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'