Geology & Historic Architecture

An introduction to...

in

South Yorkshire

A geological map of the British Islands

A collection of building stones and faience tiles

A geological map of South Yorkshire and the surrounding counties

A sand and gravel pit at Ash Holt in Doncaster

Triassic Sherwood Sandstone overlain by Quaternary fluvio-glacial sand and gravel – Ash Holt

The Yellow Sands Formation – an aquifer and source of moulding and building sand

Brodsworth Hall, showing the restoration of low level stones affected by rising damp

Weathering of fine details

A weathered scroll bracket

An old quarry face showing variation in bed thickness and joints and fractures

The Quarry Garden at Brodsworth Hall

A simplified map of the geology around the Don Gorge

Conisbrough Castle. The ashlar masonry to the keep is exceptionally well preserved

All round views from the keep at Conisbrough Castle

A bryozoan reef at North Cliff Quarry – a source of stone for Conisbrough castle?

Roche Abbey – relatively simple masonry with the stone still in good condition

The Palace of Westminster

Architectural details at the Palace of Westminster

Charles Dickens described the stone as being “the worst ever used in the capital”, having seen the need for constant, expensive repair.

An old quarry face in 1996

2014

Detail of drill holes for the plug and feathers method of extracting large blocks of stone

Differential weathering of the Cadeby Formation in Anston Stones Wood

A pinnacle at South Anston Memorial Gardens

A section of a mullion from the Palace of Westminster - at Clifton Park Museum

“”Rotherham Red” sandstone at All Saints church and the Chapel of Our Lady on the Bridge

Boston Park – massive and flaggy sandstone, with beds full of ironstone pellets

An old “Rotherham Red” sandstone quarry at Boston Park in Rotherham

St. Helen’s church in Treeton – the limestone in the tower is said to come from Roche Abbey

Reddened soil overlying the Mexborough Rock to the south of Rotherham

The keep at Peveril Castle – fine sandstone ashlar with a limestone rubble core

Carboniferous limestone used for walling

The interior of the keep – cavernous decay within the sandstone walls

Views over Castleton from Peveril Castle

Cave Dale – a landscape resulting from collapsed caverns and erosion in a periglacial climate

The Chatsworth Grit at Burbage Rocks - a coarse gritstone formed in a deltaic environment

A detail of the Chatsworth Grit – a coarse gritstone with pebbles of predominantly vein quartz

A view south along Curbar Edge – a further example of the Chatsworth Grit

Sheffield Town Hall & The Peace Gardens – Millstone Grit from Derbyshire & Huddersfield

Greenmoor Rock at the old Green Moor quarry – once occupied by the Rock Inn

The Green Moor Quarry RIGS before cleaning of loose rock and vegetation

The Green Moor Quarry RIGS after cleaning – now part of the Stoneway Manor housing estate

A view north along the escarpment at the Isle of Skye Quarry in Green Moor

A local application of the Greenmoor Rock for dry stone walling and the village stocks

St. John the Baptist church in Penistone