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W Pierrepoint Greengrocers - Attercliffe road


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Hi

Anybody know when this closed down.And stories of the building - please

Thanks

Andy m :rolleyes:

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Never mind....save you looking there and getting banned for summat, heres one of the posts.....

Albert Pierrepoint of Clayton Nr. Bradford Yorkshire 1905-1992.

Period on Home Office List – 1932 - 1956.

Albert Pierrepoint was by far the most prolific hangman of the 20th century having executed an estimated 433 men and 17 women in his 24 years of service in this country and abroad. His tally of executions was greatly increased as a result of World War II, working in the UK, Germany and other European countries, including Cyprus and Austria.

Albert gave evidence to the 1949 Royal Commission on Capital Punishment, chaired by Sir Ernest Gowers and also a demonstration of the technique used.

He learnt his trade assisting his uncle Tom, his first experience of the “trade” as assistant to Tom in the hanging of Patrick McDermott at Mountjoy Prison in Dublin. Albert is credited with the quickest hanging on record when he, assisted by Sid Dernley, executed James Inglis in only 7 seconds on the 8th of May 1951 at Strangeways in Manchester. His first execution as "Number 1" was that of gangster, Antonio "Babe" Mancini, at Pentonville Prison on the 17th of October 1941. He was assisted in this by Steve Wade.

Some of his notable executions were :

Neville George Clevelly Heath who was hanged on the 16th of October 1946 at Pentonville Prison for the sexual/sadistic murder of Margery Gardner who was found dead in a hotel bedroom. When discovered, she was lying on her back in one of the single beds nearest to the door. She was naked and had her ankles bound with a handkerchief. She had a lot of bruising to her face and her nipples had been almost bitten off. Something had been inserted into her vagina and sharply rotated. On her back were 17 criss-cross lash marks. The cause of death had been suffocation, but only after the horrific injuries had been inflicted.

During World War II, Albert assisted his uncle Tom in the hanging of the 16 American soldiers at Shepton Mallet military prison in Somerset. They had been condemned by Courts Martial for murder and rape.

After the war, Albert made several visits to Germany and on the 13th of December 1945, hanged 13 German war criminals at Hameln jail including Irma Greese, Elizabeth Volkenrath and Juana Boreman and 10 men including the "Beast of Belsen", Josef Kramer.

Albert is thought to have hanged around 200 Nazis in all. He hanged 8 men in Austria after the war and trained Austrian hangmen in the modern method of hanging.

Albert was to execute "Lord Haw-Haw," real name, William Joyce at Wandsworth for treason on the 3rd of January 1946.

John George Haigh, the famous "Acid bath murderer," came his way on the 10th of August 1949 at Wandsworth prison for the murder of Mrs. Durand-Deacon. Her gallstone and dentures were not dissolved by the acid in which he had dissolved the rest of her body and remained to convict Haigh.

Derek Bentley was hanged on the 28th of January 1953, at Wandsworth, for his part in the murder of PC Miles. The case has been the subject of books and the film "Let him have it" and efforts for a pardon. For full details of this case go to Derek Bentley.

Another controversial case was that of Timothy John Evans whom Albert hanged on the 9th of March 1950 at Pentonville for the murder of his wife at 10 Rillington Place, the home of John Reginald Christie. Christie admitted killing 7 women in total. He was hanged on the 15th of July 1953 at Pentonville Prison. In 1966, Evans was granted a posthumous pardon.

On Tuesday the 28th of November 1950 Albert hanged James Corbitt at Strangeways in Manchester for the murder of his girlfriend. Corbitt had been a regular at Albert’s pub and they had sang together on a Saturday night. The had nicknamed each other “Tish” and “Tosh”. It was only when Albert went to look at the prisoner on the Monday night he realised who he was about to hang. They greeted each other with their nicknames the following morning.

On the 13th of July 1955 at Holloway Prison, Ruth Ellis became the last woman to be hanged in Britain. Albert’s last execution was that of 25 year old Norman Green at Liverpool’s Walton prison on Wednesday the 27th of July 1955. Green had stabbed two children to death in separate murders in 1954 and 1955.

Pierrepoint resigned over a disagreement about fees in 1956. He had gone to Strangeways on a bitterly cold day in January 1956 to hang Thomas Bancroft. He arrived at the prison only for Bancroft to be reprieved later in the afternoon. He claimed the full fee of £15, (more than £200 at today's prices), but was offered just £1 in out of pocket expenses by the Under sheriff of Lancashire. Pierrepoint appealed to his employers, the Prison Commission, who refused to get involved. The Under sheriff sent him a cheque for £4 in final settlement. But to Albert this was a huge insult to his pride in his position as Britain's Chief Executioner so he tendered his resignation. Albert died in a nursing home in Southport, Lancashire, in 1992 at the age of 87.

