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| Scissors Paper Stone at St. John's church in Ranmoor |
Towards the end of 2023, following an illustrated talk that I had given to the Ranmoor Society the year before, I had been contacted by Mary Grover to ask if I would be prepared to contribute to the Scissors Paper Stone community history project that she and others were working on – to help raise funds for the restoration of the spire at St. John’s church in Ranmoor.
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| An introduction to the church tour by Mary Grover |
In addition to providing general advice, based on my experience of historic architecture and buildings stones, I had been asked to give a talk entitled The Stones of St John’s - A Geological Assessment on 6th July; however, I was interested in some of the other events that would be held through the year, the first of which was a tour of the church.
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| A good attendance of the church tour |
Although I had only last visited the church a few days before Church Explorers Week, to closely examine its decorative stones, I wanted to use this event as an opportunity to have another quick look at the sandstone used for the fabric and take a few photos that I might use in my talk.
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| Ancaster limestone tracery in a south aisle window |
Once Mary had finished her talk outside the church, everyone convened to the interior to attend the formal opening of the display of artwork by Margaret Bennett, the Committee Secretary of the South Yorkshire branch of the Victorian Society, who had helped to organise the event.
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| Views of the walling on the south aisle |
I hung back for a few minutes to take a look at several parts of the walling, where the sandstone had been repaired with what seems to be a sand and cement skim coat and, where spalling of the stone is pronounced, I discreetly removed a couple of pieces with my stainless steel knife.
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| Samples of sandstone from the south asle of St. John's church |
After joining the attendees inside the church to catch up with a few colleagues over tea and biscuits, I said my goodbyes and headed back to Sheffield City centre on the No. 120 bus, where the east side of Fargate was illuminated by bright sunshine.
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Carmel House (1892), on the corner with Norfolk Row, was designed by Herbert Watson Lockwood for the YMCA and it has many fine stone carvings by the eminent architectural sculptor Frank Tory, whose work at St. John’s church is exemplary – especially the capitals to the arcades and the reredos. - which I would be mentioning in my forthcoming presentation.
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| A carved tympanum at Carmel House |
The Pevsner achitectural guide for Sheffield by Ruth Harman and John Minnis refers to 10 arched panels that depict the days of Creation and the progress of Divine Law but, with the Scissors Paper Stone schedule of events including a talk by Sylvia Dunkley – considered to be a national authority on Frank Tory and Sons - I just took a couple of record photos and continued along Fargate.
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| The Black Stone Walk elevation of Caffè Nero |
Except for the architectural sculpture produced by Frank Tory and his twin sons Alfred and William, whose work can be seen in several listed buildings in Sheffield, I have never seen any reference to any other sculptors working in Sheffield and have often wondered who might have undertaken work on the fine Victorian buildings that can still be seen on Fargate – including the former Barclays Bank (1897), which is now the Caffè Nero.
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| An elaborate datestone at Caffè Nero |
Frank Tory came to Sheffield in 1880 to work on the long since demolished Corn Exchange and the architects, M.E. Hadfield and Son, were so impressed with his work that he was encouraged to relocate to Sheffield and set up his own business. Having done so, several other prominent Sheffield architects, including Flockton & Gibbs and W.J. Hale, made good use of his services.
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| Granites at Caffè Nero |
During a previous Sheffield U3A Geology Group field trip, I had been shown a now out of print Sculpture Trail by Bob Hodges and later given a photocopy, which highlights the work of the Tory family that can be seen in Sheffield city centre; however, I needed to do some shopping before catching my hourly bus back to Treeton and I just took a couple of photos of the various granites used in the façade of Caffè Nero, before returning to Sheffield a few days later.
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| Pairs of grotesques on the gate piers |
On the corner of High Street and East Parade, the brick built Parade Chambers (1884) by M.E. Hadfield and Son has its Huddersfield stone dressings decorated with fine architectural sculpture, which includes a magnificent range of grotesques and fantastical beasts on the high level string course. Next to this building are four massive gate piers, which replaced the original ones in 1882 and are decorated with more wonderful grotesques, which I never cease to wonder at.
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| A grotesque on a gate pier |
Having taken a few more photos to add to my collection, which show these in various lighting conditions at different times of the day, I popped into Sheffield Central Library to return a book and say hello to my friend Claire and noted that flyers for my talk had been distribute, which was a timely reminder that some more preparation needed to be done.
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| A flyer at Sheffield Central Library |
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