Jump to content

Norfolk Park Estate Early 70s,


s6lad

Recommended Posts

Would love to see pictures or read memories of the council estate. I lived there as a kid from 1967 to 72 amd really loved all the green space and lots of other kids my age. I lived on Samual Drive just above the Horse and Lion pub. I have looked on the pictures sheffield archive as i thought that there would be plenty of planners pics etc but no luck.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest plain talker

Would love to see pictures or read memories of the council estate. I lived there as a kid from 1967 to 72 amd really loved all the green space and lots of other kids my age. I lived on Samual Drive just above the Horse and Lion pub. I have looked on the pictures sheffield archive as i thought that there would be plenty of planners pics etc but no luck.

there's a snapshot here from Picsheff, of the earl marshall pub (was the midhill club) with kenninghall flats in the background..

http://www.picturesheffield.com/cgi-bin/pi...ff.refno=s22037

ok, it's not the clearest of pictures...

then there's this amazing Aerial shot of pretty much the whole of the bottom half of the estate...

http://www.picturesheffield.com/cgi-bin/pi...ff.refno=w00842

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I lived at Guildford View Flats at the top of Norfolk Park,I moved there in 1975, does anybody remember the caravan "chippie" that used to park on the layby near the Round Shop building, it was a small caravan fitted with a Frying Range,it was towed by the owners car, when you got too many people inside the caravan it used to tip slightly,and the boiling fat used to swill about!!!! he he , the owner never seemed to let it bother Him,Don't know what health and saftey would have made of that nowadays. lol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest carlie167

We lived on Norfolk Park, Mandrake block on Park Grange View, from 1975 until 86. I also liked all the green spaces, and the fact that you could see what the weather was going to be like in about half an hour by looking through the window and seeing what the weather was on the moors!!!!!!!! Here is a pic taken from our flat window, it was evening time and sorry its not that clear. :angry:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Would love to see pictures or read memories of the council estate. I lived there as a kid from 1967 to 72 amd really loved all the green space and lots of other kids my age. I lived on Samual Drive just above the Horse and Lion pub. I have looked on the pictures sheffield archive as i thought that there would be plenty of planners pics etc but no luck.

I worked at The Horse & Lion oh must be about 1983 trained to be a manager and then moved on, used to go in The Jervis Lum b4 work, wow brought back some good memories lol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest carlie167

Someone, somewhere, must have got some pictures of the tower blocks on Norfolk Park. I have tried looking everywhere I can think of. Although I lived on the estate for about 12 years I never took many photos. Pleeeease can anyone help? :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest carlie167

Another appeal for photos of Norfolk Park flats. Now we have got lots of new members does anyone anywhere have any pics of the flats pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease!! Could you all have a look, thank you. :(:( :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another appeal for photos of Norfolk Park flats. Now we have got lots of new members does anyone anywhere have any pics of the flats pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease!! Could you all have a look, thank you. :(:(:(

Tried to clean up your original photo, Carlie, not much better but we may fine that elusive picture yet!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest carlie167

Thanks Tsavo, Ill keep on hoping! :( Perhaps photos of Norfolk Park and Redgates will turn up together, now wouldnt that be something ? :o

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I lived on NP on Guildford Rise for 4 yrs 1967-71. Have some picture of the flats being blown up will try to post them shortley

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest carlie167

Thank you Tsavo and Markbaby, Im feeling happy now Ive got a few pics to look at, (sad I know,I should get out more!!) ;-) ;-)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest CJSheffield

I lived in the pink block on Guildford Drive. I had a 2-bedroom flat on the 2nd floor. The flats were really well planned and the living room was huge.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another appeal for photos of Norfolk Park flats. Now we have got lots of new members does anyone anywhere have any pics of the flats pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease!! Could you all have a look, thank you.

I'm sure I have some photos of these flats from the period of time you are asking (roughly 1969 to 1982) in my negative collection. I will try to find them out, scan them and get them posted here soon

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest carlie167

I'm sure I have some photos of these flats from the period of time you are asking (roughly 1969 to 1982) in my negative collection. I will try to find them out, scan them and get them posted here soon

Hi Dave H, It would be great if you could do that.

I,ll look forward to seeing them. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest plain talker

There's a piccy of a block on the "Random Picture Thread"

http://www.sheffieldhistory.co.uk/forums/i...ost&id=3756

I Am sure that the blocks on that picture are the Kenninghall Mount blocks. I had a cousin who lived on the 15th floor of KM.

Two aunts lived on NP. too, one on the 10th floor of Mandrake Block (the green block by the top bridge) and the other on the 15th floor of Beldon block, the brown Block on Beldon Road, which was beside the tram stop.

I lived for a short time on that block, too, in a flat on the 6th floor.

