Historic Architecture in Ossett - Part 1

 

A detail of the former Yorkshire Penny Bank

After spending nearly two hours in Horbury, to look at the Church of St. Peter and St. Leonard and some of its historic architecture, I got on the No. 126 bus to Ossett and it immediately began to rain and, 10 minutes later when I alighted at Prospect Road, it was falling very heavily. 

 

Listed buildings in Ossett town centre

Just before this, from the top deck of the bus I had noted a few Victorian buildings on Station Road that have architectural features usually associated with listed buildings but, having prepared a British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge, I discovered that there are 12 listed buildings in the Ossett Ward and only 4 in the town centre.

 

The former Yorkshire Penny Bank

 

On the north side of Station Road, on the corner with Prospect Road, the former Yorkshire Penny Bank (1893) is built with muddy grey/brown rock-faced walling stone and massive sandstone for the door surround and dressings, which has a very similar colour and pattern of iron staining. 

 

A high level detail on the former Yorkshire Penny Bank

Looking closely at the intricately carved details to the dressings, at ground floor level and on the pediment to the splay, the sandstone is still in a very good condition after more than 125 years and, in Sheffield, I would normally associate this durability with the medium grained sandstones from the Millstone Grit Group. 

 

Details of the former Yorkshire Penny Bank

 

Ossett is set on an unnamed sandstone in the Pennine Middle Coal Measures Formation, (PMCMF) but the Storrs Hill Quarry and Horbury Quarry in the Horbury Rock are not far away. The geological memoir considers it to be quite a soft sandstone and, as I had seen in the vernacular buildings of Horbury it is often not very durable and, for substantial architect designed buildings, Crosland Hill stone and other best quality West Yorkshire sandstones are used for dressings. 

 

Quarries in the vicinity of Ossett

 

The Building Stones of England Database map explorer shows that Ossett is not far away from the Thornhill Rock, which is one of the better quality sandstones that was once widely quarried in the Wakefield district and was used to build Morley Town Hall. 

 

The Liberal Club

Opposite the Yorkshire Penny Bank building on Station Road is the Liberal Club (1893), where the rock-faced walling and the ground floor ashlar have a similar appearance and the intricate carving is again in very good condition.

 

Details of the Liberal Club

Before continuing along Station Road towards Market Place, I took a few photos of a terrace of shops and houses and a detached house on the south side of Prospect Road, where the walling is composed of muddy grey/brown rock-faced sandstone, with more massive iron stained dressings. These modest buildings first appear on the 1907 Ordnance Survey map and are presumably built out of local PMCMF sandstone. 

 

Buildings on Station Road

 

With the rain still falling heavily, it was as much as I could do to take photographs with one hand while holding my umbrella with the other, so I did not look closely at the sandstone at any of the above buildings or the Mechanics Institute and Technical School (1889) by W. A. Kendall, which was later used as the library. 

 

The Mechanics Institute and library

 

Recorded in Domesday Book as Osleset, Ossett was a predominantly agricultural community until the Industrial Revolution when coal mining became very important and, like nearby Dewsbury, it was at the heart of the shoddy and mungo industry - as part of the Heavy Woollen District.

 

The centre of Ossett on the 1893 Ordnance Survey map

At the time the 1893 edition of the Ordnance Survey was published, Ossett had become quite a substantial town and the buildings that I had seen to date reflected its prosperity and, as with very many other West Yorkshire towns, although built much later than originally planned, Ossett Town Hall (1907) reflects the civic pride that was a great feature of them. 

 

Ossett Town Hall

 

Unfortunately, the building was scaffolded at the time of my visit and, except for the large round gables at each end, there was very little to see of the building and I made no attempt to zoom in with my camera to see the details. I didn’t stop to examine the stone, but it is probably one of the best quality West Yorkshire sandstones and the caryatids flanking the doorway are carved from massive blocks of uniformly buff coloured sandstone. 

 

Caryatids at Ossett Town Hall

Ossett war memorial (1928), designed by the borough surveyor Mr H. Holmes and local architect Mr C. Kendall and sculpted by Robert Lindsay Clark, now forms a prominent feature in the large triangular market square, after being relocated twice in 1954 and 2001, but I didn’t get close enough to look at its details. 

 

Ossett war memorial

 

On the corner with Wesley Street is another former bank premises, originally built as the London City & Midland Bank (1891), using similar types of sandstone to those previously seen in the substantial buildings on Station Road. 

 

The former London City & Midland Bank building

 

Walking down Bank Street, I came across yet another former bank, the Wakefield and Barnsley Union Bank (1870). the Horbury and Ossett Family History Society refers to reports in the Wakefield Express, which describes it as being built in a Renaissance style design by William Watson of Wakefield, with the builders being Eastwood and Tolson and the stone used being Elland stone -  presumably the massive variety of sandstone from the Elland Flags. 

