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RichardB

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Sheffield FC officially formed in the suburb of Highfield at the home of Harry Waters Chambers; I've found Heeley Steel Works, High Field, Ecclesfield Bierlow - does this make any sense to anyone, my brain hurts.

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Sheffield FC officially formed in the suburb of Highfield at the home of Harry Waters Chambers; I've found Heeley Steel Works, High Field, Ecclesfield Bierlow - does this make any sense to anyone, my brain hurts.

I think the name is wrong - Harry Walker Chambers, Solicitor and Attorney sounds right to me given Creswicks trade.

Where is Kenwood Road please ? Oh bugger, I've forgotten everything .... :o

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So, Heeley fits then ... Ta Muchly

Can't let that go lol Heeley was a big area but it wasn't in Highfield; and neither was Highfield in Heeley.

I suppose Sheffield Wednesday FC was formed on the border of Heeley and Highfield. I did read somewhere that it was formed from the Wednesday Cricket Club who used to play on the pitch behind the Sheaf House Hotel on Bramall lane. This - the Sheaf House Ground was later covered by the SCT bus garage and Laver's Saw Mills. The Owls later used some fields at Olive Grove and elsewhere before they settled at Owlerton.

There's very little detailed info on the Sheffield FC website - perhaps there's an official published history you need to buy

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it is the junction of abbeydale rd.,& london rd.,

there is a church at top of the hill which goes down & becomes heeley bottom.

High fields is still there 'cos my cousin in sheffield lives there :):)

cheers

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it is the junction of abbeydale rd.,& london rd.,

cheers

I don't know the official boundary of the area, but when I worked at Lowfield, we refered to Highfield as being very specifically the very small area that you mentioned. Probably not much more than 50 to 100yards in either direction.

Also, they are usually called Highfields and Lowfields but I think they are actually Highfield and Lowfield (singular)

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Sheffield FC officially formed in the suburb of Highfield at the home of Harry Waters Chambers; I've found Heeley Steel Works, High Field, Ecclesfield Bierlow - does this make any sense to anyone, my brain hurts.

Hi Richard

Just to clarify, the location you are looking for is in fact Parkfield House, near to Bramall Lane, now classed as Highfields. The location was indeed the residence of Harry Waters Chambers and the building still exists to today. I managed to trace the building a couple of years ago and it is now the location of a business in the area.

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Thank you for the update. Wiki now contains more detail also.

Hi Richard

Just to clarify, the location you are looking for is in fact Parkfield House, near to Bramall Lane, now classed as Highfields. The location was indeed the residence of Harry Waters Chambers and the building still exists to today. I managed to trace the building a couple of years ago and it is now the location of a business in the area.

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On 06/02/2014 at 15:57, rs6060 said:

Just to clarify, the location you are looking for is in fact Parkfield House, near to Bramall Lane, now classed as Highfields. The location was indeed the residence of Harry Waters Chambers and the building still exists to today. I managed to trace the building a couple of years ago and it is now the location of a business in the area.

Actually, I'm pretty certain you're wrong there, but only by a few metres. Parkfield House was demolished around 1906 and the land use for housing (Parkfield Place)

I used to live in that neck of the woods, so the old plan was on my lease. Here's a screengrab of the lease plan lined up with a modern OS map

With a little imagination you can probably pick out the exact spot in the middle of the modern road where you could say football was invented...

Screen Shot 2017-01-25 at 10.47.23.png

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If this is the Parkfield House (referred to as a Club on the map of 1890), I agree with 'unrecordings'. The house may be gone, but St Barnabas's School is now Discount Beds and the houses that makes up 'Wells Grove' are still standing. The square in the large map is the area covered by the small map and Highfields is a recognised district of Sheffield.... at least it has been to me?

Parkfield House Club.JPG

Parkfield_Highfields.JPG

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I'm hoping I've still got a scan of the old lease, I'm fairly certain there was some history in there that would account for the 'club' - hang on...

I've got better/different maps - I just loaded them all into photoshop and rotated/resized (I never got that 1890 map though...)

Edit: Nope don't have it, but I do know that lease plan is dated 1898. If memory serves (and a quick google doesn't give any clues to corroborate this) - after John Chambers died then his family sold up

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Just had a look an google street view at the Wells Grove building, and there is a stone nameplate saying 'Wells Grove' up high on the front of the building..

Screen%20Shot%202017-01-25%20at%2018.26.

23982392-1199-40f6-a591-683d2bd9d89c_zps

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On 14/01/2012 at 14:39, vox said:

 

I don't know the official boundary of the area, but when I worked at Lowfield, we refered to Highfield as being very specifically the very small area that you mentioned. Probably not much more than 50 to 100yards in either direction.

