Historic Architecture on Lound Side

 

The tower of the former Mount Pleasant Methodist Church

After walking from Grenoside to Charlton Brook, where the rock exposures in the streambed and stream banks were much more extensive than I had expected, having added a few more specimens to my growing rock collection, I turned my attention to the various historic buildings on Lound Side in Chapeltown that did not have a photograph on the British Listed Buildings website. 

 

A glimpse of the former Mount Pleasant Methodist Church

Following a path that runs alongside The Barrel public house, which soon turned into what would be described in South Yorkshire as a snicket, I soon came caught a glimpse of the tower of the former Mount Pleasant Methodist Church, which is now a private dwelling. 

 

The former Mount Pleasant Methodist Church

Built in 1866 with a Gothic Revival design by James Wilson of Bath, it is certainly a very impressive church building, with its geometric tracery and elaborate detailing to the tower – which includes an indented cornice, octagonal crown like corner turrets, an arcaded balustrade and large dragons on each corner. 

 

A dragon

I couldn’t get near enough to the blackened masonry to hazard a guess at its provenance, which looks quite similar to the sandstone used in a former school just to the north of it, which is marked on the 1855 Ordnance Survey map and is now converted into apartments.

 

An old school on Lound Side

Continuing my walk on Lound Side, I was interested to see the unlisted Lound Board School, built in 1901, which was one of seven board schools commissioned by the Ecclesfield School Board (1887-1902). These were all designed by George Archibald Wilson of Wilson and Masters, including those at Hillsborough and Low Wincobank, but the Ecclesfield, Burncross and Chapeltown Warren schools have been demolished and the one at Grenoside remains empty.

The Lound Board School

Next door is a former National School and school house, dated 1844, which later became the church hall to St. John’s church on the opposite side of the road, but now also seems to have been converted into a private house. I didn’t closely examine its stonework but, judging by its uniform yellowish colour, I think that this could be Grenoside Sandstone. 

 

The former National School and School House

Crossing the road to the Grade II Listed former St. John’s church, built in 1860 with a Gothic Revival style design by the Sheffield architectural practice Weightman and Hadfield, a sturdy fence erected by the current owners prevented me from getting anywhere near the building to look at the sandstone used here. 

 

Views of St. John's church

 

Having a quick wander around the publicly accessible graveyard, however, I was very interested to see the family tomb of various descendants of Thomas Newton, which is built in the best quality sandstone with Shap light granite panels and pink Peterhead granite colonnettes. 

Views of the Newton family tomb

Geology at Charlton Brook in Sheffield

 

A stream bank exposure of the Whinmoor Coal at Charlton Brook

Arriving at the Bridge Inn, after my walk from Grenoside, I followed the path that runs east along the north side of Charlton Brook and soon came across Charlton Brook Dam, which was constructed by Newton Chambers and Co. in the 1870s, to supply water to the Thorncliffe Ironworks, but is now used as a fishing pond. 

 

Charlton Brook Dam

Continuing along the path for a short distance, I took the first opportunity to investigate the stream banks and immediately found an exposure of what is very probably the Penistone Flags, although the outcrop where I obtained my specimen is on the edge of its mapped outcrop and I didn’t have a GPS device to obtain a grid reference. 

 

A geological map showing the position of the Penistone Flags (PF)

The outcrop in the streambed and banks comprises irregularly jointed sandstone that occurs in thin beds of approximately 30-60 mm thick, which is very similar to the variation in thickness of the stone used in the dry stone boundary wall to Barnes Hall Farm on Bracken Hill, where the underlying bedrock is the Penistone Flags. 

 

A streambed exposure of the Penistone Flags

The sample that I obtained is grey/light brown in colour, with iron stained laminations giving it feint orange banding but no Liesegang rings were obvious in the bedrock. It has a very fine grained texture, with quartz being predominant and a small amount of mica scattered throughout the body of the sandstone. 

