Architecture and Geology in Whiston

 

A detail of Whiston Methodist Church

 

Following on from my exploration of Moorgate and the Bawtry Road in Rotherham, the next leg on my walk was to head down to Whiston, an attractive and desirable village that I had previously visited back in September 2016, as part of my investigation of the mediaeval churches built in Rotherham Red sandstone. 

 

Views of Whiston Hall

 

This time, I had a few buildings to photograph for the British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge, starting with the Grade II Listed Whiston Hall - a manor house with an early C16 core, encased and extended in the early C17, with further extensions in the C18. It is now a private nursing home and I was only able to take a few general photos at a distance, without getting a view of its principal elevation. 

 

The former stable and granary at Whiston Hall

 

The late C17 stable and granary, belonging to the hall, are also Grade II listed and are also built out of the locally quarried Rotherham Red sandstone. I just took a single record photograph and went to have a look at Whiston Manorial Barn, whose oldest parts are thought to date to the C13. 

 

Views of Whiston Manorial Barn

 

Having a quick look at the masonry on its north side, I was interested to see that the Rotherham Red sandstone used here possesses considerable colour variation, with deep red/plum coloured stone being mixed with yellowish and variegated varieties, as I had seen a few days earlier on Whitehill Lane in Brinsworth. 

 

Flaggy Rotherham Red sandstone on Chaff Lane

 

Continuing along Chaff Lane, I had another look at the outcrop of flaggy Rotherham Red sandstone, which is similar to that seen earlier in the excavation at the Newman School and I obtained a small sample for my rock collection with my Estwing hammer. 

 

Sandstone from Chaff Lane (coin = 22 mm diameter)

Making my way to Well Lane, I found a public footpath that took me up the steep slope from Whiston Brook to the Church of St. Mary Magdalene, where I stopped briefly to photograph Lychgate Hall, the former Church Institute (1913). 

 

Lychgate Hall

 

Wandering around St. Mary Magdalene’s churchyard, I soon found the Grade II Listed headstone to Rebekah Cutt (c.1736), which the Historic England listing describes as a “thick slab with shaped head and inscription beneath relief carvings of knotted swags and skull and cross bones and flanked by Doric pilasters surmounted by vases.” 

 

The Grade II Listed headstone to Rebekah Cutt

I then had a quick look around the churchyard to see if I could find any Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstones. Although I didn’t find the headstone of Corporal Robert Henry Foers of the Australian Infantry, I found the machine inscribed Botticino marble headstone of Private R. Cousins of the Corps of Military Police. 

 

A detail of the headstone of Private R. Cousins

I also came across the Portland stone headstone of Private R. James of the Royal Munster Fusiliers, whose regimental crest depicts a Bengal tiger carved into an exploding hand grenade, which is like the very plain motif used by the Grenadier Guards. 

 

A detail of the headstone of Private R. James

 

Taking advantage of the afternoon sunshine, I had wander around the church and took a couple of photos of the excellent grotesques on either side of the porch, as well as several small ‘honest repairs’ - first advocated by SPAB - using stone slips and sand and cement instead of new stone. 

 

Grotesques at St. Mary's church

Although I had been there a couple of times before, I decided to go and have another look at the old Rotherham Red sandstone quarry, which has been excavated into the hillside to the south of Whiston Brook and was probably the source of stone for the mediaeval church. 

 

The old quarry above Whiston Brook

 

The sandstone comprises massive beds in the lower part of the exposure but, as also seen at Canklow Woods, it passes up wards into much thinner beds, where shallow angle cross-bedding is highlighted by differential weathering. 

 

Low angle cross-bedding and differential weathering

The sample that I obtained is medium grained and uniformly red/brown in colour, which is quite typical of the Rotherham Red sandstone that has been used in the church, with there being no obvious signs of yellow/red variegation that can often be seen in boundary walls. 

 

Sandstone from Whiston quarry (coin = 22 mm diameter)

 

I finished my very brief walk around Whiston by following another path down to Whiston Brook, where I came across a plaque erected by Whiston History Society at the Parish Pound, which is an enclosure for stray animals.

 

The Parish Pound