The Church of St. William of York

 

Clothed in Glory

When having a quick walk up Ecclesall Road, to look at the Brincliffe Edge/Greenmoor Rock used for some of the late Victorian and Edwardian terraced houses, I was surprised to come across three relief sculptures on the west front of the Roman Catholic Church of St. William of York - a modern church that I had not taken much notice of before. 

 

The Chucrh of St. William of York

 

As a photographer that had been once commissioned by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England (RCHME) to photograph as many examples of post-war architectural sculpture that I could find – at £10 per 7” x 5” black and white print supplied - I am sure that I would have noticed these, when making occasional use of the supermarket that stands on the site of the John Gregory brickworks. 

 

Relief sculptures by Richard Watts

I only had a few minutes before I had to catch the next bus to join Paul and Dave of the Sheffield U3A Geology Group, to finalise our field trip itinerary for 2023, so I didn’t get a chance to have a good look at the stonework. I wasn’t familiar with the reddened sandstone for the dressings and walling stone and I just took a few record photographs.

 

Saved From the Deep

 

When I got home and undertook some research on this, I was interested to discover that the sculptor was Richard Watts, who worked as a landscape architect at Sheffield City Council. Along with his colleagues Ric Bingham and Zac Tudor, he had been very helpful when I wrote several articles about the Peace Gardens, Sheaf Square, Tudor Square and other Heart of the City developments for Natural Stone Specialist and the Stein and Stone Plus magazines in Germany. 

 

Various articles describing Heart of the City developments in Sheffield

 

After he had left Sheffield City Council, I encountered Richard during an event organised at the Millennium Gallery in Sheffield, where he was working on a small piece but I never realised that he had been working as a sculptor and letter cutter alongside his job as a landscape architect. 

 

Washed and Healed

 

Looking at his website, I was interested to discover that he learned his craft from his father, who was influenced by the work of Eric Gill. This came to mind when I first saw the relief sculptures - Washed and Healed, Saved From the Deep and Clothed in Glory. As a geologist with specialist skills in stone matching, I also noted that these sculptures are made from Woodkirk stone, which is still quarried from the Thornhill Rock in Morley.

 

Sessile Oak by Richard Watts

 

Although not related to the church, while looking at his website I noted that he had also carved Sessile Oak, a sculpture that I had been very impressed with when visiting Bowden Housteads Wood a couple of years earlier. 

 

A statue of St. William

 

On the north elevation of the church is a statue of St. William, which is not by Richard Watts but was retained from the original chapel of ease - built on the site in 1904 by the architects C and C.M.E. Hadfield, who designed several Roman Catholic churches in Sheffield. The latest extension to the church, which also incorporates a plaque that is inscribed in Latin, was added in 1971 by John Rochford and Partners.

 

An inscription in Latin