Exploring the Rough Rock at Ringinglow

 

A specimen of thinly bedded Rough Rock

 

During the Heritage Open Days festival in 2023, I had visited St. Peter’s church in Kirkthorpe, St. Mary’s church in Whitkirk and, to help prepare my friend Catherine for her Sheffield U3A Geology Group field trip, attended a geological tour of Sheffield General Cemetery led by Peter Kennett. 

 

A map from the Geology of the Porter Valley by Peter Kennett

 

A few years earlier, having discovered the Sheffield Round Walk, looking through the Sheffield Area Geology Trust (SAGT) website for ideas for my excursions, I discovered that Peter’s Geology of the Porter Valley walk included the Brown Edge Quarries and Ox Stones as stopping points. 

 

The Ordnance Survey map of Ringinglow

On that occasion, the very infrequent bus from Sheffield to Ringinglow didn’t turn up and, having already had to quickly walk up the Limb Valley, I didn’t have the time or energy to explore these and just walked from Ringinglow down the Porter Valley to Endcliffe Park.

 

The LIDAR map of the Brown Edge Quarries

 

Taking a short break from the Heritage Open Days events, I spent my time looking at various maps – including old and modern Ordnance Survey maps, LIDAR and the Open Street Map – to try and identify the location of the remaining quarry faces at the Brown Edge Quarries, which Peter’s leaflet says are at the west end of the site. 

 

The Brown Edge Quarries on Open Street Map

Alighting from the No. 181 bus, I took a photo of the Grade II Listed Norfolk Arms public house, where the very large quoins and very distinctive triangular first floor window heads are no doubt made from very massive sandstone that is only found locally in the Chatsworth Grit. The walling is composed of smaller but moderately sized blocks of squared sandstone, but I didn’t cross the road to take a closer look. 

 

The Norfolk Arms

 

Continuing west along Ringinglow Road, the terraced houses to either side of Fulwood Lane are built with a massive sandstone that, from a distance, appears to have very similar physical characteristics but the original roofing material, which was probably stone slate, has been replaced with modern interlocking concrete tiles.

 

Terraced Houses on Ringinglow Road

Although I have seen plenty of stone slate roofs that I can reasonably assume to have been quarried from the Rough Rock, I have not yet come across any building that is known to have used this stone for well squared and coursed walling. 

 

A garden wall on Ringinglow Road

 

Looking at the Building Stones Database for England map explorer around Ringinglow, except for the Houndkirk quarry on the Chatsworth Grit, all of the Brown Edge Quarries are located on the Rough Rock, which around Sheffield tends to be thinly bedded and, although some beds produced walling stone, it was best known for producing stone slates for roofing and flagstones for paving. 

 

Old quarries in Ringinglow

 

Continuing along Ringinglow Road, I soon entered the boundary to the Peak District National Park, which is typically marked with a large millstone that may well have been made at the extensive old quarry along Burbage Edge. 

 

A millstone marker to the entrance to the Peak District National Park

 

I continued for another kilometre, noting the general north-easterly dip of the strata of the upper part of the Millstone Grit Group, which underlies the open countryside to the north of the road. Although the LIDAR map shows numerous old bell pits that once worked the Ringinglow Coal at the top of the Chatsworth Grit, I didn’t notice any of these any only stopped to take in the fine view of Sheffield from this point. 

 

A view towards Sheffield

 

Arriving at the public footpath opposite the west end of Lady Canning’s Plantation, I headed north along a rough path that crossed mudstones of the Marsden Formation, sandstone of the Redmires Flags and further mudstones of the Rossendale Formation, which form minor features in the landscape due to their differential weathering. 

 

The public footpath to the Brown Edge Quarries

I carried on until I reached higher ground, which corresponds with an extensive area occupied by the Brown Edge Quarries that is now entirely covered in heather. Having looked at Google Map to see possible routes, I thought it would be easy enough to find a way to the western part of the site where there is an extensive rock face. 

 

A view across the overgrown Brown Edge Quarries

Once on the ground, however, I couldn’t find any obvious path and the one that I eventually took came to an end without any obvious way of continuing westward and, looking at Google Map again in retrospect, I perhaps should have continued north along the path until I got beyond the quarried area and then turned sharply to the west. 

 

A view across the overgrown Brown Edge Quarries

 

I decided not to press on with my search and decided to retrace my steps back to the public footpath via very poorly defined small tracks that may well have been made by sheep. I didn’t see any rock faces but, in one or two places where the soil has eroded away, I obtained samples of thinly bedded fine grained sandstone that has white muscovite mica on the bedding planes.

 

Specimens of thinly bedded Rough Rock

Having made the effort to get here, I was quite disappointed not to find the old quarry faces, but it was not yet 2 o’clock on a nice sunny day so, after taking a couple of photos of a gritstone edge in the distance, which I think must be part of Stanage Edge, I eventually worked my way through the heather until I finally reached the public footpath and headed off to the Ox Stones.

 

A distant view of Stanage Edge seen with a telephoto lens