracks, which was built from 1848 to 1854 and contains several listed buildings, and this time I photographed those that I had not seen before.

 

The north-west wall and towers

 

According to the Grenoside Conservation Area Appraisal, Hillsborough Barracks is built with Grenoside Sandstone, from its type locality in Grenoside,  and I was therefore particularly keen to have another look at this sandstone, which in Grenoside is distinctly yellow in colour. 

 

Views of the south-east barrack block

The walling of the north-west wall and towers and the south-east barrack block show yellow to slightly orange colour variations in this medium grained sandstone, which contrasts with a coarser grained massive sandstone that has been used for the plinths – possibly another example of locally quarried Chatsworth Grit. 

 

Details of the south-east barrack block

 

To the south side of the south-east barrack block, there are areas of the tarmac covered parking area where the original road setts have been exposed. The sandstone here is quite different in character to the coarse grained stone that I had seen earlier on my walk, with its fine grain size and yellow/brown colour. 

 

Road setts

Quickly looking at various other buildings, including the former mobilization store/fives court and the riding school, similar patterns of yellowish walling, with a lighter coloured massive sandstone for the plinth can also be seen. 

 

The former mobilization store and fives court

Apart from the buildings seen in Grenoside, although the Grenoside Conservation Area Appraisal also mentions that Grenoside Sandstone is used for the old Post Office in Fitzalan Square and for some of the masonry at the Wicker Arches, I don’t any know other buildings in Sheffield where this sandstone is recorded as having been used. 

 

The old guardroom and adjoining tower

The old guardroom, which is now the Garrison Hotel and Guardhouse Bar, is built in similar yellowish stone and I didn’t spend much time looking at it; however, looking at the fortifications that continue along its eastern wall, I was very interested in the very reddened sandstone here. 

 

A section of walling with rifle slits

My terraced house in Treeton is built with Rotherham Red sandstone and, having surveyed countless rock exposures and historic buildings in and around South Yorkshire – looking particularly at the Upper Carboniferous sandstones and associated strata – I only occasionally encounter very red rocks like this. 

 

Reddened sandstone walling

Except for the red sandstone that can be seen at the Rockingham Arms and George and Dragon public houses in the village of Wentworth, which I can’t yet explain as a geologist, I have always thought that such colouration was due to a fire – with the iron bearing minerals in the sandstone being oxidised at great heat. 

 

Details of reddened sandstone