Heritage weekend

Last weekend was Heritage Weekend when it's possible to look around places and buildings that are not always open to the public.

In the last few years I've gone to Sheffield Anglican Cathedral on the Saturday of Heritage Weekend and have usually helped with the refreshments, but this year I didn't feel up to it and instead decided to visit St. Mark's Church Broomhill in the city as part of my walk with my granddaughter. My husband took us to the Botanical Gardens and dropped us off and after our time in the gardens we walked to the church. By then the rain was getting heavy and we were glad to get there and go inside.

The church is an imposing-looking building located opposite the Hallamshire Hospital, surrounded by mature trees in leaf at this time of the year. I've been hoping to visit it and learn more about its history and see the stained glass windows from inside especially the one designed by John Piper and made by Patrick Reyntiens so the Open Day was a good opportunity  There's no indication of the beauty of the window at the East End by looking at it from outside in the church grounds. The John Piper window is placed above the entrance to the nave, which is accessed by a long vestibule We didn't walk around that side of the church because of the rain.

A corrugated iron church stood on the site in the 1850s then replaced by one of stone, Gothic in style, the architect being a pupil of Sir George Gilbert Scott and serving the people of this area of Sheffield, Broomhall.  Then in the late evening of 12th December 1940 and throughout the night the city was heavily bombed including St. Mark's Church. The inside was burnt out and also the roof. Only the tower and the walls remained. From then on services and church community life took place in the church hall and it was many years, in fact the 1960s, before the rebuilding began in a style very different from that of the Victorian one.

The East Window

The East Window designed by Henry Stammers the glass is set between the branches of a tree that shoot right and left from the trunk representing the Tree of Life. The central figure is Jesus Christ, King and Priest. The cross is made from girders, the kind that are manufactured in South Yorkshire. It's difficult to see all the detail as I took the photo whilst sitting in a pew and didn't feel I should get closer to the altar during our visit. A closer look at the detail of the stained glass would, no doubt, be interesting and inspiring.

the pulpit - the blocks of polished stone contain small fossils

mainly of vegetation

the font with its ironwork cover

The Side Chapel 

the windows were designed by Gillian Rees-Thomas

 the ladder-like design depicts 'paths to heaven' 

The West Window by John Piper and Patrick Reyntiens.

'The Holy Spirit Window'

Five on Friday

This Summer elephant sculptures have appeared in many areas in the city of Sheffield.  Wild in Art organised this event, Herd of Sheffield, and local artists have decorated the 58 fibreglass elephants in the herd sponsored by different groups and companies in aid of Sheffield's Children's Hospital projects, a very worthy cause. During September individuals can take part in a personal challenge to run, swim, walk or cycle and the sponsorship money will go towards creating two new purpose-built physiotherapy rooms in the new wing of the hospital. More funds will be raised by auctioning off the elephants at the end of October. It's possible to follow a trail until the 5th October and see all the elephants and in addition there is a Little Herd created by 73 Sheffield schools and they can be found in indoor venues until the 30th September.

My first sighting of an elephant was at the beginning of Summer when I had started getting out-and- about after my first operation.  It's in the walled garden by the library local to where we live, but I haven't included it in this blog post. Recently I took a walk in Weston Park which is near the hospital that I'm attending as an outpatient.  The Botanical Gardens is also near the different city hospitals so on another day I went there to find some more elephants.

I'm joining Amy's Five on Friday link-up and sharing five of the sculptures I've seen so far. 

1.  Elmer the Patchwork Elephant

  Patients of Sheffield Children's Hospital

"One of the most instantly recognisable members

of the Sheffield herd is Elmer the patchwork elephant.

He is a firm international favourite in millions of household.

To recreate the popular picture book character, created

by David McKee, the very special patients of Sheffield

Children's Hospital put their aprons on and got

their paintbrushes out in order to bring Elmer to life."
(information on the base of the sculpture)

Elmer the Patchwork Elephant can be seen in Weston Park
 Across the road is The Children's Hospital.

Weston Park Museum

Further along the Weston Park Museum terrace walk is Bugsy the Elephant

2.  Bugsy     Liz Hall

"Liz Hall celebrates the smallest and sometimes

 hidden wildlife found in our great green city...

By magnifying them for all to see on her sculpture

Liz hopes that Bugsy can inspire others to

look more closely at this wonderful miniature world

that is all around us."