 

A specimen of the Penistone Flags

 

Exposures of disrupted flaggy sandstone in the banks and slabs in the streambed continued for some distance, after which it was succeeded by an extensive outcrop of sandstone, where the bedding plane was clearly exposed. 

 

An exposed bedding plane in flaggy sandstone

Standing on the edge of the brook to photograph this, I was very surprised to discover that I was standing over a small outcrop of well jointed coal, which was jutting out of the muddy stream bank just above the water level. Later looking on the online 1:50,000 map, its position coincides with an area that has been marked as a small infilled opencast coal site, which straddles Charlton Brook. 

 

A small outcrop of the Whinmoor Coal

The coal seam marked here is the Whinmoor Coal, which the geological memoir describes as a bright clean coal that is locally of value, and, when viewed from further downstream, the coal is seen to be overlain by yellow weathered mudstone. 

 

An exposure of yellow weathered mudstone above the Whinmoor Coal

 

Following the brook downstream, often walking along the streambed, there are further exposures of flaggy and very thinly bedded laminated sandstone, from the Pennine Lower Coal Measures Formation (PLCMF) higher in the stratigraphic column, from which I obtained another specimen. 

 

An exposure of flaggy sandstone

 

Although of a similar very fine grain size, it comes from a bed that is no more than 15 mm thick and has iron banding that has a more intense orange/red colour than the flaggy sandstone further upstream, with a scattering of unidentified black iron bearing minerals that have often broken down into oxides/hydroxides. 

 

A specimen of flaggy PLCMF sandstone

Continuing downstream, hopping from one rock to another with a decent pair of walking boots, I could easily imagine an undergraduate or postgraduate geology student - wearing Wellington boots - walking along the streambed to undertake a field mapping project along Charlton Brook. 

 

An ochreous deposit

In a couple of places I noticed ochreous deposits, which are associated with the microbial breakdown of the mineral pyrite found in coal seams, but I didn’t see any signs of the Black Band Coal that is marked on the geological map. 

 

The streambed in Charlton Brook

Further downstream, rock exposures become less frequent and the stream channel deepens and widens. Although small pieces of flaggy sandstone in the streambed are still abundant, the character of the deposits laid down in and adjacent to the stream channel changes noticeably and, by the time that I left Charlton Brook at Blackburn Drive, I could only see alluvial deposits.

 

Alluvial deposits at Charlton Brook

A Walk From Grenoside to High Green

 

The entrance to Greno Woods

After finishing my brief look at the masonry of Hoober Stand and the Abdy Rock in the Hoober Plantation quarry, my friend Andy and I drove to the Needle’s Eye and then down into Wentworth Village, where we had a quick look at the monuments in Old Holy Trinity Church. 

 

Monuments in Old Holy Trinity Church

Whilst I always like to photograph these, to capture them in different light, I can’t add any more information about them and so I will carry on by describing my next day out, a few days later, when I walked from Grenoside to Chapeltown in Sheffield.

 

The geology of the area around Grenoside and Chapeltown

The main purpose of my trip was to try and find the Local Geological Site at Charlton Brook in High Green, Sheffield, which the Sheffield Area Geology Trust (SAGT) website cites the principal interest as the strata above the Whinmoor Coal – a sequence of rocks that I had walked across earlier in the year, at Kimberworth in Rotherham. 

 

Unlisted historic buildings in Grenoside

Arriving in Grenoside on the No. 86 bus from Sheffield, I took a few quick snaps of various historic buildings that are not listed but, being built with the locally quarried Grenoside Sandstone, add character to the Conservation Area and very often deserve local listing. 

 

Waste rock from an old quarry in Greno Woods

Continuing through Greno Woods, I encountered a small shallow quarry, which was presumably used to obtain the underlying Grenoside Sandstone for field boundary walls and, although there were no rock exposures, I obtained a sample from the vegetated rock waste. 

