Nether Edge Farmhouse or the Brincliffe Oaks Pub

[Lizziejampot]

I hesitate to start a new thread about this, but I was a bit daunted by the length of the most relevant one, so please excuse me if this is in the wrong place.

I've been trying to trace the history of Nether Edge Farmhouse and as we know it became the Brincliffe Oaks.  I've now got the following dates and names of Landlords and thought they might be of interest.  Farming ceased there in 1854 and it looks as thought the place stood empty for ten years and then it was taken over by Benjamin Beeley, who was the Inn Keeper at the Washington Arms on Washington Road until then.  Here is a summary, which I hope will be of interest:

Landlords

Benjamin Beeley (1864 – 1873);

Samuel Beeley (1873 – 1876;  son of BB.  He ran the pub until his mother died in 1876 and then the business was sold.

Edward Twivey (1877 – 1904)

 

[Lizziejampot]

Oh I should have said also, that if anyone has any information or pictures of the old farm, I'd be more than a little bit interested!

[Lizziejampot]

Also, if people need sources, I can post them (although it may take a bit of pulling together ....)

[tozzin]

In 1833 Benjamin Beeley was a Pen & Pocketknife Manufacturer in Sylvester Street.

In 1849 he had moved to 125 Thomas Street where he was described as a Springknife Manufacturer and he stopped there until circa 1860, by 1862 he was Mine Host at the Washington Arms at 88 Eldon Street. It seems his son took over his Springknife business.

In 1787 a Thomas Beeley was a Cutler in the "Ponds" and a John Beeley was a Victualler in Smithfield. Beeley seems to be an unusual name in Sheffield.

[Lizziejampot]

Thanks Tozzin.  I'm curious that you say the Washington Arms was at 88 Eldon Street, as the 1861 Census places it at 116 Washington Road, Ecclesall Bierlow.  Next door, at 114, is Joseph Beeley, Spring Knife Blade Forger.  I assume that Joseph was BB's younger brother (by 2 years).  Benjamin Beeley junior took over the running of the Washington Arms after his father moved to the Brincliffe Oaks and he was still there in 1871.  1851 Census says that BB is a Warehouseman, but sons Charles and Samuel, aged 14 and 12 respectively, were spring knife cutlers. Given that the 1852 Directory still calls BB a Springknife Manufacturer, I'd guess that his role as a warehouseman was still in the family business.   It was Samuel, of course, who took over the running of the Brincliffe Oaks after his father died. 

[tozzin]

Sorry Lizziejampot but I mixed up the addresses; From the 1862 Directory.the address on Broomhall Street is actually 144 and a half, strange the way they did things then.

Beeley Benjamin, vict., Washington Arms,116 Washington road
 Beeley George, click and dagger knife mnfr.,1441/2 Broomhall street
 Beeley George, manager, Washington  Works, 88 Eldon street
 Beeley John, vict., Old Hare and Hounds, 51 Trinity street
 Beeley Joseph, blade maker, 114 Washington road

1856 Directory

Beeley George, lock knife manfr. Monmouth lane; house Button Lane.

1849 Directory

Beeley Benjamin, springknife manufacturer, court 125 Thomas street
Beeley George, springkuife manufacturer, 134 Broomhall Street
Beeley George, shoemaker, court 1 Tudor Street, Little Sheffield

 

[Lizziejampot]

Thanks very much for your interest Tozzin.  

[Edmund]

I have something of a connection with the now demolished and built over Brincliffe Oaks pub, in that my marriage reception was held there in 1982, and it had previously been an infrequent watering hole for me. I had a passing interest in where the name came from, as there were no oaks in the vicinity.

This story is a little reminiscent of recent events concerning the removal of trees in Sheffield.

Sheffield Archives have a file on the Literary and Philosophical Society (founded in 1822 by James Montgomery) which contains an unsigned grey wash drawing of the two Brincliffe oak trees dated 1790.

In 1855 (a year after Montgomery's death) John Holland and James Everett published (in 7 volumes) "The Memoirs of the Life and Writings of James Montgomery". Volume 3 included a description of Montgomery's visit to the oaks, together with an illustrative engraving. The text stated that "We fear, however, their days are numbered ; the ground on which they stand has been sold to a cheap building company, who have already reduced them to the desolate aspect of 'naked trunks amidst a fresh-dug plot' preliminary, doubtless, to their removal from the scene which they have occupied and adorned for five hundred years". The alternative name for the trees became "The Montgomery Oaks" though this was confusing as Montgomery planted an oak in front of the General Infirmary in 1851.

In March 1862, there were two old trees near Brincliffe Edge " striking for their size antiquity and picturesque effect", that became the subject of preservationists, who lamented that they were to be felled following the acquisition of the land by a Building Society. The trees apparently were traditionally associated with the Machon family during the civil war siege of Sheffield. The Montgomery Land Society offered to sell the land with the trees on at cost price to anyone who wanted to save them. They denied the claim that the late owner of the land, George Wostenholm had sold it subject to the stipulation that the trees should remain standing.

