A Missed Opportunity in Rotherham?

 

The restored west window at Rotherham Minster

My last day out in October 2022 was spent investigating the area around Ecclesall, Bents Green and Greystones, which is underlain by the Loxley Edge Rock - a formation that I had seen at its type locality along Loxley Edge, in Hagg Stones quarry and in various historic buildings and boundary walls at Wadsley, Worrall and Oughtibridge and other suburbs in north-west Sheffield. 

 

St. Helen's church in Treeton

 

The last week of the month was spent at home, to finish off some decorating and to prepare a talk that I had been asked to give to the Friends of Rotherham Archives – Another Case for Sherlock Stones? - which describes the stone matching exercise that I had undertaken at the Grade I Listed St. Helen’s church in February the previous year. 

 

The Brampton Chapel

 

The last source of the locally distinctive Rotherham Red variety of the Mexborough Rock, in which the church is built, had been declared unavailable for the foreseeable future by the quarry owner – due to the costs of removing the overburden from existing reserves. 

 

Cavernous decay in the chancel wall

Although there have been no plans to restore extensive sections of masonry at St. Helen’s, which have been badly affected by cavernous decay, there are six other Grade I Listed churches in Rotherham and many other Listed Buildings constructed from this stone that need to be kept in a good state of repair. 

 

Cavernous decay in the chancel wall

 

A couple of days before I was due to give my talk, I was contacted by Janet Worrall of the Friends of Boston Castle and Parklands, to tell me that a decision had been finally made to retain numerous decent sized blocks of Rotherham Red sandstone, which had been excavated during the construction of new reservoirs by Yorkshire Water to the north of the old quarry face in Boston Park – 5 years after I had discussed the benefits of this with the Rotherham MBC manager of Green Spaces, before the project started. 

 

Repairs on the front elevation of the Chapel of Our Lady on the Bridge

 

Nobody from Rotherham MBC had since contacted me to discuss this further so, making the most of a sunny afternoon, I decided to go to Rotherham to see if I could get some photos of these to include in my talk and also have a quick look at the Chapel of Our Lady on the Bridge, where Permian St. Bees sandstone from Cumbria and Triassic Hollington stone from Staffordshire have been used to restore the Carboniferous Rotherham Red sandstone.

 

A detail of Hollington stone used for restoration

Taking the bus to Moorgate and walking up Boston Castle Grove, I couldn’t miss the mound of rock waste that had been excavated to accommodate the reservoirs, which was surrounded by a high fence, but I had expected to see the entrance to the building site cut off from the general public. 

 

A pile of rock waste from excavations for the reservoirs

 

To my surprise, there were no gates or anyone to stop me entering the site and I carried down to the site office and introduced myself to the site manager and explained the reason for my visit. Issuing me with a high visibility jacket and hard hat, he showed me briefly around the site and pointed out the various blocks that were being retained. 

 

Retained blocks of Rotherham Red sandstone

 

It seems that they had been offered to stone suppliers, but none of them thought that they were large enough to be worth collecting and processing but, to my eye, it seemed that although probably not large enough to fabricate dressings, they were of good enough quality to be cut down by stonemasons for use for the restoration of walling – as at St. Helen’s church.

 

Some of the retained blocks of Rotherham Red sandstone

 

While at Boston Park, I had a quick look around to take a few record photographs of its declining condition and overgrown quarry faces, which despite the efforts of Janet Worrall and her colleagues – who also have done sterling work at the nearby Moorgate Cemetery – continues to be neglected.

 

Views of Boston Park

 

After giving my talk on the Saturday, first thing on Monday morning I made contact with Rotherham MBC to get more information and then called the Diocese of Sheffield, which ironically has a photo of St. Helen's church on its home page, to inform them of this source of stone to potentially repair some of the Grade I Listed churches in Rotherham, which was duly circulated to various members of staff responsible for church buildings. 

 

Rotherham Minster

 

Much to my surprise, I got several immediate responses, with the surveyor responsible for Rotherham Minster being particularly interested. For recent restoration to the west window, she had faced this problem and, during a good telephone conversation, explained that the British Geological Survey – who she was obliged by the Diocese of Sheffield to consult - had considered Watts Cliff gritstone to be the best stone to use. 

 

The west window of Rotherham Minster

This was a surprise to me, because the recent sample that I used for my own stone matching exercise - using the naked eye and hand lens only - clearly has a very different colour and texture; however, agreeing to meet up for an informal chat after Christmas in case she ever needed another opinion, I passed on details of the staff at Rotherham MBC and Yorkshire Water who she needed to speak to, if she and her colleagues wanted to pursue the matter further.

 

A detail of the west window

 

Having done my best to notify the people responsible for the care of the fabric of St. Helen’s church and others within the Diocese of Sheffield of this resource, albeit temporary, the matter ended when I finally received a response towards the end of June 2023 - to which I replied to say that it is a great shame - especially when a great effort is being made to get a restoration job done properly.