The Cathedral Quarter, Sheffield

When I go into Sheffield city centre I usually get off at the tram stop by Sheffield Anglican Cathedral. In recent months there have been noticeable changes around the front entrance and also inside due to a re-ordering of the main building.

The former churchyard used to have iron railings around it.  In recent years the tram route was constructed through the area and it must have been quite an undertaking and upheaval at the time to put this transport system in place.

On a snowy day earlier this year there was a church service to dedicate to God the re-ordering project which will give better access to all including an entrance that will be easier for the disabled and with more facilities for welcoming visitors.

There is boarding around the Cathedral frontage where the workmen are working on the entrance, have been putting up the scaffolding etc.

The pews in the main body of the cathedral were taken out in preparation for the work in the nave.  Two of the adjoining chapels, including the Shrewsbury Chapel, were closed off to protect them from the building work and the nave was boarded up from other chapels that are now being used for services, St. George's Chapel or the Holy Spirit Chapel.

                                                               The Holy Spirit Chapel

There are still places in the Cathedral to spend some quiet time and  people are welcomed and come in and out all the time. You can view the work being done by the workmen in the nave and west end entrance through viewing panels.  There's access through a side door and the work of serving the city continues in many other ways in a place where there has been a Christian worshipping presence for nearly a thousand years.

 

Lilac-time

As well as other blossom in pinks and mauve, the lilac adds a sweet perfume to the neighbourhood where I live and particularly the ones leaning over the stone walls in the little road that winds around in a crescent next to our home.

The poem that includes the line 'Come down to Kew in lilac -time, (it isn't far from London)!' would normally refer to the earlier month of April.  However, the beautiful lilac is a welcome addition to May flowers.

I didn't have to go far to take these photos during a sunny hour last week.  Since then we are back to cold winds and rain.

Yesterday I spent an interesting afternoon with a group, mainly Friends of Derby Museums and Art Gallery, taking a walk with a writer and historian guide to see where John Whitehurst, the famous clockmaker, instrument maker and geologist lived as part of the tercentenary celebrations of Whitehurst's birth. The heavy rain and wind did not deter us, but my photographs captured some  bleak scenes, especially as many of the buildings associated with this fascinating man and his associate, the landscape and portrait painter, Joseph Wright, are in need of some TLC and promotion such as the Friends of the Museums are trying to do.  I didn't manage to go into the Joseph Wright Gallery to see his paintings as I was in need of a cup of tea with our relatives before heading back home.  That's something to look forward to another time!

Plaque in the pavement near John Whitehurst's house.

John Whitehurst's premises in Irongate is covered in scaffolding and plastic tarpaulin.

The alleyway leads to his first clock making workshop at the back of the house.

The narrow building of the clock making workshop.
Many fine clocks were made by
members of his clock making family
 and those that were apprenticed to them such as
the Smiths of Derby.

                                                  The clock tower of Derby Cathedral