A Further Review Of Blots On Sheffield

[Bayleaf]

Street scavenging appears to be but imperfectly applied at Sheffield. The streets are partially swept before the shops are open in the morning; consequently, when these are to be cleaned out, the sweepings which are thrown upon the streets remain all day long, to be trodden into a thick greasy crust. Of this we had ocular demonstrations during our long perambulations of almost every street and road in the town.

That some scavenage is actually performed, we are convinced, as we get near one of the four great deposit heaps of the Corporation. Proceeding down Victoria Road past the Cattle Market, past the Hide and Skin Market, under a railway arch, past a large open space, with heaps of coal-ash, and cinders, and broken bricks, in front of a row of three-storied houses, with street doors opening into the rooms, and a great ash-pit for all at the end of the row, we arrive at an area of nearly two acres in extent, completely covered by huge hillocks of filth.

A special heap in the corner belongs to the Duke of Norfolk, as the sweepings of his Grace's markets and properties are brought here, and upon which children, not pigs, are grovelling, whilst one infant sits playing with offal, and gnawing on a decayed leek...

We presently come into High Street. This is the centre of the retail commerce. Here is Whelan & Whitty's cloth hall; there are Levy & Son's commercial buildings, having a façade like that of an East-end theatre; and here is Foster's tailoring establishment; with a fair proportion of hatters, bootmakers, hosiers, silversmiths liberally introduced between them. Like all Sheffield streets it is inconveniently narrow, improving but little in this respect when it takes the name of Fargate.

Gray's Exchange drapery establishment, with a lofty arched arcaded entrance and Italian superstructure, was striking enough in its street effect to cause regret that there were not others of equal consideration.

The rest of the shops, with perhaps the exception of Mose's large-paned frontage in Mose's usual grandiose style, are poor and dingy; and the full red-bricked antiquated Assay Office might well be included in the latter category.

The Cutler's Hall is close; - a heavy Classic building, which may have been thought sufficiently stately when it was first erected, but cannot now be considered to afford adequate accommodation...

In Norfolk Row there is a large handsome Decorated Gothic Roman Catholic Chapel, with transepts and spire, the effect of which would be much heightened by the removal of a low dirty little cigar divan, and a still dirtier little vegetable shop, occupying the important corner site into Norfolk Street.

This is the boundary line of a parallelogram of rectangular streets in which the principal public institutions, the residences of the medical profession, large and small factories, a brewery, and railway receiving and order warehouses are situated. The same blotchy encrustations on the roads, and the same channels running across the footways, with liquid manure from houses and stables, are too frequent.

Chapels are thick upon the ground in this quarter, exceeding for the various dissenting denominations forty in number in all Sheffield...

Among ham and beef shops, oyster shops, and cigar divans, next door to a pawnbroker's and at the corner of Workhouse Lane, in West Bar, is the establishment thus eulogised. Like Holder's Music-hall at Birmingham, from small beginnings the proprietor, MR. Youdan, by getting favour of the working men, had been enabled, with the result of their patronage, to erect this building, capable of accommodating 4,000 people.

On payment of 6d. the visitor is free to boxes, pit, museums under the pit, and dancing-room under the stage; 4d. admitting him only to the gallery.

Entering a lofty saloon, on one side of which is a large, gaudy refreshment stall and tavern bar, we find our way into the so-called Music-hall, which, in construction, is a theatre. It is crammed full of an audience of men, women and children, enveloped in a stifling haze of tobacco smoke.

We should have been glad to have found a higher class of entertainment than that afforded by the bill of fare, - 'A female Blondin, double trapeze, globe perche, barrel dancer and clown, highly-trained dogs, bottle and chair performer, tight rope dancing, negro vocalist, and Paddy Carey in Irish character'; and would take this opportunity to impress upon the purveyors of the artisans' amusement the possibility of combining instruction with amusement.

Another morning we visit the same locality by daylight, as it lies in our road to ... the reservoirs from which the town is supplied with water. From West Bar Green into which six streets converge, the steep ascent begins which leads into the west country. The long irregular road, first called Tenter Street, is intersected with crofts and alleys which are full of two-storied houses. In these the artisans reside, and in some of them carry on their trade.

Old-clothes shops, old furniture shops, the shop of an optician calling himself 'A Blessing to the Aged', rag and bone shops,and petty hucksters, including 'A Co-operative Store', make up a dingy line of thoroughfare.

