Strange Structure At Hallam Head

[hilldweller]

I've just been perusing the 1950's Ordnance Survey maps and spotted what looks like a strange circular structure at the bottom of map 320 (Hallam Head).

The structure stood where the apartment block and houses now called "The Ridge" now stands.

I did wonder if it was something left over from WW2 or perhaps it was associated with quarrying.

Does anyone have any information as to what this structure might have been ?

HD

[SteveHB]

???

link to OS map #320

Flash Earth

[SteveHB]

1952

1934

[SteveHB]

I've just been perusing the 1950's Ordnance Survey maps and spotted what looks like a strange circular structure at the bottom of map 320 (Hallam Head).

The structure stood where the apartment block and houses now called "The Ridge" now stands.

I did wonder if it was something left over from WW2 or perhaps it was associated with quarrying.

Does anyone have any information as to what this structure might have been ?

HD

Roman bath .. lol

[hilldweller]

Roman bath ..

The bottom of the 1950's OS map runs right across the middle of the structure which was why I thought the thing was circular.

It looks as though it was some sort of posh gazebo in the grounds of a large private house now demolished and after which the road is named.

And there was I thinking I'd discovered an early ICBM launching silo.

HD

[SteveHB]

And there was I thinking I'd discovered an early ICBM launching silo.

HD

Maybe Jerry was thinking the same when they bombed the area,

link to Sheffield Forum

[DaveH]

And there was I thinking I'd discovered an early ICBM launching silo.

HD

No hilldweller, the ICBM launching silo WAS "the hole in the road"

From above ground level (but obviously not below) the hole in the road looked exactly like a missile launch site disguised as a roundabout in a city centre to avoid enemy detection.

At one time as kids we used to refer to the hole in the road as "Thunderbird 3 launch pad", - if you ever watch an episode of Gerry Andersons "Thunderbirds" in which Thunderbird 3, a rocket, is launched you will see why.

[hilldweller]

Maybe Jerry was thinking the same when they bombed the area,

link to Sheffield Forum

I didn't know about that particular bomb. The "Where the bombs fell in Sheffield" map doesn't show that site.

There was a bomb fell in Slayleigh Avenue about half a mile to the south but that was a lone raider some time in about 1941 I think. There was also one fell in the fields where The Fairway is situated at the top of Lodge Lane. A clutch fell across the valley at the bottom of Hangram Lane. A number fell in the Rivelin Valley but the biggest damage was caused when a large bomb/land-mine was taken there to be detonated out of harm's way. It was placed over the top of a trunk water main. Whoops

I think the hole has been filled in now but when I was a kid it was a perfectly circular water filled small lake.

HD

[hilldweller]

The bottom of the 1950's OS map runs right across the middle of the structure which was why I thought the thing was circular.

It looks as though it was some sort of posh gazebo in the grounds of a large private house now demolished and after which the road is named.

And there was I thinking I'd discovered an early ICBM launching silo.

HD

According to my two wartime copies of Kelly's directory, The Ridge was the home of a Mr. Ashley Ward, the Managing Director of T. W. Ward Ltd. He probably had the resources to build quite a fetching gazebo, perhaps even an elephant for heavy lifting.

HD

[DaveH]

According to my two wartime copies of Kelly's directory, The Ridge was the home of a Mr. Ashley Ward, the Managing Director of T. W. Ward Ltd. He probably had the resources to build quite a fetching gazebo, perhaps even an elephant for heavy lifting.

HD

He probably also had the resources to build himself a nuclear shelter to protect him from the fallout of any incoming ICBM lol