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Random Bits From Henry Tatton's Notebooks.


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In the Local Studies Library there are 3 volumes of notes by Henry Tatton. They contain random notes and drawings done by Henry. I'm currently working my way through them. The subjects are not in any order, so I'f you're looking for something in particular, you have to trawl through. Inevitably you get sidetracked as things catch your eye.

Here are a few snippets I picked up today, none of which have anything to do with what I was looking for!

1754 28th April - First weekly newspaper, Lister's Sheffield Weekly journal

1755 New service started, taking letters 3 times per week to London.

1756 Last salmon caught [in the Don?] at Broomhead Mills 10 miles above Sheffield

A couple of entries quite topical at the moment;

In the last week of April 1807, in the morning there was frost and snow, 24 hours later midsummer heat. Several storms of thunder and lightning and hail. At Silkstone in the valley of the Don, the water level rose 5ft in 5 minutes.

1853, 9th May, 15 hours of heavy snow.

March 9th 1799. Signor Petre's house and firework factory in Market Street was blown up by gunpowder. 2 killed and many injured.

1626 Thomas Wild, cutler of Crooked Billet Yard, High Street, made the knife with which Lt. Felton stabbed the Duke of Buckingham. He was summonsed to London and his expenses paid.

1833 Otter caught in the Don.

William Grey the Great Jumper lived in Broad Lane. He could jump over a mail coach with passengers on. (The mailcoach that is!).

There was an old Sheffield character called Silly Luke who sold sand for public house floors.

Sheffield Parish Church - In making a hole for a dial of the new clock on the north side a stone belonging to a Norman arch which must have been about 16ft was found embedded in the rubble of the wall. It must have belonged to the original Norman church destroyed in 1266.

February 12th 1790. 9 men put in the stocks at the foot of Church Street for tippling during Divine Service, and 2 boys did penance in church for playing at Trip, by standing in the middle aisle with their Trip Sticks erect.

One winter in the 1880's Henry remembers seeing men and boys skating on the Don above Lady's Bridge weir.

Early cycles had a large front wheel, all wood, and there was a practice ground in Sharrow Vale behind the Porter Tavern. There was a young man rode one with a 6ft wheel round the track, to the admiration of the crowd. (Around 1872?)

Like I said, random jottings!

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In the Local Studies Library there are 3 volumes of notes by Henry Tatton. They contain random notes and drawings done by Henry. I'm currently working my way through them. The subjects are not in any order, so I'f you're looking for something in particular, you have to trawl through. Inevitably you get sidetracked as things catch your eye.

Here are a few snippets I picked up today, none of which have anything to do with what I was looking for!

1754 28th April - First weekly newspaper, Lister's Sheffield Weekly journal

1755 New service started, taking letters 3 times per week to London.

1756 Last salmon caught [in the Don?] at Broomhead Mills 10 miles above Sheffield

A couple of entries quite topical at the moment;

In the last week of April 1807, in the morning there was frost and snow, 24 hours later midsummer heat. Several storms of thunder and lightning and hail. At Silkstone in the valley of the Don, the water level rose 5ft in 5 minutes.

1853, 9th May, 15 hours of heavy snow.

March 9th 1799. Signor Petre's house and firework factory in Market Street was blown up by gunpowder. 2 killed and many injured.

1626 Thomas Wild, cutler of Crooked Billet Yard, High Street, made the knife with which Lt. Felton stabbed the Duke of Buckingham. He was summonsed to London and his expenses paid.

1833 Otter caught in the Don.

William Grey the Great Jumper lived in Broad Lane. He could jump over a mail coach with passengers on. (The mailcoach that is!).

There was an old Sheffield character called Silly Luke who sold sand for public house floors.

Sheffield Parish Church - In making a hole for a dial of the new clock on the north side a stone belonging to a Norman arch which must have been about 16ft was found embedded in the rubble of the wall. It must have belonged to the original Norman church destroyed in 1266.

February 12th 1790. 9 men put in the stocks at the foot of Church Street for tippling during Divine Service, and 2 boys did penance in church for playing at Trip, by standing in the middle aisle with their Trip Sticks erect.

One winter in the 1880's Henry remembers seeing men and boys skating on the Don above Lady's Bridge weir.

Early cycles had a large front wheel, all wood, and there was a practice ground in Sharrow Vale behind the Porter Tavern. There was a young man rode one with a 6ft wheel round the track, to the admiration of the crowd. (Around 1872?)

