Drummond Street
including Walker Place & Wharncliffe Street
Situated on the north-east side of town are Drummond Street & Wharncliffe Street. Drummond Street runs from the bus station to about halfway up the hill. The road then becomes Wharncliffe Street up to the junction of Doncaster Gate, Doncaster Road and Clifton Lane. It is often called Wharncliffe Hill and it certainly is a steep hill.
At the bottom of the hill Drummond Street meets the pedestrian areas of Walker Place and Effingham Square. This road used to run right over Crinoline Bridge to join Greasbrough Road but the road was cut in half when Centenary Way was built and there's only a tiddly bit on the further side.
I have been wracking my brains, such as they are, trying to remember what was on the east side of Drummond Street and Wharncliffe Street before the bulldozers moved in in the 1960s. I have to confess that I have absolutely no recollection of this area whatsoever. I am certain though that it has changed entirely as massive areas were cleared for redevelopment.
The new plans for the rebuilding of Rotherham, if they ever get off the ground, would yet again involve bulldozing most of the buildings in this area.
Along the pedestrian Walker Place are the main civic buildings of Rotherham, the Central Library and Arts Centre, and the various council offices - Civic Buildings also known as Walker House and Norfolk House. Closer to the bus station is Crinoline House.
The Hastings Clock was originally sited in Effingham Square but is now situated on the corner of Drummond Street and Walker Place rather than in the present day square. I don't know if it kept the right time in 1912 but it sure doesn't now. Although there are have been many attempts to regulate it they have never been successful for long. The clock never tells the right time.
It was actually called the Coronation Fountain in 1912 as there appears to have been water features around the base. These have now gone.