Also, they are usually called Highfields and Lowfields but I think they are actually Highfield and Lowfield (singular)

It seems the origin of 'Highfield' and 'Lowfield' were actually two fields (or gardens), one high and one low?! I've attached a map of 1855 to show the areas clearly marked

Highfield was opposite the end of Sharrow Lane, about where WasabiSabi is now, on relatively high ground. Parkfield House is there in 1855 

Lowfield was in a triangular area, boundaried by London Road, Abbeydale Road and Fieldhead Road

As the areas developed, houses and roads adopted their rural names (Highfield House, Lowfield Terrace, etc.)

In fact on some current map overviews, the areas are still shown, although the boundaries are still as vague now, as they ever were. Highfield, Lowfield, Little Sheffield, Heeley, Sharrow, Nether Edge, all seem to overlap each other?

p.s. To say that Sheffield FC was formed in 1857, there doesn't seem to be any pitches built yet on Bramall Lane, which interestingly goes all the way up what is Myrtle Road and Queens Road hasn't been built yet?! Maybe there was a pitch behind the Ball Inn at the top of Myrtle Road way back then? Wasn't that someone's training ground up until recently someone stuck a housing estate on it?

Parkfield_Highfield Area_1855.JPG

Parkfield_Highfield Area.JPG

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You'll notice that where London Road & Abbeydale Road split, there's a more defined incline down towards the Sheaf. This contour curves around the edge of Parkfield Place and returns to a gentle slope around the Alderson Road. On the southern side of Parkfield Place there's a retaining wall with something like an eight foot drop down the the level of the next street - so maybe that feature defined Highfield (while Lowfield is on the floodplain)

Incidentally, I'm sure I read somewhere that Bramall Lane was originally named as it was the boundary to the ancient deer park - hence why it also heads up the hill

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...in the meantime - one of my hobbies for a while was cruising eBay for scans of postcards - here's the White House on Bramall Lane

Old White Houses Bramall Lane.JPG

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3 hours ago, unrecordings said:

You'll notice that where London Road & Abbeydale Road split, there's a more defined incline down towards the Sheaf. This contour curves around the edge of Parkfield Place and returns to a gentle slope around the Alderson Road. On the southern side of Parkfield Place there's a retaining wall with something like an eight foot drop down the the level of the next street - so maybe that feature defined Highfield (while Lowfield is on the floodplain)

Incidentally, I'm sure I read somewhere that Bramall Lane was originally named as it was the boundary to the ancient deer park - hence why it also heads up the hill

When Mary, Queen of Scots was a prisoner in England, the Manor, a near country residence of the Earl of Shrewsbury, was situated in a park containing deer. The domain was surrounded by a wall, of which little remains. The picture shows its construction. It now marks part of the boundary of agricultural land, a short distance of either Queen's Tower or the Black Bank (Midfield House). The deer park connected with Sheffield Castle, covered a great area, and was surrounded by a wall which is fully two feet wide at the base, built without mortar, and is situated between Queen's Tower and Black Bank. This noble park of 2461acres, within a ring fence of eight miles. The park extended from Bramall Lane and Heeley Bank on one side, to the river Don and the township of Attercliffe cum Darnall on the other, and stretched over the hills by Gleadless Moor and Intake to the parish of Handsworth on the east. The main entrance was near to what is now Dixon Lane. Thence was a carriage drive through the park to Handsworth. This is how the district known as 'Park' got its name.

So maybe there's something in it?....

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Old White Houses, corner of Bramall Lane and Cherry Street.

Football Ground on one side, Cricket Ground on the other and next door to a brewery? No wonder it was still standing in 1975, as who'd want to move from there!

I'm sure those facia boards on the house in the 1975 photo look like the originals - same scalloped shape - far right of shot and garden wall is the same.

Just Lavers replaced the brewery 

White Houses_Bramall Lane_Cherry Street.JPG

White Houses_Bramall Lane_Cherry Street_1975.JPG

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On 26/01/2017 at 08:20, RLongden said:

It seems the origin of 'Highfield' and 'Lowfield' were actually two fields (or gardens), one high and one low?! I've attached a map of 1855 to show the areas clearly marked

Highfield was opposite the end of Sharrow Lane, about where WasabiSabi is now, on relatively high ground. Parkfield House is there in 1855 

Lowfield was in a triangular area, boundaried by London Road, Abbeydale Road and Fieldhead Road

As the areas developed, houses and roads adopted their rural names (Highfield House, Lowfield Terrace, etc.)

In fact on some current map overviews, the areas are still shown, although the boundaries are still as vague now, as they ever were. Highfield, Lowfield, Little Sheffield, Heeley, Sharrow, Nether Edge, all seem to overlap each other?

p.s. To say that Sheffield FC was formed in 1857, there doesn't seem to be any pitches built yet on Bramall Lane, which interestingly goes all the way up what is Myrtle Road and Queens Road hasn't been built yet?! Maybe there was a pitch behind the Ball Inn at the top of Myrtle Road way back then? Wasn't that someone's training ground up until recently someone stuck a housing estate on it?

Parkfield_Highfield Area_1855.JPG

Parkfield_Highfield Area.JPG

Sheffield Wednesday (then The Wednesday) played where you describe on Myrtle Rd in the 1870's.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myrtle_Road

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