My sister lived on the 12th floor of one of the Guildford blocks nearest Northern Avenue.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just scanned a couple of pictures from my negative file.

These were taken in 1973 from the top (13th floor) of the block which was at the bottom of Northern Avenue. I also have views looking out the other way showing the bottom of Northern Avenue and part of my old school (Norfolk).

The first picture looks out towards town, across Park Grange Road where the underpass is, across the Vic Hallam's on Guildford Walk and to the 2 blocks (Guildfords) which stood between the entrance to Norfolk Park and Park Grange Road. You could see them through the lounge window in the Fellbrigg. In 1973 all the blocks looked concrete on the outside but in the 1980's they were painted. I think these 2 blocks were pink and green / blue.

Second picture shows the view through a slightly more telephoto lens of just one of the blocks and taken from the same location, this gives a bit more detail of the actual block.

The third picture is taken looking down from the top floor at Park Grange Road and Guildforf Walk. There seems to be a small works hut and a van which is not on the road. Wonder what was going off here?

I do have more pictures like these but taken later, possibly in the period 1979 to 1982 and when I can find them out and scan them I will post them here

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest carlie167

Thank you so much Dave, I lived on Mandrake block from 75 for about ten years, and cant believe Ive only got a couple of photos myself, and not very good ones at that.

I look forward to seeing more. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you so much Dave, I lived on Mandrake block from 75 for about ten years, and cant believe Ive only got a couple of photos myself, and not very good ones at that.

I look forward to seeing more. :)

As I lived on the Arbourthorne but had many friends on various blocks of Norfolk Park here are a few questions about them. I don't know the answers and it just goes to show how short my memory is.

Q1

How many blocks were there? some of them like the Claywoods and the one still standing near the top of Ecclesall Road in town were not on the Norfolk Park estate, but how many blocks were there on the estate?

Q2

The blocks seem to have an address such as "Guildford View" or "Kenninghall Mount" and also a name such as "MANDRAKE" or "TOWER", can anyone match the names to addresses?

Q3

As far as I know all the blocks were 13 floors high and had in total 256 flats. Is this correct and is it true of all the blocks?

Q4

In the 1980's the blocks were painted and "colour coded", can anyone match the colours to the block names and addresses?

Perhaps we could start some sort of database with this information on (on this site) to preserve this information for posterity now that they have gone.

As a boy on the Arbourthorne I watched these futuristic looking towers being built. 30 years later I watched the same buildings being destroyed. It seems such a waste!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest plain talker

As I lived on the Arbourthorne but had many friends on various blocks of Norfolk Park here are a few questions about them. I don't know the answers and it just goes to show how short my memory is.

Q1

How many blocks were there? some of them like the Claywoods and the one still standing near the top of Ecclesall Road in town were not on the Norfolk Park estate, but how many blocks were there on the estate?

Q2

The blocks seem to have an address such as "Guildford View" or "Kenninghall Mount" and also a name such as "MANDRAKE" or "TOWER", can anyone match the names to addresses?

Q3

As far as I know all the blocks were 13 floors high and had in total 256 flats. Is this correct and is it true of all the blocks?

Q4

In the 1980's the blocks were painted and "colour coded", can anyone match the colours to the block names and addresses?

Perhaps we could start some sort of database with this information on (on this site) to preserve this information for posterity now that they have gone.

As a boy on the Arbourthorne I watched these futuristic looking towers being built. 30 years later I watched the same buildings being destroyed. It seems such a waste!

there were fifteen blocks on Norfolk Park. (well, 12 if you discount the three on Claywood)

they were all the same height, fifteen storeys (but those eight flats on the fifteenth floor weren't served by the lifts, you had to get a lift to the 14th floor and walk up a flight.)

there were eight flats on each floor, except the ground floors which had six flats, not eight. there were 126 flats, not 256, the numbering went up to 256 (on the even numbers)

Each block had a name given to it as well as the street address, eg

"242 Tower drive,

Grange block

Norfolk Park

SHEFFIELD

S2 XXX"

the colours were in use from before the 1980s, my aunt moved on to Mandrake Block, new, in the 1960s and it was colour coded then IIRC)

names and colours I can remember for the blocks were:-

Grange (tower drive) (pale green)

Tower (at the Park grange shops) (royal Blue)

Mandrake (Park Grange View) (green)

East Bank (orange) (One of two on Park Grange mount)

Kenninghall (kenninghall Mount) (yellow, the other on KM was sludge brown)

Guildford (blue or yellow?Guildford ?Drive? Mount? view?)