In June 1862 John Holland read a paper at the Literary and Philosophical Society on "Trees in the Neighbourhood of Sheffield" - mentioning the Brincliffe oaks as still existing, and illustrating the talk with photographs of the oaks taken by Theophilus Smith. In his 1864 book "Wharncliffe, Wortley, and the Valley of the Don. Photographically Illustrated by Theophilus Smith" was a photo entitled "Ancient Oak near the Lodge" - judge for yourself whether it's one of the oaks 9 years later on. Note that Theophilus was a local resident, living at Brincliffe Edge Bank aged 22 in 1861, Cherry Tree Road in 1871 and Oakdale Road in 1876.

In 1885 "a gentleman whose ancestors are stated to have owned all the land in the neighbourhood has surrounded one of the old oaks with a substantial wall to protect it from marauding hands"

Brincliffe Oaks Hotel is first recorded in Sheffield trade directories in the late 1860s with Benjamin Beeley (c. 1799 - 1873) as proprietor (although an ale house is said to have existed on the site since the 1600s). Benjamin Beeley was one of the first purchasers of lots from the Nether Edge Building Society - on 15th October 1863 he bought 6 lots totalling 4225 square yards for £420, these lots later merged with the Montgomery Society.  The rules of the Montgomery society stipulated that weekly meetings should be held at the house of Benjamin Beeley, the Washington Arms, Washington Road, and the society came to an end at a meeting held at the Brincliffe Oaks Hotel on November 22nd, 1883.

The two trees were still standing in 1874 as evidenced in J.H.Stainton's "The Making of Sheffield" :

"Vandals were abroad even in those days. I find one letter from the society's secretary, 8th December, 1874, to Mr. Wostenholm, which runs as follows: "The [Montgomery] Committee propose to cut down the two old oak trees in Oakdale Road and sell them, as the lots will not sell whilst they are there. They give you first offer, if you would like to purchase for 30/- each, for them. Any damage in removal to make good." The secretary's English was a trifle obscure, but his meaning was sufficiently clear, and it is pleasant to find that the reply was a curt refusal to have anything to do with the proposal"

In May 1874 John Holland had published articles in the Daily Telegraph, seemingly a reprise on his lecture of 10 years earlier. He referred to the two oaks trees as still standing, but due to their senility the timber would be worthless.

The newspapers carried a report in May 1876 that the two trees were due to be auctioned within the next week, the writer hoping that the trees might be spared by a sympathetic purchaser. Probably the auction mentioned was the one that included the public house, as well as adjacent building land, to be held on the 18th July. It was put up at £5,000 but there were no bids and it was withdrawn. In October 200 friends gathered for a farewell feast at the Brincliffe Oaks to mark the retirement of Samuel Beeley.

Pawson and Brailsford featured the oaks as a visitor attraction, in their Illustrated Guilde to Sheffield of 1879 (and subsequent ones):

In 1907 the Telegraph had an article on the oaks, and included two etchings by W.Topham made in 1880. The article stated that until recently the pair of trees had stood one each side of Oakdale Road

In 1932 Thomas R Ellin an ex-Brincliffe resident responded to a picture of one of the oaks in the Telegraph asking for information. He stated that the trees had been in existence thirty years since "on a piece of bare land on the right-hand side at the bottom of Oakdale Road, next to the house of the late Mr William Pool, the artist, and opposite to the Brincliffe Oaks Hotel, a very old building which doubtless took its name from these trees, although locally in those days it was more familiarly known as 'Beeley's" from the name of the licensee of that period." A family tradition related that Mr Ellin's great-grandfather, as a boy, pre-1800, climbed one of the trees and found an owl's nest in it. Mr Ellin possessed two engravings, one of each tree, made by John.F.Parkin of Messrs Parkin and Bacon, who produced them for a conversazione of the Literary and Philosphical Society at the Cutlers' Hall on 25th February 1886. Mr Parkin at that time lived at the top of Machon Bank.

Ada Florence Young, a drawing teacher, artist and photographer of 22 Adelaide Road, Brincliffe, made a sketch of the trees

The final tree, opposite the pub, was cut down by Harry Summerlin Hinde, a nurseryman and florist of Byron Road on Thursday 16th March 1922 due to the unsafe state of the trunk, with children able to climb up the hollow centre. He made a paper knife from some of the sounder wood. On his 1921 census return he stated that he was a Discharged Soldier, Jobbing & Dealing or any odd job I am able to do in woodwork. In 1950 that plot was still not built on. It is now occupied by number 2 Oakdale Road.

There are a surprising number of images of the trees on the picturesheffield site, mainly under the Montgomery name, see here: picturesheffield photos

 

[Heartshome]

Again Edmund, BRILLIANT work!  the coalition of the historical info is fascinating.

                                             Thank you Heartshome