Mystery of stone carved head on Staveley Road, Highfield

[Rockchopper]

Can anyone explain this carved head on Staveley Road, Highfield, near Abbeydale Road? It seems very incongruous and am intrigued  who it is and why there....it's on the wall of relatively modern houses, think numbers 20-22. Thanks 

[retep]

Taken from the houses that used to stand there until demolition.

[Slighty batty]

It was previously at 79 Clough Rd.

Take a look at picturesheffield.com   - image number s38210

[Bellatrix]

36 minutes ago, Slighty batty said:

It was previously at 79 Clough Rd.

Take a look at picturesheffield.com   - image number s38210

Excellent detective work!  I wonder who he was.

 

 

Link to the image on Picture Sheffield

 

 

Link to the image on Picture Sheffield.

 

 

 

[Slighty batty]

19 minutes ago, Bellatrix said:

Excellent detective work!  I wonder who he was.

 

 

Link to the image on Picture Sheffield

 

 

Link to the image on Picture Sheffield.

 

 

 

I think it looks a bit like Plato? Or maybe Sophocles?

[Bellatrix]

9 hours ago, Slighty batty said:

I think it looks a bit like Plato? Or maybe Sophocles?

I saw a thread on the Sheffield History forum where someone posted about her family living in the house from 1939.  She'd been told that the building was a school prior to WWI - so that might fit -  then it was taken over by the military, or something along those lines.  The poster speculated that the figure could be the Duke of Norfolk.

[Slighty batty]

1 hour ago, Bellatrix said:

I saw a thread on the Sheffield History forum where someone posted about her family living in the house from 1939.  She'd been told that the building was a school prior to WWI - so that might fit -  then it was taken over by the military, or something along those lines.  The poster speculated that the figure could be the Duke of Norfolk.

 

[Slighty batty]

Something went wrong there, it missed off what I’d typed! I’d put  that I’d found adverts in the newspaper archives which confirmed that the building had been a school for girls.

[Rockchopper]

Thank you everyone for your replies, very much appreciated. Had assumed it came off a previous building, so at least now know a bit about its history. Thanks again for your time and effort.

[Yosser54]

I can confirm that the carved head was built into the terrace of houses that stood on Staveley Road prior to their demolition as retep said. I worked for the Council in 1977/78 when the old houses were demolished and the new ones built in their place. We saved the carving from the demolition and agreed that it should go back on the new houses. How it got from Clough Road to Staveley Road in the first place is a mystery though.