 

A boundary wall in Greno Woods

The sample that I obtained has a bed thickness of 30 mm and is fine/medium grained, but with no obvious mica, which the geological memoir states is considered to be a characteristic feature of the Grenoside Sandstone. Its colour is light brown and this results from iron bearing minerals and their degradation to iron oxides/hydroxides, which can be seen with a hand lens. 

 

A specimen of Grenoside Sandstone

Continuing my walk through the woods to Penistone Road and crossing over to Bracken Hill, I headed down to Burncross and briefly stopped at the entrance to Barnes Hall Farm, where I was able to photograph the west and north barns for the British Listed Buildings website. 

 

A view of the west and north barns at Barnes Hall Farm

I was also interested in the dry stone walling used in the boundary wall here, as I am pretty sure that it is an example of the use of the Penistone Flags, which I had only seen in a couple of very small outcrops, when undertaking surveys for the South Yorkshire RIGS (Regionally Important Geological Sites) Group back in 1996. 

 

A dry stone wall built with sandstone from the Penistone Flags

This formation comprises shales that contain very many beds of flaggy sandstone, which are extremely variable in thickness and lateral extent and, because it has been large built over, has not been easy to map. Walking down Hollow Gate to the Bridge Inn, I had hoped to see some exposures in the steep bank on the east side of the road, but I could see nothing from the path.

 

A view down Hollow Gate

Hoober Stand and the Abdy Rock

 

A view up Hoober Stand

With my exploration of St. Oswald’s church in Methley concluding my participation in the Heritage Open Days festival for 2021, I ended the weekend with a trip to the village of Wentworth, with transportation on this occasion provided by a friend that I hadn’t seen since my walk around Ulley Brook back in February. 

 

A view of Hoober Stand

Our plan was to go up Hoober Stand, one of the follies on the Wentworth Estate, which is usually opened every Sunday afternoon for 3 hours between Spring Bank Holiday and the end of September. The website for the Wentworth Estate has been hacked and, not finding any information about public visits, we turned up to discover that it was still closed due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, which had commenced 18 months earlier. 

 

The inscription on Hoober Stand

The folly, designed by Henry Flitcroft, was built in 1747-8 to commemorate defeat of the Jacobite rebellion in 1745, when Thomas Watson Wentworth fought on the side of King George II. At 30 metres high and set on the second highest point in Rotherham, it can be seen from miles around and the views from the top are stunning, even on a cloudy day - as was the situation when I first visited it back in 2009. 

 

A view of Wentworth Woodhouse from Hoober Stand

Although its closure put paid to our plans, we decided to go and have a quick look at the Needle’s Eye, which my friend Andy had never seen but, before setting off, I had a quick look at the adjoining quarry to take a few photographs. 

 

The setting of Hoober Stand on the Abdy Rock

I had last visited this quarry back in 1996, when undertaking surveys for the South Yorkshire RIGS (Regionally Important Geological Sites) Group, and I wanted to collect a piece of the Abdy Rock, to see how it compared with the specimen that I obtained from Rawmarsh a few months earlier. 

 

The quarry in Hoober Plantation

Very little rock is now exposed in the quarry, but I soon discovered a small section of cross-bedded flaggy sandstone, where the beds have been opened up by surface weathering processes – a feature that is quite common in the Pennine Coal Measures Group sandstones. 

 

Cross-bedded flaggy sandstone

Although I didn’t have my Estwing hammer with me, numerous pieces of sandstone were lying around and I quickly found a specimen that is buff coloured, fine grained and does not have obvious iron staining. It is quite different to my other specimen of Abdy Rock, which is grey in colour, contains flattened iron nodules, coal flecks and is associated with coal, mudstone and shale. 

 

A specimen of the Abdy Rock

I always assumed that Hoober Stand has been built with sandstone from the Hoober Plantation quarry although, since discovering the much larger Hoober Quarry when using the National Library of Scotland maps, I suspect that this may have been the source.