Up Court No.1 a cesspool is being emptied, the contents wheeled out, after 9 o'clock in the morning, into the main street, and thence shovelled into a cart, causing a horrible stench: children newly washed and clean are playing round about the corrupt ashes, dung and slime. In all the courts there is but one huge ash midden, into which the privies in common empty, for all the inhabitants. ...

Even in the Dark Ages such a condition of life as is existing in Sheffield would have been deemed 'an oppression by nuisances...'

The Builder 'A Further Review of Blots on Sheffield', 5^th October, 1861

[RichardB]

... one infant sits playing with offal, and gnawing on a decayed leek ...

Old-clothes shops, old furniture shops, the shop of an optician calling himself 'A Blessing to the Aged', rag and bone shops,and petty hucksters, including 'A Co-operative Store', make up a dingy line of thoroughfare.

... children newly washed and clean are playing round about the corrupt ashes, dung and slime.

Even in the Dark Ages such a condition of life as is existing in Sheffield would have been deemed 'an oppression by nuisances...'

The Builder 'A Further Review of Blots on Sheffield', 5^th October, 1861

As fine and evocative post as I've ever seen. The "dark" side of Sheffield history (and other places too) holds a special fascination.

Thank you.

[vox]

Another brilliant find.

Thanks Bayleaf

----------------------------------------------------------------

Whelan & Whitty

Whites 1852

James Whitty wollen draper (Whelan & Whitty).

Sheffield cloth hall,

43 High st.

Whites 1857

Woollen Drapers.

See also Linen and Woollen

Drapers; and Tailors, &c.

Curtis Jabez, 35 High st

Kettle Rich. & Co, Prior ct

Morris Rt. & Co., 29 High st

Whelan & Whitty, 43 High st

-------------------------------------

Foster's tailoring establishment

High Street was doubled in width by the 1895 improvement work as all the old buildings on the south side of the street were demolished and replaced by more elegant structures. These included the Foster's Buildings near the junction with Fargate, built in the French domestic Gothic style by Flockton, Gibbs & Flockton for a Gentlemen's outfitters shop with four floors of offices above.

Wiki

---------------------------------------

Exchange Drapery

On the site of the Exchange Drapery establishment — built as somewhat ambitious "commercial buildings" —

were some very old brick shops, almost as old, I should think, as the " first brick house in Sheffield," built at the end of

Pepper alley, according to the Rev. Edwin Goodwin, about the year 1696.

REMINISCENCES OF OLD SHEFFIELD

-----------------------------------------

Exchange Drapery Establishment

Gray Robt. and Geo. & Co., silk mercers,

linen drapers, hosier., glovers, haberdashers, &c., Exchange drapery establishment,

Whites 1857

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Mr. Youdan, Surrey Music Hall

----------- Sir Henry apparently also kept the menagerie going until his death, following which the animals were sold at an auction sale conducted by a Mr. Nicholson of Sheffield on April 19th 1856.

The following week the Derbyshire Courier reported the sales as:

Pair of wolves from Sweden for 19 guineas to Mr. Youdan, Surrey Music Hall, Sheffield.

Brown Bear from Sweden to Mr. Youdan £26-5s-0d.

Very handsome Russian Bear – Mr. Youdan, 11 guineas.

Pair North American Brown Bears, Youdan, £24-3s-0d.

Pair Esquimaux Dogs (Huskies), Youdan, £7.

Source

------------------------------------------------------------------------

"A Blessing to the Aged."

THE SPECTACLE-MAKERS' COMPANY

Arms were granted to the Company in 1739, which bear three spectacles on a shield

with the appropriate motto, "A Blessing to the Aged." As regards

technical education, they voted on one occasion the sum of 10 guineas

to the Society of Fine Arts for prizes in connection with the art of

spectacle-making, and since that time have taken important steps for the

perfection of the industry. In 1897 the then Lord Mayor and Master of

the Company, Sir Horatio D. Davies, K.C.M.G., called a meeting of the

trade to consider what were the best means for the Company to take in

order to better and improve the craft. The outcome of this meeting was

the formation of an examination scheme for practical opticians, whereby

diplomas are granted to successful candidates. This scheme has been most

successful, nine examinations have been held, and nearly 500 opticians

certificated from all parts of the United Kingdom and the Colonies.

-------------------------------------------------------

[sando]

How atmospheric, brilliant

[vox]

Link to SH Related Topic