(information on the base of the sculpture)

Another colourful elephant can be seen in Weston Park just inside the entrance gate near to Firth Court, Sheffield University, who sponsored the sculpture. 

3.  Donkeys in Elephant Land   James Green

"James Green has used his unusual canvas to create

a surreal landscape. At first glance his donkeys

appear to be wandering through a sparse desert

complete with wiry cacti.  Look again and you'll notice

 snowy dots falling down over the scene.  Are James'

animals living in a snowy desert? Are they on another 

planet entirely...Can you figure out this wonderfully abstract design?"

(information on the base of the sculpture)

On the hunt for more elephants my granddaughter and I went to Sheffield Botanical Gardens (on a very different day regarding the weather). I took the photos just before umbrellas were needed. We found two of the three elephants in the gardens. The colourful display of flowers in the herbaceous borders on either side of the long drive and in the Victorian Garden made up for the dull weather conditions.

The long drive leading to the glasshouses in Sheffield Botanical Gardens.

At the other end of the long drive near the fountain is another elephant who gives a thought-provoking message........

4.  Small Beginnings   Lisa Maltby

"The inspiration behind Lisa Maltby's elephant is about taking

 small steps to create something huge.  The smaller

elephants that cover the sculpture represent those small steps -

by painting each small elephant something larger is created

 with each tiny brush stroke.

 Big things often have small beginnings. "

(information on the base of the sculpture)

..... and near the main entrance on Clarkehouse Road was another elephant who was proving to be very popular with the families and small children.

5.  Henry the Constructor   Devon Bhurke

"Inspired by the construction industry, Henry the Constructor

is an attempt to bring a lively and fun character

to the Elephant Trail that both adults and children

will easily relate to. Henry is inspired by

the character Bob the Builder in the

children's television programme."

(information on base of the sculpture)

I hope you enjoyed seeing the elephants I've spotted so far. Don't be surprised if some more pop up on another blog post!  It will be fun to see more of these sculptures whilst walking around the city this month.

Cannon Hall, nr Barnsley (2)

We continue with our tour of Cannon Hall with a look around the servants' quarters

and the gardens.

One of the butler's rooms in the servants' quarters.

Across from the butler's pantry was a window where the butler or the house keeper

 could look down on the work going on in the kitchen. This has been set up

 as it would have been in the Victorian period and used for

 educational purposes by local schoolchildren.  

The walls have been painted blue to demonstrate the idea that putting a blue bag

 (used in the laundry) into the white paint would repel flies and also give a sense of coolness in the kitchen. 

Next to the kitchen is the pantry room and the laundry room.

You could imagine an elderly member of the Spencer-Stanhopes

 steering this Bath chair around in the grounds pushed from behind

 by servants.

The entrance to the Walled Garden

the Kitchen Garden

Pear trees have been growing in the Walled Garden

for many years. Some growing up the high walls are decades old and its

 an important collection. There are over 40 varieties and every year,

 this year on the 18th of this month, Cannon Hall holds a Pear Day

 when the pears are harvested.

Activities include tastings and pear inspired refreshments.

There are two old greenhouses and a more modern construction (on the left).

A Muscat grape brought back as a pip by John Spencer-Stanhope

 from one of his Grand Tours was grown in the one on the right

and peaches are grown in one end of this glasshouse which has been 

rebuilt over time (date c. end of the 19th century).

Another glasshouse on the north side of the Walled Garden needs to be restored. Once fruits such as figs, vines, nectarines and apricots were grown there against the hot-wall heated by a boiler as well as flowers for use in the house.

Wandering along a path surrounded by magnificent mature trees a visitor comes across a wild area and a pond.  Cecily, the daughter of Sir Walter Spencer-Stanhope was involved in the 1870s in the design of this area called Fairy Land.  Placed amongst the vegetation are arches and pillars built from material taken from demolished buildings. It was fashionable at the time to create these naturalistic areas in contrast to the more formal gardens and in the case of Fairy Land vistas of the parkland can be viewed through the stone arches.

At an earlier period John Spencer, who inherited the house and land, had the vision and finances to employ a landscape gardener, Richard Woods and a gardener, Thomas Peach, in order to create something grander than what had been there previously.  Inspired by the great landscape designer, Capability Brown, the estate was transformed.  Lakes, bridges, cascades were built, hundreds of trees including a lime tree avenue were planted in the parkland.  Apparently Capability Brown visited and approved of the result.  As we stayed near to the house we didn't see everything in these extensive grounds.  Hopefully there'll be an opportunity to return.