So me and Rincewind finally got some time off work so we decided to do a day of local derps and St Vincents has been on the list for while. Sadly the Church is now tighter than a nun's chuff which is a bummer but we managed to do the school, just in time by the looks of things as half of it appears to be missing! 
We did try and see all the Phlem but the top deck is falling to bits and I am a tiny bit of a coward! Not really much left to see but the old boiler is a nice treat. The upstairs does look awesome on a nice day with all the light streaming in and the plants reclaiming everything (swoons)
Oh and a big Hi to the other guys we ran into in the school, hope your friends feeling better
History shamelessly stolen from Wiki
As a result of the Irish Potato Famine between the years of 1845 and 1849 many emigrants left Ireland to try to find a better life in England. The developing cutlery and tool industries of Sheffield attracted many of these Irish emigrants and they settled in "The Crofts" area of the town. The Crofts was centred on Solly Street (then called Pea Croft) and at that time was the centre of the Sheffield steel, cutlery and filemaking industries. It was an area of working class tenements and back to back housing interspersed with iron and steel works and small workshops making cutlery and hand tools.
The majority of the Irish emigrants in The Crofts were Roman Catholics and worshipped at the newly opened St Marie’s church in Norfolk Row, the only Catholic church in Sheffield in the early 1850s. Father Edmund Scully of St Marie’s pledged to build a school-chapel for The Crofts area and on Good Friday 1851 a plot of ground was purchased in the area for £700. Matthew Ellison Hadfield designed the chapel-school which was completed in July 1853 at a cost of £1,850.
St Vincent's in the 1930s, the original school-chapel on the right was destroyed in the Sheffield Blitz.
The chapel was greatly expanded in 1856 by George Goldie, a partner of Hadfield’s, with the addition of a nave and a chancel at a cost of £3,100 and was officially recognised as a church although it had no tower or spire. Further building work costing £650 took place in 1870 when a church tower was built up to a height of 40 feet which incorporated the south porch and an entrance from White Croft. The tower was raised up to its present day height of 93 feet in 1911 when a donation of £1,400 by Mr. Philip Wake enabled it to be completed in a design in the Norman style based on a typical church in Normandy. The architect of the new tower was Charles Hadfield and it was formally blessed and opened by Michael Logue Primate of All Ireland on 28 October 1911.
1920 saw the division of St Vincent’s parish with the creation of the Sacred Heart parish in the Hillsborough area of the city. The area around the church was still mostly slum housing with some crime, one of the gangs involved in the Sheffield Gang Wars of the mid 1920s was of Irish descent with most of its members from the St Vincent’s parish. The Great Depression in the United Kingdom caused great hardship in the parish, it eventually resulted in a programme of slum clearances which began in 1929. Many acres of old properties were demolished in the parish and the residents moved to more spacious housing in the suburbs. The slum clearances continued up to 1938 when they were suspended because of the imminence of war.
The first Sheffield Blitz raid by German bombers on the night of 12/13 December 1940 resulted in the destruction of the original 1853 chapel when a parachute mine landed on the roof. The original girls school was also destroyed and every window in the church was blown out destroying some valuable stained glass windows. The newer part of the church from 1911 escaped serious damage.
Vigorous fund raising enabled much re-building to be done on the damaged church in the 1950s, this included a new chapel, replacement roofs and a new entrance porch, organ loft and choir gallery.
Due to the war damage and continuing slum clearances in the post war St Vincent’s area, the church lost much of its congregation as the district was rebuilt as a business area. In 1998 it closed as a place of worship and is in need of some renovation with much of the land round the church used for car parking. The interior of the church is currently used for storing furniture for the Vincent's charity which recycles old furniture and redistributes it to the city's poorer and more vulnerable people. The church is now within the St Vincent's Quarter of Sheffield which is undergoing slow rejuvenation. Sheffield City Council are looking at new ways that the St Vincent’s group of buildings can be used in conjunction with the owners and the local community, and at the end of 2004 announced the St Vincent’s Action Plan which includes:
“ The creation of a new public green space around or adjacent to a reused St Vincent’s church complex taking advantage of its dramatic topography and views and providing a focus for new housing, business and community facilities."
Now for the pics!!
So an exterior shot to start...
This guy peeking out is pretty awesome!
and here is a little bit more Phlem
One or two bits of furniture are left but not much
The boiler was a treat
As was the funky shiny wallpaper!
We did venture upstairs, I didn't stick around for long though, not much roof left!
Last one,
So there it is, in all its trashed and smashed glory!
