A Recce in Nottingham - Architecture 1

 

A lion at the Nottingham Council House

 

Back in 2019, taking advantage of the very good weather forecast for the Easter Bank Holiday in April, I had a rare day out in Nottingham to look at St. Peter's and St. Mary's churches, the historic architecture around the Lace Market and exposures of the Triassic sandstone around The Nottingham Park Estate and Nottingham Castle.

 

The tram timetable for Phoenix Park

Having already organised a trip in Sheffield for the Sheffield U3A Geology Group and another trip to Leeds a couple of months earlier using the Park and Ride - to look at the building stones - I thought that I could easily arrange another trip for the group to Nottingham. 

 

Publications describing building stones in Nottingham

I already had enough professional knowledge of the various building stones that I had seen in Nottingham to make a good field trip, but a brief search on the Internet revealed publications by the late Graham Lott and colleagues at the British Geological Survey and Nottingham Trent University could be referred to if necessary. 

 

Old Market Square and the Nottingham Council House

 

The day after my brief exploration of St. John’s church in Penistone and a short walk in the Penistone Conservation Area, Paul May and I drove down the M1 to Phoenix Park and caught the tram to Old Market Square in Nottingham, where the concrete paving slabs had been replaced with four types of granite, from Portugal and China, back in 2007. 

 

A Portland stone lion at the west end of the Nottingham Council House

 

As with my trip to Leeds, my plan was to look at the use of British building stones, particularly those from the East Midlands, in Nottingham’s historic architecture – especially the work of Watson Fothergill and Thomas Chambers Hine - and not undertake a rock spotting exercise.

 

A view of St. Barnabas Roman Catholic Cathedral

After taking a quick look at the Portland stone lion and the Cornish granite plinth and steps at the west end of the Nottingham Council House (1929), we headed up Derby Road to look at the St. Barnabas Roman Catholic Cathedral (1844). 

 

Another view of St. Barnabas

 

The cathedral was designed by Augustus Pugin, the Victorian architect probably best known for the interior of the Palace of Westminster,  and built in Darley Dale stone from the Ashover Grit – a renowned building stone that has been used in many of Nottingham’s buildings. 

 

A view of the rear of houses on Park Terrace from Park Steps

Continuing up Derby Road to the Park Tunnel, the first of several exposures of Triassic sandstone that will be described later, we then walked up the steps and continued along Park Terrace, which mainly consists of late Georgian stucco houses with several Grade II Listed man made caves cut into the cliff, until we reached Park Steps. 

 

The garden wall at the bottom of Park Steps

 

Descending Park Steps to Park Valley, we stopped briefly to look at the fractures and movement in the garden wall, which is built with Bulwell stone – a sandy dolostone once produced in the Bulwell/Linby area and has been used ubiquitously in Nottingham for garden walls and for churches and vernacular architecture in the area where it was quarried. 

 

A photomicrograph of Abbey stone from the Linby quarry

 

This very distinctive, yellow/brown to orange-coloured variation of the Permian Cadeby Formation occurs at the southern end of the Magnesian Limestone escarpment and the well developed rhombohedral crystals of dolomite, which incorporate small grains of quartz, are clearly seen with a hand lens and feel rough to the touch. 

 

The entrance to Arundel House

Carrying on south down Park Valley, we stopped to look at the entrance to Arundel House - which has Bulwell stone walling - but the dressings to the doorway are made of a material that has a very different uniform colour. 

 

A detail of the artificial stone door surround at Arundel House

 

Just as we were about to take a better look, the owner came out of one of the doors and we were all startled. Once we had explained our curiosity about her house, she explained that these were actually artificial stone and, on close inspection, small air bubbles can be seen. 

 

White Mansfield stone walling

 

Moving on to the junction with Lenton Road, the stone used for the boundary wall changes from Bulwell stone to the pale buff/yellow White Mansfield stone, another variety of the Cadeby Formation that is classified as a dolomitic sandstone rather than a sandy dolostone. A characteristic of this stone is the presence of very thin beds of green clay, which quickly weathers out to give a texture that looks like crinkled old leather. 

 

The retaining wall to the Memorial Nurses' Home

We then a quick diversion up Lenton Road to look at the war memorial and retaining wall to the Memorial Nurses' Home. The high wall is built in Jurassic Ancaster stone, an oolitic limestone from Lincolnshire that is frequently seen in the historic buildings of Nottinghamshire. 

 

Bulwell stone walling and pink granite setts

 

We then made way along Peveril Drive at the base of Castle Rock and, not being tempted by Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem, walked up Castle Road to the entrance of Nottingham Castle, where there is a further example of Bulwell stone, with vughs, in the walling and pink granite roads setts, which are probably from the area around Charnwood Forest in Leicestershire. 

 

The Church of St. Nicholas

Before heading back to the city centre, where we would have our lunch, we briefly stopped at the Grade II* Listed Church of St. Nicholas, a red brick church with White Mansfield stone quoins and dressings, which dates to 1682 but has had several subsequent alterations and restorations.

 

White Mansfield stone quoins at the Church of St. Nicholas