Like I said, random jottings!

Great stuff, I've never heard of Silly Luke, I'm keen to know more of Tatton's writings.

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thear nivver wor a softer thowt cum aht

at crazy brain's o silly Luke.

SHEFFIELD DIALECT BY ABEL BYWATER.

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Little wonder that in the case of this, as of the Chesterfield road, Parliamentary sanction had to be repeatedly obtained for amendment, and delay in completion. The substitution, in the latter, of the easier route by Woodseats, in lieu of Derbyshire Lane, did not take place until 1795; and the supersession of Pyebank by the present Burngreave or Pitsmoor road is scarcely beyond living memory. Indeed, it is possible that there are veterans among us who remember coaches toiling up Pye Bank, and who have seen the dismal spectacle of gangs of chained prisoners marched up it on the way to Wakefield, what time "Silly Luke", on leave from the old Rock Street Workhouse, amused the onlookers by his quaint sayings, or frightened the children by his antics.

Moss Valley

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

1848

Decease, at the Workhouse, of Silly Luke.

Local Register and chronological account of occurences and facts connected with the town and neighborhood of Sheffield

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Had a look at one of the notebooks, really interesting very helpful as it gives names of old roads and tells you where the woods were etc. I'm surprised no one ever printed all his sketches in one book. Notice Armitage has quoted Tatton frequenty word for word in Chantry Land.

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Had a look at one of the notebooks, really interesting very helpful as it gives names of old roads and tells you where the woods were etc. I'm surprised no one ever printed all his sketches in one book. Notice Armitage has quoted Tatton frequenty word for word in Chantry Land.

Is it within copyright please ? Does anyone own a copy ?

and what year is/are Tatton's works - even if within copyright please ?

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Is it within copyright please ? Does anyone own a copy ?

and what year is/are Tatton's works - even if within copyright please ?

They are handwritten notebooks which have been photocopied. I don't think they have ever been published, just fragments. Presumably the originals are held somewhere. He lived a long time so goes into late 1920s but has much earlier references and sketches. Must have because Armitage uses his sketches etc in his book on Norton which was published in 1912,

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Is it within copyright please ? Does anyone own a copy ?

and what year is/are Tatton's works - even if within copyright please ?

They're not in copyright, and they're unique, only the original and the photocopied one that's for use by the public. The original is very fragile and can't even be photocopied any more.

They're not printed, all hand-drawn and handwritten. They look like scrapbooks, all pictures and snippets of text jumbled together on the same page, with notes in margins at various angles.

That's why if you're looking for something in particular you have to trawl through the lot!

I've only a few sketchy notes about Henry. He lived later in life on Ranby Rd. As a child he remembered his father going via Penistone Rd to Malin Bridge to see the aftermath of the Sheffield Flood. (he lived in Fitzalan St at the time but went to Hillsborough to see the devastation.)

in 1866 he lived in Sheaf Gardens, which was then in the countryside. He used to fetch milk from Priestley's farm at the top of Sheaf Gardens Terrace.

One of the reasons for the notebooks was a desire to teach himself to draw, and they contain very many drawings of buildings in Sheffield in his lifetime. just occasionally he'll copy another picture, but mostly they're original.

At the moment I'm trawling through for a project I'm developing, but as I go I've been noting as well any drawings of pubs that we can add to the listing, but you inevitably get pulled aside by his notes, hence the bits I listed.

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Knew I'd got it somewhere!

Henry was born in 1861 and for 50 years kept an ironmongers stall in the Market Hall. He died in 1946, but at the age of 59, in 1920, he decided to learn to draw, and kept these scrapbooks of his drawings of Sheffield. He also scattered them with things he came across he thought were interesting.

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Knew I'd got it somewhere!

Henry was born in 1861 and for 50 years kept an ironmongers stall in the Market Hall. He died in 1946, but at the age of 59, in 1920, he decided to learn to draw, and kept these scrapbooks of his drawings of Sheffield. He also scattered them with things he came across he thought were interesting.

In that case he must have been copying from Chantrey land because he has a sketch from there but also he has Whites farm from a different angle which is not in Armitage's book so has he been copying direct from Charles Ashmore. Is there access to Charles Ashmore's sketches somewhere?

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The Heeley History Group produced a selection of Tatton's work, connected with Heeley of course! Copies of which are available for loan at various libraries.

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Are there copies of copies of copes that could be copied and scanned ?

I'm most interested.