Shame we couldn't do the church but the school was a nice starter to a pretty amazing day (OMG lunch at the Milestone is epic!)
Much love
x
We did try and see all the Phlem but the top deck is falling to bits and I am a tiny bit of a coward! Not really much left to see but the old boiler is a nice treat. The upstairs does look awesome on a nice day with all the light streaming in and the plants reclaiming everything (swoons)
Oh and a big Hi to the other guys we ran into in the school, hope your friends feeling better
History shamelessly stolen from Wiki
As a result of the Irish Potato Famine between the years of 1845 and 1849 many emigrants left Ireland to try to find a better life in England. The developing cutlery and tool industries of Sheffield attracted many of these Irish emigrants and they settled in "The Crofts" area of the town. The Crofts was centred on Solly Street (then called Pea Croft) and at that time was the centre of the Sheffield steel, cutlery and filemaking industries. It was an area of working class tenements and back to back housing interspersed with iron and steel works and small workshops making cutlery and hand tools.
The majority of the Irish emigrants in The Crofts were Roman Catholics and worshipped at the newly opened St Marie’s church in Norfolk Row, the only Catholic church in Sheffield in the early 1850s. Father Edmund Scully of St Marie’s pledged to build a school-chapel for The Crofts area and on Good Friday 1851 a plot of ground was purchased in the area for £700. Matthew Ellison Hadfield designed the chapel-school which was completed in July 1853 at a cost of £1,850.
St Vincent's in the 1930s, the original school-chapel on the right was destroyed in the Sheffield Blitz.
The chapel was greatly expanded in 1856 by George Goldie, a partner of Hadfield’s, with the addition of a nave and a chancel at a cost of £3,100 and was officially recognised as a church although it had no tower or spire. Further building work costing £650 took place in 1870 when a church tower was built up to a height of 40 feet which incorporated the south porch and an entrance from White Croft. The tower was raised up to its present day height of 93 feet in 1911 when a donation of £1,400 by Mr. Philip Wake enabled it to be completed in a design in the Norman style based on a typical church in Normandy. The architect of the new tower was Charles Hadfield and it was formally blessed and opened by Michael Logue Primate of All Ireland on 28 October 1911.
1920 saw the division of St Vincent’s parish with the creation of the Sacred Heart parish in the Hillsborough area of the city. The area around the church was still mostly slum housing with some crime, one of the gangs involved in the Sheffield Gang Wars of the mid 1920s was of Irish descent with most of its members from the St Vincent’s parish. The Great Depression in the United Kingdom caused great hardship in the parish, it eventually resulted in a programme of slum clearances which began in 1929. Many acres of old properties were demolished in the parish and the residents moved to more spacious housing in the suburbs. The slum clearances continued up to 1938 when they were suspended because of the imminence of war.
The first Sheffield Blitz raid by German bombers on the night of 12/13 December 1940 resulted in the destruction of the original 1853 chapel when a parachute mine landed on the roof. The original girls school was also destroyed and every window in the church was blown out destroying some valuable stained glass windows. The newer part of the church from 1911 escaped serious damage.
Vigorous fund raising enabled much re-building to be done on the damaged church in the 1950s, this included a new chapel, replacement roofs and a new entrance porch, organ loft and choir gallery.
Due to the war damage and continuing slum clearances in the post war St Vincent’s area, the church lost much of its congregation as the district was rebuilt as a business area. In 1998 it closed as a place of worship and is in need of some renovation with much of the land round the church used for car parking. The interior of the church is currently used for storing furniture for the Vincent's charity which recycles old furniture and redistributes it to the city's poorer and more vulnerable people. The church is now within the St Vincent's Quarter of Sheffield which is undergoing slow rejuvenation. Sheffield City Council are looking at new ways that the St Vincent’s group of buildings can be used in conjunction with the owners and the local community, and at the end of 2004 announced the St Vincent’s Action Plan which includes:
“ The creation of a new public green space around or adjacent to a reused St Vincent’s church complex taking advantage of its dramatic topography and views and providing a focus for new housing, business and community facilities."
Now for the pics!!
So an exterior shot to start...
This guy peeking out is pretty awesome!
and here is a little bit more Phlem
One or two bits of furniture are left but not much
The boiler was a treat
As was the funky shiny wallpaper!
We did venture upstairs, I didn't stick around for long though, not much roof left!
Last one,
So there it is, in all its trashed and smashed glory!
Shame we couldn't do the church but the school was a nice starter to a pretty amazing day (OMG lunch at the Milestone is epic!)
Much love
x
As AR mentioned it was too dark when we went to spot that wallpaper, good find 