 

The former Wakefield and Barnsley Union Bank building

 

On the ground floor, the keystones are adorned with sculpted heads that are considered to include the classical deities: Minerva, Venus, Mars, Diana, Hebe and Mercury, but the head above the later portico is in a more modern style. These remind me of the keystones that adorn very many buildings of a similar age in nearby Dewsbury and I therefore wonder if there are links between the architects and sculptors.

 

Sculpted keystones on the Wakefield and Barnsley Union Bank building

Historic Architecture in Horbury - Part 2

 

Frampton Villa on Tithe Barn Street

Walking along Tithe Barn Street during the first part of my exploration of the historic architecture of Horbury, when arriving at the group of listed buildings comprising the lock up, Town School and Sunday School, I had reached the western limit of the town, as marked on the 1854 edition of the Ordnance Survey map. 

 

Tithe Barn Street on the 1897 and 1908 Ordnance Survey maps

Like many of the industrial towns and cities in northern England, the second half of the C19 saw a rapid expansion of Horbury and, continuing my walk along Tithe Barn Street, I immediately encountered examples of houses built in the late Victorian and Edwardian periods, which have a completely different character. 

 

Victorian villas on Tithe Barn Street

 

On the north side, moderately sized detached villas with substantial grounds were built for the business owners and middle classes in the second half of the C19 and on the South side, centred on Bank Street, terraced houses for the workers appeared in the first decade of the C20. 

 

Terraced houses centred on Bank Street

 

I didn’t get near any of the larger houses to look at the stone that has been used, although my photo shows that High Bank – now extended and converted into flats - is built with a uniformly buff coloured sandstone, with the window surrounds being formed from massive blocks, which may be from the one of the major suppliers around Huddersfield and Bradford. 

 

The rockery at Frampton Villa

In the garden of Frampton Villa, a rockery in front of the house contains large blocks of white gypsum and black slag or crozzle, which is very commonly seen in Sheffield, where this waste material from the cementation furnaces was used to top the boundary walls of Victorian houses. 

 

The former Westfield Congregational Chapel

 

At the end of Tithe Barn Street, on the corner with High Street, is the former Westfield Congregational Chapel (c.1878), which is derelict and without a roof, but I didn’t stop to have a close look at and continued along Westfield Road to Horbury Library (1906). 

 

Horbury Library

 

The Horbury History website states that the Wakefield Express described its building materials as the best white Delph stone for the walling, Crosland Hill stone from Huddersfield for the dressings and blue Westmorland slate for the roof. 

 

Views of the old Town Hall

 

Next to the library is the old Town Hall (1903), where the muddy grey/brown colour of the walling stone and the pattern of iron staining is similar to sandstone seen earlier in my walk, which I have presumed to be the locally quarried Horbury Rock. The dressings are made of a uniformly coloured massive sandstone, which is suited to fine carving and this could also be Crosland Hill sandstone from the Rough Rock. 

 

Terraced houses on Jenkin Road and Park Street

 

After taking a few photographs of the later C19 terraced housing on Jenkin Road and Park Street, which are probably further examples of the Horbury Rock, I walked up Manor Road to see if I could find St. Peter’s Convent, but I couldn’t find any easy way to get there. 

 

Horbury Rock used for boundary walls

 

I followed a snicket for a short distance, where the rubble walling on both sides fully highlights the variation in the physical characteristics of the Horbury Rock – bed height, grain size and sedimentary structures – all of which are reflected by the weathering and durability of the individual stones used to build the walls. 

 

A specimen of Horbury Rock from a boundary wall

 

In one place, the lower section of the wall had failed and I collected a specimen of muddy grey/brown fine grained sandstone, which has an iron content that is seen as general orange staining and a thin band of ironstone. 

 

The former Sunday School on High Street

 

Returning to High Street, the former Sunday School attached to the Westfield Congregation Chapel, with its Coal Measures walling stone and medium grained gritstone dressings, I just took a record photo and continued to the junction with Highfield Road. 

 

The former bank building

 

The early C20 Neoclassical style former bank building, like the library and town hall, has some interesting architectural features but it it is not listed. Medium grained gritstone is used for the projecting central bay, the pediment above the door and a rotunda, with other details include the central oculus with swags and ionic capitals to the pilasters. 

 

A detail of a red granite column

 

Like most banks of the late Victorian and Edwardian periods, red granite is used for the simple Tuscan columns that flank the door. At this time, red granites from Sweden and Finland were being imported into the major granite producing centre of Aberdeen, but this may be an example of the Ross of Mull granite. 