Beldon (Beldon drive) ( snuff brown)

Talbot

Norfolk (?)

there were three more blocks over on Saint Aidans, but I can't remember their names or colours)

(I remember Shrewsbury and Claywood, two of the tree blocks down on the Claywood drive development but that's nearer Park Hill than Norfolk Park and the one remaining, the yellow one, on Exeter drive, is called Hanover

Link to comment
Share on other sites

there were fifteen blocks on Norfolk Park.

they were all the same height, fifteen storeys (but those eight flats on the fifteenth floor weren't served by the lifts, you had to get a lift to the 14th floor and walk up a flight.)

there were eight flats on each floor, except the ground floors which had six flats, not eight. there were 126 flats, not 256, the numbering went up to 256 (on the even numbers)

Each block had a name given to it as well as the street address, eg

"242 Tower drive,

Grange block

Norfolk Park

SHEFFIELD

S2 XXX"

the colours were in use from before the 1980s, my aunt moved on to Mandrake Block, new, in the 1960s and it was colour coded then IIRC)

names and colours I can remember for the blocks were:-

Grange (tower drive) (pale green)

Tower (at the Park grange shops) (royal Blue)

Mandrake (Park Grange View) (green)

East Bank (orange) (One of two on Park Grange mount)

Kenninghall (kenninghall Mount) (yellow, the other on KM was sludge brown)

Guildford (blue or yellow?Guildford ?Drive? Mount? view?)

Beldon (Beldon drive) ( snuff brown)

Talbot

Norfolk (?)

there were three more blocks over on Saint Aidans, but I can't remember their names or colours)

(I remember Shrewsbury and Claywood, two of the tree blocks down on the Claywood drive development but that's nearer Park Hill than Norfolk Park and the one remaining, the yellow one, on Exeter drive, is called Hanover

Thanks for that plain talker, explains perfectly why I thought there were 256 flats and not 126, I had a mate who lived on the top floor (15th not 13th then) of the block where the tram stop is for Arbourthorne Road and he lived in number 256. I don't remember the blocks being coloured before the painting in the early 80's though. I know the pictures I have posted are black and white but they do all look very similar, just as I remember them at the time. The 3 blocks on St. Aidans looked out over the park and old quarry where the captive queen pub was built in 1972 in one direction, but had views of City Road cemetry in the other! I can't remember a great deal about them except that they demolished in August 1999 while I was abroad on holiday. The block at the bottom of Northern Avenue that I took all the pictures from was demolished in November of the same year. I took my young son to see it from a viewpoint on Arbourthorne playing fields, but As I said previously, it was a sad loss.

Throughout the period 1967 to 1999 those tower blocks dominated the Sheffield sky line, they were an icon which marked out a general view of the city as immediately being Sheffield. If you had been down south and came back on the train, if you looked out of the window to the right as you approached Midland Station those blocks were there towering above you and welcoming you home! These days you can only see that other soon to suffer the same fate iconic block of flats, Park Hill, but being only 5 floors (I think) high, they don't dominate the view as well

Again thanks for the info, perhaps we should try to compile a complete set for posterity and other interested users of this site as there seems to be quite a few

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just found out another photo.

This one is dated 1979, it is taken from the same location as my first picture in an earlier post but is much sharper and clearer, unfortunately it also has a few "marks" on it. At least the detail in the flats and further beyond is better.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest plain talker

Just found out another photo.

This one is dated 1979, it is taken from the same location as my first picture in an earlier post but is much sharper and clearer, unfortunately it also has a few "marks" on it. At least the detail in the flats and further beyond is better.

the two closest to the front are the "other" Guildford blocks, Guildford Ave, where the new Norfolk heritage (/) school is now, with Mandrake block on the left-rear, (Park grange View) and immediately to the right are the two blocks of Park Grange Mount, one of which was "East Bank".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest The Giraffe

I Am sure that the blocks on that picture are the Kenninghall Mount blocks. I had a cousin who lived on the 15th floor of KM.

Two aunts lived on NP. too, one on the 10th floor of Mandrake Block (the green block by the top bridge) and the other on the 15th floor of Beldon block, the brown Block on Beldon Road, which was beside the tram stop.

I lived for a short time on that block, too, in a flat on the 6th floor.

My sister lived on the 12th floor of one of the Guildford blocks nearest Northern Avenue.

This is definitely the Kenninghall Mount block - Talbot

I used to live in this block on the 5th floor - 1992 - 1993

I always called it the Brown Block - cause it was painted brown!

The downstairs main door was broken and always open. The first weekend I moved in the lift was set on fire.

I used to try and remember to go to the Co-Op in town before I got on the bus or I would have to go the to Co-Op at the bottom of the hill and lug my shopping up!

I remember it being a place of high winds, especially on the bridge in this picture!

I used to go in the Horse and Lion a fair bit too, dead over the road.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...