His autobiography, "Executioner - Pierrepoint" is still available and a film about Albert’s career, entitled “Pierrepoint” and starring Timothy Spall is due to be released in April 2006.

does this help you

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Guest plain talker

the film, based on Pierrepoint's life was available on the film on demand thingy, on cable, a few weeks ago. We took advantage of its availablity and watched it. It was a very well acted film, sensitive, its handling of an awkward sunject, and quite a "gripping watch".

It was interesting to find out that Pierrepoint, in later years, rather then being a supporter of the Death penalty, became opposed to it.

I find it interesting that, even though he presided over the hangings of at least two innocent men, (Timothy Evans, and Derek Bentley) he did not become "anti" sooner.

and Detrius, yes the Pierrepoints of Attercliffe, and the Pierrepoints who were the hangmen were related, I believe they were cousins.

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Guest detrius

the film, based on Pierrepoint's life was available on the film on demand thingy, on cable, a few weeks ago. We took advantage of its availablity and watched it. It was a very well acted film, sensitive, its handling of an awkward sunject, and quite a "gripping watch".

It was interesting to find out that Pierrepoint, in later years, rather then being a supporter of the Death penalty, became opposed to it.

I find it interesting that, even though he presided over the hangings of at least two innocent men, (Timothy Evans, and Derek Bentley) he did not become "anti" sooner.

and Detrius, yes the Pierrepoints of Attercliffe, and the Pierrepoints who were the hangmen were related, I believe they were cousins.

WOW

Excelent ,thals Plaintalker appreciate that mate.will have a look for the film now.

Cheers mate

Andy M

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Guest plain talker

WOW

Excelent ,thals Plaintalker appreciate that mate.will have a look for the film now.

Cheers mate

Andy M

I would consider the film worth a watch.

I was concerned that it may be too grim , too gruesome, but the issue of capital punishment was handled sensitively, in general, it was well written, and well played out.

Obviously, it isn't the nicest of subject matter, but *meh* that was the society that existed at that time.

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Neville George Clevelly Heath who was hanged on the 16th of October 1946 at Pentonville Prison for the sexual/sadistic murder of Margery Gardner who was found dead in a hotel bedroom. When discovered, she was lying on her back in one of the single beds nearest to the door. She was naked and had her ankles bound with a handkerchief. She had a lot of bruising to her face and her nipples had been almost bitten off. Something had been inserted into her ****** and sharply rotated. On her back were 17 criss-cross lash marks. The cause of death had been suffocation, but only after the horrific injuries had been inflicted.

Coincidently Margery Gardner was alleged to have been a actress/prostitute from Sheffield, she left her husband for the bright lights of London and this is how she ended up. Does anyone have any further information regarding this.

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Tom Pierrepoint was the hangman who in 1925 executed William Fowler at Armley gaol Leeds. William Fowler and his brother Lawrence along with a gang murderd a sheffield ex boxer called William Plommer. This is said to be what ended the Sheffield gang wars.

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Guest TexxUK

If you look closely at the sign above the shop it actually reads PIERREPONT and not PIERREPOINT.

Signwriter's mistake or urban myth?

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Pierreponts were a well known family of Sheffield Greengrocers, nothing to do with the hangman so far as I was aware. I knew one of them in my teens. The shop closed down sometime in the late sixties/early seventies I believe, when the whole of the Attercliffe area was cleared. Can't remember exactly as I was not working in Sheffield at the time. I used to do my shopping down the Cliffe, cheapest place in Sheffield to shop. a relative of mine had a fish and chip shop down by the Weedon Street tram sheds, and we used to finish up there having walked down from Staniforth Road - Happy days

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the film, based on Pierrepoint's life was available on the film on demand thingy, on cable, a few weeks ago. We took advantage of its availablity and watched it. It was a very well acted film, sensitive, its handling of an awkward sunject, and quite a "gripping watch".

It was interesting to find out that Pierrepoint, in later years, rather then being a supporter of the Death penalty, became opposed to it.

I find it interesting that, even though he presided over the hangings of at least two innocent men, (Timothy Evans, and Derek Bentley) he did not become "anti" sooner.

and Detrius, yes the Pierrepoints of Attercliffe, and the Pierrepoints who were the hangmen were related, I believe they were cousins.

I think there is a drama based on this chap on Bank Holiday Monday Night - 25th August starring Timothy Spall & Juliet Stevenson.

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I realised recently that I go past this site every day - it is still there, unused apart from advertising billboards. I took a pic but not easy as I had to stand in the road.

post-20988-0-40896100-1394559793_thumb.jpg

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The greengrocer was my wifes great uncle and had nothing to do with the executioner whose family lived in Bradford. The name is not even the same ! My mum in law worked here after the war. The PIERREPONT family come from Nottingham and are descendants of the Duke Of Wellington who married a Miss Pierrepont  of  Holme Pierrepont , in the early 1800s.  The name goes back to the norman conquest and means Stone Bridge . ( Someone who lived near a stone bridge.

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On 09/08/2021 at 15:30, Brian S said:

The PIERREPONT family come from Nottingham and are descendants of the Duke Of Wellington who married a Miss Pierrepont  of  Holme Pierrepont , in the early 1800s. 