 

The former United Free Methodist Church

 

The United Free Methodist Church (1900) is another impressive building that is not listed and represents one of nine Methodist churches that once existed in Horbury, where there were four strands of Methodism. I didn’t examine the stone, but from my photos it looks like the muddy grey/brown walling is another use of Horbury Rock, with the dressings made of massive uniformly coloured medium grained gritstone. 

 

Lydgate Manor

 

I stopped briefly to photograph the Grade II Listed Lydgate Manor, which dates to the late C18 or early C19 and is built with Horbury Rock, painted massive sandstone dressings and a stone slate roof. I finished my very brief exploration of Horbury by photographing Lydgate House, before catching the No. 126 bus to Ossett.

 

Lydgate House

   

Historic Architecture in Horbury - Part 1

 

A plaque on the old Sunday School

My trip to Horbury was principally to see the Church of St. Peter and St. Leonard, with its spectacular example of the use of Woolley Edge Rock, but my usual plan of preparing a British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge to explore the town was stymied by the fact that someone had already photographed its listed buildings. 

 

A brief exploration of Horbury

 

During my preparation for my day out, I had used Google Street View to virtually explore the town and had noted a few buildings that looked quite interesting, even though they are not listed, so I devised a short walk that included some of these – starting on Queen Street. 

 

Views of Queen Street

 

Although John Carr had brought in Woolley Edge Rock from the area around Newmillardam, the Building Stones Database for England map explorer and old Ordnance Survey maps shows quarries in the Horbury Rock at Horbury Quarry and Storrs Hill Quarry, which presumably supplied most of the building stone for the vernacular architecture in Horbury. 

 

Quarries on the Building Stones Database for England map explorer

 

Having been quite fascinated by the range of decorative stones that have been used in the church, I took a couple of photos of the sadly dilapidated Grade I Listed Horbury Hall, which has been dated by dendochronology to 1478 and 1492 by documentation. 

 

Horbury Hall

 

It is built with massive sandstone that has some iron staining but no obvious Liesegang rings, with a stone slate roof, but I didn’t look at it closely and headed past the Cherry Tree Inn and the post office on Church Street towards Tithe Barn Street. 

 

The Cherry Tree Inn and the post office

 

The overcast conditions and the blackening of the masonry didn’t give me much reason to stop and look at this sandstone, which the British Geological Survey GeoIndex describes as “relatively soft, fine-grained yellow and brown sandstone, wedge-bedded, with layers of sandy mudstone”. 

 

Views of St. Leonard's Hospital

St. Leonard's Hospital (1888) is a terrace of one bedroom almshouses, which was built in the memory of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in 1877 by the vicar of Horbury, Canon John Sharp, to replace an older almshouse on the site. 

 

The inscribed plaque on St. Leonard's Hospital

Horbury Stone, which has a muddy grey/brown colour with some iron staining, has presumably been used for the rock faced walling stone, with the dressings, foundation stone and the inscribed plaque on the east elevation having the same colouration. 

 

The old town lock up

 

Next to St. Leonard’s church is the first of three Grade II Listed buildings on Tithe Barn Street, the old town lock up (c.1710), which is built in coursed squared rubble with very large delaminating face bedded quoins and a stone slate roof. The sandstone shows considerable colour variation from muddy grey/brown to dark rusty brown and the high degree of weathering of the ground floor shows that it is not very durable. 

 

The old Town School and Sunday School

Immediately to the west are two buildings listed for their group value, the early C18 old Town School and the early C19 old Sunday School, which was later used as the Parish Church Hall and as a printing works and the Horbury Civic Society have marked these with blue plaques. 

 

Blue plaques

In the part of Horbury that I had so far seen, there is no obvious evidence of it’s industrial history, but it is part of the Heavy Woollen District, which started as a cottage industry before rapidly developing after the Industrial Revolution. The 1854 edition of the Ordnance Survey map marks several mills operating near the River Calder, but there was still open countryside to the west of the old part of the town.

 

A detail of Horbury on the 1854 edition of the Ordnance Survey map

 

The Church of SS. Peter & Leonard II

 

A detail of the chequerboard pattern of marbles in the sanctuary

The distinctive striped pattern of the Woolley Edge Rock provides the exterior of the Church of St. Peter and St. Leonard with its character, but it is the painted plaster and colourful decoration that first caught my attention once inside the church.

 

General views of the interior

 

Since leaving Treeton, the morning had been very overcast with a constant threat of rain, which made the interior of the church very gloomy without the lighting being on and I was quite surprised to get a good a set of photos in these conditions. 

 

The font

 

After taking a few quick general photos, I had a wander around and the first thing that I noticed was the font (1866), dedicated to Betsey Lomas who is buried in the churchyard. The church website states that this is made with Portland stone but, even though the light was poor and I didn’t get down on my knees to inspect it with a hand lens, I have my doubts about this. 

