A Recce for the Nether Edge Festival

 

King's Centre

 

In December 2021, as part of one of my British Listed Buildings Photo Challenges in south-west Sheffield, I walked through Nether Edge from Machon Bank Road to Sheffield General Cemetery via Union Road and Cherry Tree Road. On the 12th, 13th and 17th February 2023, I finally got round to writing my Language Stone Blog posts that record my observations of the historic architecture and the building stones used in their construction. 

 

The route of my Photo Challenge for Nether Edge

 

Based on these and other posts that I had written about the old quarries at Brincliffe Edge and on Ecclesall Road and the Sheffield General Cemetery. I was approached by the Nether Edge History Group to ask if I could give a talk on this subject. Mainly because of the irregularity and unreliability of the buses that serve Treeton in the evening, this never happened but eventually I was asked to lead a walk as part of the 2024 Nether Edge Festival. 

 

A walk during the Nether Edge Festival

My intention was to start at the old quarry off Brincliffe Lane, formerly occupied by the Baldwin Omega restaurant, which has been redeveloped as Chelsea Heights and then finish at the Kenwood Hall Hotel. I had previously undertaken a recce for a Sheffield U3A Geology Group field trip, which didn’t happen, but I decided to spend an afternoon in Sheffield to follow on from my trip to Thorpe Hesley and Chapeltown the weekend before. 

 

The west elevation of Bluecoat House

Alighting from the No. 218 bus at the Psalter Lane/Brincliffe Gardens stop, I firstly went to see if I could see any of any of the old quarry faces in the back gardens of the houses on Bluecoat Rise, but these aren’t visible from the public rights of way. 

 

The north elevation of Bluecoat House

Having attended Christ’s Hospital school, I was nevertheless very interested to discover Bluecoat House (c.1912), a former Blue Coat charity school that was relocated from East Parade in the city centre, but which has since been converted into apartments. 

 

The Boys' Charity Shown on the 1923 Ordnance Survey map

 

Although I can barely make out the inscriptions, a couple of plaques on the north elevation record some of the history of this school - founded in 1710 - and its benefactors, which include the Duke of Norfolk and Joseph Banks of Scofton. 

 

Plaques removed from the Boys' Charity School on Eastgate Parade

 

On my previous recce, I had another good look at the principal buildings on this route, but on this occasion I wanted to have a look at some of the larger houses built on Chelsea Road during the second half of the C19, which I did not see at the time.

 

Coping stones used for the surround to a garden gate

Continuing along Psalter Lane, I crossed over the road to have a quick look at the surround to a garden gate, which is made of three large tooled coping stones surround, before heading up Brincliffe Hill to the entrance of Chelsea Heights. 

 

A remaining quarry face at Chelsea Heights

 

Making note of the space available to accommodate attendees of the walk, when looking at the Greenmoor Rock in the remains of the quarry face, I proceeded to Chelsea Rise and to the entrance of Quarry Head Lodge, which is built in another old quarry and this is commemorated with a sculpture of a plug and feathers. 

 

The plug and feathers sculpture

On a previous visit to Brincliffe Edge, I took a quick look at the old quarry faces here, which have been stabilised with rock bolts, but a geologist who has led geological walks during the Nether Edge Festival reported to me that residents of this private apartment block had not been happy with a group looking at the old quarry face. 

 

The area around Chelsea Road on the 1894 Ordance Survey map

Returning to Chelsea Road, the 1894 Ordnance Survey map shows that this part of Nether Edge still remained largely undeveloped, with Brinckliffe Tower being set in large grounds that have since been turned into Chelsea Park and a few houses set in large gardens. 

 

Later Victorian houses on Chelsea road

 

None of these houses are listed buildings, but these provide examples of the use of locally quarried Greenmoor Rock and Chris Venables, who had asked me to lead the walk and attended a field trip with the Sheffield U3A Geology Group Field trip, has considerable knowledge of these houses and the people who lived there. 

 

Glenholme on Union Road

I took photographs of the various listed and other interesting buildings that I had previously encountered on Union Road, but I cannot add more to the descriptions of these in previous Language of Stone Blog posts and for the second half of the walk, I looked for boundary walls and gatepiers along the footpaths where the differences in the sandstones used for these can be clearly seen from a safe place. 

 

Boundary walls and gatepiers

 

It had taken me just over an hour to complete my walk from Chelsea Heights to Kenwood Hall Hotel and, with the sun shining brightly, I walked to St. Andrew’s church on Psalter Lane, which had opened its doors on the first day of the 2024 Heritage Open Days (HOD) festival. 

 

St. Andrew's church on Psalter Lane

 

I had visited this church during the festival a few years earlier and spent only a few minutes looking at the interior, where I noted that Ancaster limestone has been used for the arcades instead of sandstone – a feature that I had only seen in Sheffield at St. John’s church in Ranmoor – before continuing down Psalter Lane to have another quick look at Sheffield General Cemetery. 

 

An Ancaster limestone column in St. Andrew's church