Cottage, barn, coach house and stables, Norwood Grange, Firth Park, Sheffield

Summary

Cottage, barn, stables and coach house. Mid C19 for Norwood Grange, a suburban villa of the same date. Sandstone with slate roofs.

Description

Cottage, barn, stables and coach house. Mid C19 for Norwood Grange, a suburban villa of the same date. Sandstone with slate roofs.

PLAN: L-shaped range with a cottage of two storeys and cellar on east side, attached to a double-height barn with a through carriage bay, and a long west wing of five bays and two storeys with a central coach house, former stables to the left and stables or cattle byres to the right, latterly converted to domestic use. First floor not accessible.

EXTERIOR: the range is built parallel to Longley Lane and is arranged round a small yard. It is built of squared sandstone blocks laid water-shot with the upper edges angled slightly outwards, with ashlar used for quoins to all outer corners, kneelers, coping, and dressings. It has slate roofs.

Cottage: the cottage lies on the east side with its front elevation facing south-east, away from the yard. The two-storey front elevation is L-shaped with a projecting, gabled bay on the right-hand side, a recessed, gabled bay on the left-hand side, and a single-storey, lean-to porch to the inner angle. The porch has a Tudor-arched doorway with ashlar surround, and a buttressed outer corner with ashlar quoins, kneeler and coping. The left-hand gabled bay has a circular, foliate corbel and shaped finial at the apex of the gable and projecting above the coping. There is a large, square-headed window on the ground floor with two narrower, arched windows above on the first floor and a small, square-headed window to the right with small-pane glazing. The right-hand gabled bay has a wide, square-headed window on the ground floor with a narrower, square-headed window above on the first floor. The door and windows are boarded with the exception of the small, square-headed window. The north side elevation has a tall, brick-built eaves stack, and two windows towards the right-hand side. The small ground-floor window and larger first-floor window both have square heads and are presently boarded. The return, gabled west elevation is blind and attached to the inner, north face of the barn, which runs east-west. The first bay on the left-hand side of the barn actually belongs to the cottage and contains a door with an adjacent window and a first-floor window above, both square-headed and presently boarded. The south, side elevation of the cottage continues as the south, outer face of the barn to its left. Towards the left-hand side of the cottage is a single ground-floor window with a first-floor window above. There is a stone ridge stack with a moulded stone cap.

Barn: the barn connects the cottage with the long, west wing. The inner, north face has a large, segmental-arched cart entrance to the right of the cottage bay. It has an ashlar surround with a giant keystone. The outer, south face of the barn has a similar cart entrance to the left of the cottage, now bricked up. The west, gabled wall faces onto Longley Lane. It has ashlar quoins, kneelers and coping. There is a square, first-floor pitching door with ashlar surround at first-floor level.

West wing: this part of the range faces into the small, east yard. The east, front elevation has a slightly projecting, gabled central bay. This has a similar foliate corbel and shaped finial as the cottage. On the ground floor is a full-width, segmental arched cart entrance with ashlar surround and giant keystone. On the first floor is a round-headed window with an ashlar surround incorporating impost blocks and a giant keystone. The two bays to the left each have a similar round-headed window on the first floor. Beneath each window on the ground floor is a doorway with an ashlar surround. To the left of the left-hand doorway is a narrow window, with wider windows to the right of both doors, all with square heads and ashlar surrounds. The two bays to the right each have a single, square-headed window on the first floor. On the ground floor are two doorways flanking two square-headed windows. The doorways and windows have ashlar surrounds. There are four stone ridge stacks. The west, rear elevation is blind other than a narrow, ground-floor opening with an ashlar surround to left of centre. At the right-hand end it abuts the west gabled wall of the barn.

INTERIOR
Cottage: the ground floor contains three rooms and a narrow entrance hall leading into a stair bay set at a right angle on the west side of the cottage. The staircase has a painted, timber balustrade with square, moulded newel posts, moulded handrail, and stick balusters. The first-floor landing has a moulded cornice. The front room to the left of the entrance hall has an egg-and-dart moulded cornice. The cottage has four-panelled doors, moulded timber door and window architraves, and timber shutters to the windows. The fireplaces have mid-C20 chimney-pieces. The first floor was not inspected as it was not accessible.

Barn: the barn is of three bays with two king post roof trusses with raking struts. The timbers are machine-sawn with metal bolts. There is a single row of tusk-tenoned purlins to each side.

West wing: the central coach house has a single cross beam and is ceiled with a boarded back wall. On the north side wall is a brick chimneybreast with a small fireplace, perhaps inserted. The right-hand bays now interconnect on the ground floor and are fitted out as two rooms of a cottage with plastered walls and plate racks. To the rear of the left-hand room is a narrow staircase up to the first floor. The first floor of this wing was not inspected, nor were the left-hand bays as they were not accessible.

History

This L-shaped range of a cottage, barn, coach house and stables was built for Norwood Grange. A precise date of construction is not known. Pevsner’s Architectural Guides to Sheffield (2004) describes Norwood Grange as a ‘Jacobean style early C19 house …Good range of stables and groom’s house’. The main house is not, however, shown on the first edition 1:10560 Ordnance Survey map for Yorkshire published in 1855. A building is shown on the site of the L-shaped range, though it appears to be shorter in length than the present building as the southern end is not shown in line with the southern elevation of Piper Houses on the west side of Longley Lane, whereas the later footprint of the range does place the southern elevations of the two buildings in line. Norwood Grange is said to have been built in the 1850s for Thomas Fisher, a partner in the Britannia metal manufacturing company of Shaw and Fisher. It is shown and identified on the first edition 1:2500 Ordnance Survey map for Yorkshire published in 1892, as is the L-shaped range. This has the same footprint as present except for the smaller building and glasshouse attached to the north wall of the cottage. The use of Gothic detailing on the range, and machine-sawn and bolted roof trusses in the barn section of the building also suggest a mid-C19 date of construction rather than earlier.

As built the range appears to have comprised a single-phase cottage, barn, coach house, stables, and perhaps cattle byres. At an unknown date, likely to be in the C20, the byres and stables appear to have been converted to domestic accommodation, with chimneystacks.

Norwood Grange was bought by Sheffield City Council shortly before the Second World War and during the war was used as a base for the fire service and air raid wardens. In the 1990s the main house became a residential care home and has been much altered. The range is presently (2015) unoccupied.

Reasons for Listing

The L-shaped cottage, barn, coach house and stable range at Norwood Grange, Longley Lane, Sheffield, of the mid C19, are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Historic interest: the range is a largely unaltered and increasingly rare survival of this type of service complex in an urban setting;
* Architectural interest: as an architect designed service range for the mid-C19, suburban villa (unlisted) of a Britannia metal manufacturer demonstrating a polite, architectural appearance, attention to detail, and carefully considered layout;
* Materials: good-quality, squared sandstone blocks are used throughout with ashlar dressings, the blocks laid watershot in an interesting retention of a local, vernacular tradition used particularly on rural, agricultural buildings, in what is otherwise polite architecture.

External Links

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