 

A close up view of the font

 

My first thought was that this is another example of the use of Caen stone from Normandy, which has been used for fonts and pulpits at St. Mary’s Walkley (1869), St. Peter’s Birstall (1863-1870) and at St. John’s Ranmoor (1887) and also at Leeds Central Library (1878- 1884)

 

The inscription on the font

 

The bowl of the font sits on a drum with four columns, which is made out of a pink and grey marble. In the low light, I didn’t inspect it closely, but from my photos I can see that it contains crinoid ossicles and colonial corals, which makes me think this is a light coloured variety of the Lower Carboniferous Cork Red marble from the Republic of Ireland. 

 

A detail of a column on the font

Moving into the south chapel, which was built in 1920 to commemorate WWI, decorative stone has been used lavishly for the flooring, the altar rail and for wall monuments and these certainly tested my stone identification skills. 

 

Chequerboard flooring in the south chapel

The chequerboard pattern flooring is composed of a dark green serpentine marble with white calcite veins, which is probably from the north-west of Italy. Consulting Decorative Stone - The Complete Sourcebook by Monica Price and using Google Image search, the Verde Genova and Valle d’Aosta marbles look similar, but the variation in texture with these materials is so great that an expert needs to look at these and other marbles on display. 

 

A detail of the flooring in the south chapel

The other stone used in the floor is a white marble, with very pronounced dark veins that are surrounded by a yellowish staining. Price does not mention these varieties, but Marmo Paonazzo or Calacatta, both from Carrara, look most promising from a Google Image search. 

 

A detail of the panelling behind the altar in the south chapel

 

For the panelling behind the altar, Paonazzo and Calacatta are again possibilities, but the white and rusty brown alabaster used for the columns, wall panels and the rails of the balustrade is a material that I am familiar with, as seen as monuments and effigies in many churches. 

 

The altar rail in the south chapel

 

In England, the alabaster industry was based on the Triassic rocks found at Chellaston in Derbyshire, known for the purest light coloured material, with Tutbury in Staffordshire producing the strongly veined rusty coloured variety, which is the result of iron staining. 

 

A Lapis Lazuli panel in the altar rail

 

The newel posts and balusters looked like Carrara marble at first glance but, looking closer, it has a translucent appearance and a waxy lustre that suggests that this is in fact very pure white alabaster. Inserted into the newels are panels of a vivid blue stone, which I have never seen used as a decorative stone but I think must be Lapis Lazuli. 

 

A memorial made from green marble breccia

Another green marble breccia is used for a wall monument for which there are no details of who it commemorates. This I presume is also from Italy, as is the Carrara marble circular relief panel, but I didn’t get near enough to see what the deep red stone is. 

 

The Connemara marble wall memorial

The WWI wall memorial, with its book of remembrance, is another example of a green marble – this time Connemara marble from Co. Galway in the Republic of Ireland – a distinctive stone that I saw at an early age in the Geological Museum in London, at the Clifden Quarry and Trinity College in Dublin while working for the Geological Survey of Ireland and in Sheffield Town Hall. 

 

The floor in the nave

 

Returning to the nave, I encountered other polished stones in the flooring and for the altar rail to the chancel, including yet another green stone that I think is Swedish Green marble. In the lobby of Sheffield Central Library, this is used as small squares in the travertine floor and for capitals to Ashburton marble pilasters. 

 

A detail of the flooring in the nave

 

In the nave, it is used in a chequerboard pattern with a grey limestone, which I think is probably from the Carboniferous Limestone of Derbyshire. Although it was too dark to see its details properly and I didn’t attempt to inspect it closely with my hand lens, it looks like it contains large Productid brachiopod shells. 

 

Swedish Green marble and Carboniferous Limestone

Beyond the altar rail, the Swedish Green marble is a distinctly banded variety, which is again used in a chequerboard pattern with another grey Carboniferous Limestone; however, this limestone has a very different texture to the variety seen in the nave and reminds me of Hopton Wood stone. 

 

The altar rail

 

I have mainly seen Hopton Wood stone where used for decorative panels, notably inside Sheffield City Hall, where its fossil content is restricted to very fine fragments of brachiopod shells and crinoids. As with the other shelf limestones in the Peak District National Park, it does contain beds with brachiopods but these are more difficult to work and the fine grainer beds will have been used for the turned balusters to the altar rail. 

 

Broken stones in the chancel

 

In a few places, I noticed that some of the large slabs were broken where the floor steps up and it is therefore important that the stone is identified correctly, for essential repairs to be carried out with a matching stone. Moving further into the sanctuary, I noted that the Paonazzo/Calacatta had been used again and, with plenty of things still to do, I set off to further explore Horbury. 

 

Marbles used for the floor in the chancel