Local Studies Library may allow copies to be taken from the photocopied version, but there are 3 volumes of 2 or 3 hundred pages each.

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In that case he must have been copying from Chantrey land because he has a sketch from there but also he has Whites farm from a different angle which is not in Armitage's book so has he been copying direct from Charles Ashmore. Is there access to Charles Ashmore's sketches somewhere?

I think you're right Duckweed, certainly the pond at Meersbrook is a copy of the one in Chantrey Land. As I said, most of the drawings are original, but some are copied.

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Local Studies Library may allow copies to be taken from the photocopied version, but there are 3 volumes of 2 or 3 hundred pages each.

Having never heard of him, or indeed, his work, I didn't know there was quite so much of it.

However, that makes me all the more interested ...

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Having never heard of him, or indeed, his work, I didn't know there was quite so much of it.

However, that makes me all the more interested ...

After searching through boxes of stuff, I have found a photocopy of :

"Fine Old Sheffield"

An historical walk with Henry Tatton

Edited by Sylvia Anginotti

Which was produced by WEA students who attended a Local History Workshop of the Abbeydale area, not sure of the date but would suspect 1980's.

This book is based on Tatton's work and contains a number of his drawings. It is a journey around the Abbeydale area with Tatton's drawings, quotes from his text and a more modern descriptions.

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After searching through boxes of stuff, I have found a photocopy of :

"Fine Old Sheffield"

An historical walk with Henry Tatton

Edited by Sylvia Anginotti

Which was produced by WEA students who attended a Local History Workshop of the Abbeydale area, not sure of the date but would suspect 1980's.

This book is based on Tatton's work and contains a number of his drawings. It is a journey around the Abbeydale area with Tatton's drawings, quotes from his text and a more modern descriptions.

Yes I was given that to look at by the Librarian Yesterday. Its quite good but there are 100s of drawings of places that don't have photos in the Sheffield Picture Library Archives. Pity someone can't scan them and add them to the archive. Of course it would be a big job.

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In the 1980's I did photocopy some of the pages from these volumes and have scanned some of the images. Now at that time Xerox machines where not very good so there's nothing I can do about the quality and they are too large in size to upload direct on to here. So I have done one at much reduced size to show our friend what they are like.

It's from page 279 and it's the Wesleyan Chapel at Richmond.

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Image removed by RichardB, permission required from Local Studies. Will update when the situation is clear. Thank you for your patience.

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In the 1980's I did photocopy some of the pages from these volumes and have scanned some of the images. Now at that time Xerox machines where not very good so there's nothing I can do about the quality and they are too large in size to upload direct on to here. So I have done one at much reduced size to show our friend what they are like.

It's from page 279 and it's the Wesleyan Chapel at Richmond.

Thank you for the input History Dude, what size are the images please ? Could you email one to SheffieldHistory@gmail.com please.

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Permission(s) needed to post Tatton images, please ignore my request, I was not aware of the Permission issue at the time I posted it.

I apologise for any confusion.

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RichardB three images on the way!

Sorry I got the idea that it wouldn't need to be cleared with L.S.

Good job it's not from one of the "National" bodies. They want an arm and a leg for thier material!

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I found that a lot of what Tatton has in his early history notes are probably from a little book called Sheffield Local Register and Chronological Account (1830)

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Anybody know if the Signor Petre referred to is the man who Petre Street was named after?

I don't think so John, I think Petre was some relation/family related to the Dukes of Norfolk - its on here somewhere!

http://www.sheffieldhistory.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=4666&st=0&p=26687&hl=petre&fromsearch=1&#entry26687

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Knew I'd got it somewhere!

Henry was born in 1861 and for 50 years kept an ironmongers stall in the Market Hall. He died in 1946, but at the age of 59, in 1920, he decided to learn to draw, and kept these scrapbooks of his drawings of Sheffield. He also scattered them with things he came across he thought were interesting.

1891 - Court 1, House 1 Pond Street. Married to Elizabeth.

Henry, General Labourer, Sheffield born.

Elizabeth born Warwickshire, Birmingham

"Correct" birth year, anyway.

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Knew I'd got it somewhere!

Henry was born in 1861 and for 50 years kept an ironmongers stall in the Market Hall. He died in 1946, but at the age of 59, in 1920, he decided to learn to draw, and kept these scrapbooks of his drawings of Sheffield. He also scattered them with things he came across he thought were interesting.

Birth Apr-Jun 1861, Sheffield

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