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Shedding light on Sheffield's 'lost' symbols
Signs and symbols are all around Sheffield!
And to prove it, the Dean of Sheffield Cathedral, the Very Reverend Peter Bradley, organised a special tour to point out some of the mysterious carvings decorating city buildings.
The tour started in the cathedral itself, where freemason expert Dr Andreas Onnerfors explained some of the masonic inscriptions hidden in the building.
Dr Onnerfors said the cathedral's altar piece, which depicts Jesus and the disciples, features a compass, signifying God as the creator - who would have used a compass to craft the world.
The cathedral roof is decorated with images of the Green Man, which is a symbol of rebirth, while the 10 choir stalls also feature masonic carvings, including a beehive - representing industry - and the tau cross, an ancient symbol of eternal life.
The stalls themselves are a memorial to freemasons who gave their lives in the First World War.
Peter then led the tour to Sheffield's Old Synagogue on North Church Street, also adorned with strange symbols.
"The building has a finial on the top, which is a pomegranate - though like no pomegranate I've ever seen," he said. "It's created with four leaves."
Explaining the pomegranate's use, Peter said the first temple was said to be decorated with the fruit.
"A pomegranate also has 613 seeds, which is the number of laws given to Jewish people in the first five books of the bible," he said. "It's the sign of a place where the Jewish law is stated."
He also drew attention to a series of carved panels above the H&M store on Fargate.
"It's a complete system of extraordinary symbolic carvings from around 100 years ago," he said, adding the panels show the creation of the world according to the first chapter of Genesis.
The carvings include the creation of the sun and moon, Adam and Eve and a triangle, referring to God.
"It's extraordinary," Peter said. "This masonic treatment is completely ignored by most people who walk along in Sheffield."
The tour finished at the Graduate pub on Surrey Street, rich with masonic symbols - not least because the building was Sheffield's masonic hall up until the 1960s.
A stone archway over the door features a carved sun, moon, compass and stars. The walls of the pub are also carved with tools - the plumb, the square and the level, symbols of the officers of the lodge - and a crossed compass and set square.
"This is a building that was the central meeting place for freemasonry in Sheffield," Dr Onnerfors said. "It's a bit sad because this would be a splendid venue now - but you can at least celebrate your new degrees here!"
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Weather for Sheffield
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
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Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 21 C
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