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Beauchief Abbey


southside

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Our regular Boxing day walk down Beauchief Drive takes us past the Abbey! My wife happend to mention that some of the stone from the Abbey was used in the construction of Beauchief Hall.

But where did the stone come from to build the Abbey? was/is there a quarry close by? the same goes for Sheffield Cathedral and St Nicholas Church at Bradfield also Norton Church. Anyone know of any quarries the stone may have come from that was used in the construction of these fine building's.

Thanks southside

 

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You'd really need to analyse what sort of stone was used, e.g sandstone, gritstone etc.

There were local quarries e.g. where Homebase is now on Chesterfield Road, and where the Co-op supermarket is on Ecclesall Road at Banner Cross. I reckon they'd be sandstone. But gritstone would have come from Derbyshire I'd imagine.

Distance wasn't necessarily a problem. The Normans transported stone from France for some of their castles etc.

Ayfer

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If you require a comprehensive guide to the building stones of S&W Yorkshire try this link:

file:///C:/Users/pmwor/AppData/Local/Temp/West_and_South_Yorkshire_Building_Stone_Atlas.pdf

A briliant resource'

Wazzie Worrall

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5 hours ago, Paul Worrall said:

If you require a comprehensive guide to the building stones of S&W Yorkshire try this link:

file:///C:/Users/pmwor/AppData/Local/Temp/West_and_South_Yorkshire_Building_Stone_Atlas.pdf

A briliant resource'

Wazzie Worrall

Wrong link Paul, is this the one ?  ---https://www.bgs.ac.uk/downloads/start.cfm?id=2509

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Thanks for the input guy's! I guess it's one of the questions we'll not get an answer to, although saying that! The land where the Abbey is built was the grant of an Estate by Robert Fitz- Ranulph in 1176 and there are several quarry's contained within to choose from. (suitability that's another question)

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=OXxbAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Beauchief+Abbey&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwizmI3k0PvmAhVCSRUIHcmLDjUQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

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Some good links there, very interesting.

I pass Beauchief Abbey regularly and sometimes play golf there, the walk down from the third tee gives a great view of the Abbey's location in the surrounding area.  It makes sense that it was built of locally available stone, why bring it in from elsewhere?

I have two other questions; - who built it and why??

Did the monks(canons) from France decide to come over to Escafeld and build themselves an Abbey? I believe the monks all had proper jobs during the day so it would have been self-sufficient.

Or did Fitz-Ranulph want to extend his estate and brought in the local builders?  Dedicating it to Thomas Becket declared his Catholic allegiance?

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There is a tradition in Sheffield of "building houses out of their cellars".  Perhaps the Abbey was built from stone extracted from their fish pond - see 1850 map below - was the pond to the east of their site the source? The "Historic England" website states that the fishponds were created by damming for the monks by William de Grenlyf who died in 1411 but maybe he enlarged an existing pond?

1497309279_BeauchiefAbbey1850.png.7abb2a5fb3176c1361458ea3d8c52052.png

1637822762_BeauchiefAbbey1801.png.e030e50e3a1790baaeb2699ad00de5ae.png

 

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Hi rover1949,  There's a bit more about about the Abbey in this preview from Google Books, it's from the book, A Monastic Community in Local society:The Beauchief Abbey Cartulary.  Edited by David Hay, Lisa Liddy and David Luscombe    https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=favCAQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

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On 13/01/2020 at 15:40, Edmund said:

There is a tradition in Sheffield of "building houses out of their cellars".  Perhaps the Abbey was built from stone extracted from their fish pond - see 1850 map below - was the pond to the east of their site the source? The "Historic England" website states that the fishponds were created by damming for the monks by William de Grenlyf who died in 1411 but maybe he enlarged an existing pond?

1497309279_BeauchiefAbbey1850.png.7abb2a5fb3176c1361458ea3d8c52052.png

1637822762_BeauchiefAbbey1801.png.e030e50e3a1790baaeb2699ad00de5ae.png

 

There appears to be no depth to the pond Edmund and no indication that any quarrying has taken place.

This Photograph from Bing Maps is taken from the same direction as your 1850s map, interestingly the old map shows only one pond.

 

Beauchief Abbey.jpg

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I believe the pond in the photo is a modern development used as a hazard for the golf course. A stream runs down from Bocking Lane direction that could have been dammed or diverted to create various ponds near the Abbey.

I would guess that stone would have been cut from natural outcrops, there are plenty in the area, right up into the moors. 

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