Steel City Snapper photography
35mm, medium format and large format film photography (with the odd bit of digital every now and then…)
The building in today’s picture is the vestry hall on Cemetery Road, Sheffield. It dates to 1857 and is Grade II listed.
The building now homes ISRAAC, which is a local organisation assisting the Somali community.
Nikon F80, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AF-D & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°
Taken on 11 May 2024
From one pub to another…
After yesterday’s post about the sad story of The Marples, here’s another Sheffield pub with a point of interest.
The name probably gives away the fact that there is a connection with the mail service, but the interesting fact is (and I’ve not verified this) is that it is the only pub in the country that is built into a Royal Mail building, in this case the Sheffield City Delivery Office. I once went into the delivery office as a child (my nan was a postwoman) and was fascinated by the sight of hundreds of bags of mail moving around the plave on a suspended rail system. How much fun it would have been to ride around the place in a mail bag, I thought.
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 22 April 2024
The building in today’s photograph houses a pawn broker and a self-storage facility, but it was once a pub called The London Mart, although known as Marples by regulars (after it’s owner, John Marples). It is possibly the most famous bar in the city due to the tragedy which befell it during the Second World War.
On the night of Thursday December 12, 1940, the pub received a direct hit from a high-explosive bomb dropped by the German Luftwaffe. The building was destroyed, collapsing into a pile of rubble, killing 70 people from the estimated 77 who were inside at the time. It was initially thought that no-one could have survived the attack, but when rescue activities began the next day seven people were pulled from the wreckage of the building, including two who walked away unaided, never to be heard from again!
Following the destruction, the site lay derelict for 19 years until, in 1959, a new pub was built on the site, this time officially named The Marples. The pub remained open for the next 44 years until it closed for good in 2003, the building taking on a number of different uses in the following two decades. While the space previously occupied by the pub is now the Cash Shop pawn brokers, the upper floors have revived The Marple’s naming and are to become a housing co-operative.
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 22 April 2024
Waingate, Sheffield, South Yorkshire.
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 22 April 2024
This is a somewhat unassuming picture of the building that currently houses Heron Foods, a frozen foods store, on Haymarket in Sheffield. The structure managed to survive the ravages of The Blitz that destroyed much of Sheffield’s old city centre architecture during World War Two.
What I find more interesting is the faded sign that can be seen in the middle first floor window. This advertises The House of Curls, a hairdressing salon that was in business during the 1970s and 1980s, but which has been closed now for the best part of forty years I believe. Apparently, the salon housed a number of booths on the upper floors which were rented out by the operator to individual hairdressers.
It pleases me that the signage remains after this time. There’s something strangely comforting about ghost signs such as this. Things change, but the memories remain.
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 22 April 2024
Do you know that old Randy Crawford song, Street Life? Yes? Well, no matter how many times I hear it, I always sing it as “Street Light“. A bit like Neil Diamond singing about “The Reverend Bluejeans“.
Street light, you can run away from time
Street light, for a nickel, for a dime
Street light, but you better not get old
Street light, Or you’re gonna feel the cold
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 22 April 2024
I like the way that the city centre buildings that stand beyond the bus station loom almost wavelike over the foreground in this scene.
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 22 April 2024
While walking around town during my lunchbreak one day, I noticed a considerable traffic-jam had formed. Climbing one of the pedestrian bridges that span the network of roads affected, I discovered some sort of incident had occurred. Multiple police vehicles were present as well as an ambulance and a paramedic car.
While I could see a couple of civilian vehicles where the ambulance was, there was no obvious sign of any serious collision and no debris was visible on the road, so I have no idea what had happened to merit the presence of so many emergency service personnel, or the significant hold up of other traffic.
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 22 April 2024
Standing on Bramall Lane, just across the road from the Sheffield United stadium, The Railway Hotel caters to fans on match days. Only home fans though, as the sign says.
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 24 April 2024
The River Porter is one of several rivers flowing through Sheffield and it’s surrounding area. It’s source is on Burbage Moor and the river descends over one thousand feet as it flows into the city. This descent enabled the construction of water-powered industry in the city’s past.
When the river gets closer to the city centre, so it’s passage is hidden more and more by a series of culverts which take it beneath buildings and roads until it eventually joins the River Sheaf beside Midland Station.
There are plans to reveal Sheffield’s covered rivers, including the Porter, and this has taken place in some areas, such as the section in the photo below where, just beyond the bridge in the picture, a section of the culvert collapsed where it went beneath the car-park of the Decathlon sportswear store. Decathlon were persuaded to keep the newly revealed stretch of the river uncovered.
A little further downstream from this location, a pocket-park has been constructed to allow people to sit and enjoy the riverbank.
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 24 April 2024
Steel City Snapper photography 