 

An old Ordnance Survey map of the area around Hoober Stand

Documentation is needed to identify the quarry source, but the ashlar masonry at Hoober Stand has a very distinctive pattern of differentially weathered cross-bedding, which is emphasised by the contrast between the fresh and industry blackened surfaces. 

 

Weathered cross-bedding at Hoober Stand

Having obtained my specimen, I had a very quick look around the rest of the quarry and was interested to discover quite a large exposure, with massive, cross-bedded sandstone exposed below a section where the flaggy beds have been affected by surface weathering processes.

 

A large exposure of the Abdy Rock

 

With Andy waiting patiently for me to finish my brief exploration of the quarry, I didn’t examine this exposure closely and just took a few general photos of its principal features; however, this enabled me to clearly see that in the lowermost beds of sandstone, where the thin beds have not yet been opened up, the fine grained beds have started to weather out. 

 

A detail of the Abdy Rock

Methley and Castleford

 

A detail of the HSBC bank on Bank Street

The church of St. Oswald in Methley is at the centre of an area known as Methley Church Side, a small agricultural hamlet including Church Side Farm that dominated the wider mediaeval township of Methley. While waiting for the bus back to Castleford, having already taken a good look at the exterior and interior of the church and its monuments, I took a few photos of the two Grade II Listed buildings that can be found here. 

 

The Club House

 

The early to mid C19 Club House - an old school with an integrated master’s house - is set on the main road just to the south of the churchyard and is built in a Coal Measures sandstone, similar to the one seen in the south aisle wall of the church, with a graduated stone tile roof. 

 

The Club House

 

Except for the Decorated Gothic style design, which includes a pointed window in the south wing, quatrefoil tracery, shouldered arches and trefoils seen along the east elevation, there isn’t a great deal to see and I quickly moved on. 

 

Church Side Farmhouse

The late C17 Church Side Farmhouse, opposite Methley Cricket Club, is a much more interesting building, with its symmetrical front and mullioned windows, large gable dormers and massive flues and chimney stacks that give it a very solid appearance. 

 

Church Side Farmhouse

While waiting for my bus from Castleford to Methley and later when waiting for the train back to Sheffield, I had a very quick wander around Castleford, mainly to see the Millennium Bridge, which crosses the River Aire just downstream of the Castleford Weir. 

 

The Millennium Bridge

From the footbridge, there are fine views of the weir and its fish pass, as well as the Grade II Listed road bridge, which is one of the two listed buildings in the town. It was completed in 1808 to the design of Bernard Hartley and is built with sandstone ashlar in a Classical style, with rusticated voussoirs and a vermiculated keystone. 

 

Castleford road bridge

There are also excellent views of the former Queen’s Mill, which is the largest stone grinding flour mill in the world, with 20 pairs of grinding stones. The milling of flour has taken place on this site for more than 900 years, with archaeological finds of timber wharves and wheat dating to the Roman settlement Lagentium, which suggests that the industry could be much older. 

 

Queen's Mill

“What can the architectural recorder say about Castleford? There does not seem to be a single building in the centre of the town worth mentioning” is Sir Nikolaus Pevsner’s introduction to Castleford and he only goes on to very briefly mention All Saints church, two other churches outside Castleford and the pithead baths. 

 

The Carnegie Free Library

I only had the time to take a very quick look at the principal shopping area around Carlton Street, but I thought that his judgement was very harsh – especially since I encountered the Carnegie Free Library, the Castleford Market Hall, a Wesleyan Methodist church and a couple of cinemas – including the Picture House - which would probably be listed in many other places.

 

Architecture in Castleford

I finished my very brief exploration of Castleford at Booth Street, where I encountered a large totem pole like sculpture entitled the Core of Castleford, by Tim Shutter, which is meant to represent the local geology and history and uses black granite and limestone.

 

The Core of Castleford