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington married Catherine Pakenham in 1806. They had two children:
(1)Arthur Richard Wellesley, 2nd Duke of Wellington,  (3 February 1807 – 13 August 1884) who married Lady Elizabeth Hay, daughter of Field Marshal George Hay, 8th Marquess of Tweeddale, in 1839. They had no children.
(2) Major-General Lord Charles Wellesley (16 January 1808 – 9 October 1858), he married Augusta Sophia Anne Pierrepont, daughter of The Hon. Henry Pierrepont, on 9 July 1844. They had six children:

Arthur Wellesley (5 May 1845 – 7 July 1846)
Major Henry Wellesley, 3rd Duke of Wellington (5 April 1846 – 8 June 1900)(died childless, so title passed to his brother

Arthur Charles Wellesley, 4th Duke of Wellington

  [+ 3 others]

So Augusta Pierrepont had one Duke of Wellington as a father-in-law, another as brother-in-law and a third and fourth as her sons.She died in 1893.

 

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Always had a soft spot for this building.

My first ever job was a Saturday boy at Jacksons supermarket on the lower ground floor of Banners.

I used to walk up Newhall Road and then past Pierrepont's on my way to work and that was in 1977. It was closed down then and looked in a pretty run down state.

Since then I have always wanted to see a picture of the shop in its heyday.

There is a film of a Sheffield tram running through Attercliffe in the early sixties on Youtube and I thought this is it, I am going to see it!!

Unfortunately the film cut off before it got there and started again further down the road on its way to the terminus.

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On 09/08/2021 at 15:30, Brian S said:

The greengrocer was my wifes great uncle and had nothing to do with the executioner whose family lived in Bradford. The name is not even the same ! My mum in law worked here after the war. The PIERREPONT family come from Nottingham and are descendants of the Duke Of Wellington who married a Miss Pierrepont  of  Holme Pierrepont , in the early 1800s.  The name goes back to the norman conquest and means Stone Bridge . ( Someone who lived near a stone bridge.

I did some work on this for someone else and they could well be  related, although it does date back some time., probably 18th C.

 Albert Pierrepoint's father Henry came from Normanton on Soar in Notts...his father Thomas was born as Thomas Pierrepont in East Leake, Notts, and his father William was born in Holme Pierrepont.

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This thread is getting very confusing. The greengrocers were the PIERREPONT family NOT the PIERREPOINT family of hangman fame.

Nigel L

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21 minutes ago, Lemmy117 said:

This thread is getting very confusing. The greengrocers were the PIERREPONT family NOT the PIERREPOINT family of hangman fame.

Nigel L

Not if you've done any genealogy Nigel....family names often changed over time particularly pre 20th century when most people were not able to read or write, the names written in the census or on birth, marriage and death documents were often the local vicar or curate's guess at the spelling after hearing your pronunciation of your name. My own Grandmother was called Jewsbury, as you go back in time it was written as Jewsbery, Jewsberry, Gooseberry, Joesbury, Dewsbury, Dewsberry.

    The census documents etc show that the name spelling of the hangman's family changed from Pierrepont to Pierrepoint in the mid 1850's.

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On 10/08/2021 at 19:34, Hopman said:

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington married Catherine Pakenham in 1806. They had two children:
(1)Arthur Richard Wellesley, 2nd Duke of Wellington,  (3 February 1807 – 13 August 1884) who married Lady Elizabeth Hay, daughter of Field Marshal George Hay, 8th Marquess of Tweeddale, in 1839. They had no children.
(2) Major-General Lord Charles Wellesley (16 January 1808 – 9 October 1858), he married Augusta Sophia Anne Pierrepont, daughter of The Hon. Henry Pierrepont, on 9 July 1844. They had six children:

Arthur Wellesley (5 May 1845 – 7 July 1846)
Major Henry Wellesley, 3rd Duke of Wellington (5 April 1846 – 8 June 1900)(died childless, so title passed to his brother

Arthur Charles Wellesley, 4th Duke of Wellington

  [+ 3 others]

So Augusta Pierrepont had one Duke of Wellington as a father-in-law, another as brother-in-law and a third and fourth as her sons.She died in 1893.

 

Having had a look at the Darnall Pierrepont's Hopman, I think they are very likely related to the hangman ...or at least from the same area, however on what I can see they seem unlikely to be related by marriage to the Duke of Wellington....The Pierrepont's originated in Notts, but came to Darnall via Dewsbury and Doncaster..

In 1911 the shop owner was William Pierrepont b c1880 in Dewsbury. His father was Joseph a machine fitter b 1845 Tickhill, Doncaster. His father was William b1818 Kneesall, Notts, he was a Railway Porter and later a Drayman for ( probably) Barnsley Brewery.

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Sorry I'm a bit late for this, but I've been inside Pierreponts again and taken some pictures.  It's since been resealed so you can't get in.  I use the word "in" advisedly, as there's actually no roof on it now.

PIERREPONTS INTERIOR 2021.jpg

INSIDE PIERREPONTS 2021-C.jpg

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