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Jew Lane (Fitzalan Sq)


LeadFarmer

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I had a nosey along the current Jew Lane the other day, walked past it loads of times but never along it. Im wondering if it used to be more of a thoroughfare than it is now? Anyone know anything of its history? From other threads there was a Jehu Lane which was where Fitzalan Sq is now, which currently contains all the bookmakers. Im referring to the current Jew Lane that has an entrance on Fitzalan Sq that runs between what is now the Coral bookmakers and the building that used to be the Blue Bel pub, and an entrance on Commercial St..

 

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Heres a view from Commercial St..

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From Fitzalan Sq, 

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Looking down Jew Lane from Fitzalan Sq..

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Looking back up Jew Lane towards Fitzalan Sq..

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Having walked down Jew Lane from Commercial St, here it turns 90 degs right up to Fitzalan Sq. I wonder what this white brick building used to be?..

36287710513_006ae534eb_k.jpg

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From what I have seen, using a combination of maps from the usual sources, this 'gennel' never was Jew/Jehu Lane?

If you were to imagine the east side of the road of Fitzalan Square (the side that runs from outside the old GPO to the top of Haymarket) and it started outside the doors of the GPO (which wasn't there then, but Bakers Hill ran all the way up from Shude Hill, across to Esperanto Place and met Norfolk Street about where Mulberry Street is) and finished at the top of Haymarket (which was), that was the extent of Jew/Jehu Lane.

Around 1850 it stops being Jew/Jehu Lane and is briefly named Commercial Street (1853 map). By 1873, the Commercial Street we know today is built and the name transferred from Jew/Jehu Lane that now has no name and is shown as a continuation of Norfolk Street, right down to Haymarket. Then, by the 1890’s, the buildings between Market Street and Jew/Jehu Lane (as was) are demolished and Fitzalan Square is created.

The current Jew/Jehu Lane in your photos appears to be just a gap between the buildings that has existed since the 1890's, but was never adopted with a street name? Obviously it is now, as the signs clearly show!

if you have the time and the inclination, you can see the changes of the maps and if you put 'Jehu_Lane' into Picture Sheffield, you get some maps and images. Maybe the current Jew/Jehu Lane is 'Skittle Alley', shown on the photo of the Three Horseshoes and maybe that stood where the Bell Hotel is (or rather was) now?!

Confused? You will be!......  lol

 

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Thanks RLongden. The area has certainly seen some changes.

This building at the 90 deg junction of the present Jew Lane looks interesting, lower part is stone, upper part is brick, but with stone edges. I wonder what it was but for/as?

 

36287710513_006ae534eb_k.jpg&key=37c45d8

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Looking at the 1896 Insurance map of Fitzalan Square the thoroughfare was the Bell Yard, and the building was the one that is abbreviated to M,W,   Now, what is M.W?

59b2c6496c4fc_FitzalanSquare1896.png.7112c9590a0ae68df49e640ca93b622a.png

Maybe a Metals Warehouse?

59b2cb42dfa1f_BellHotelYardWarehouse1893.png.84ed0b7594d09d981e1273f7c8b7e0fd.png

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3 hours ago, Edmund said:

Looking at the 1896 Insurance map of Fitzalan Square the thoroughfare was the Bell Yard, and the building was the one that is abbreviated to M,W,   Now, what is M.W?

59b2c6496c4fc_FitzalanSquare1896.png.7112c9590a0ae68df49e640ca93b622a.png

Maybe a Metals Warehouse?

59b2cb42dfa1f_BellHotelYardWarehouse1893.png.84ed0b7594d09d981e1273f7c8b7e0fd.png

Just a guess at the MW label, J and F Ibbotson, Woolen Merchants were also described as Manchester warehousemen, so could it be "Manchester warehouse".  Did the building in question have the address of 7 Fitzalan Square ?

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Reading up on the term, in some definitions 'Manchester Warehouse' seems to refer to what was stored in it (textile goods, woven cloth, etc.), but also may refer to the method of construction? I also read that a 'Manchester Warehouse' was constructed using an iron girder frame, with brick cladding and tiled or slate roof, rather than brick or stone throughout. In the Manchester 'Cottonopolis', these were commonplace, as they needed large storage warehouses for their goods. Maybe this is a credible explanation, given the term in the index page is included in the section that lists the architectural abbreviations? Any other thoughts?....

Thats how modern warehouses are built, whether clad in brick, sheet metal, or a combination?

Link to some of the reading material here:

The development of steel framed buildings in Britain 1880-1905

(nearly as gripping as Dickens! lol)

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My reading of Dickens' definition is that a Manchester Warehouse was geared to providing a whole range of goods that the customer may want, regardless of the supplier or manufacturer, similar to a retail warehouse today.  This would be in contrast to a warehouse to held the goods produced by an enterprise, pending onward distribution.

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4 hours ago, Edmund said:

My reading of Dickens' definition is that a Manchester Warehouse was geared to providing a whole range of goods that the customer may want, regardless of the supplier or manufacturer, similar to a retail warehouse today.  This would be in contrast to a warehouse to held the goods produced by an enterprise, pending onward distribution.

Maybe so, but I was dropping off by the time I got halfway down the second page and even references to "buxom chamber-maids" couldn't hold my attention. The ramblings reminded me of the guy who Robbie Coltrane played on Blackadder, who invented the dictionary and was full of flowery prose and poetic licence, rather than getting to the point...... Samuel Johnson, wasn't it? lol

Strange though that the insurance map key should define the range of goods supplied, using the term 'Manchester Warehouse', when other buildings are merely referred to as 'shop', 'dwelling', 'tenement' etc.?

I wonder how many other 'M.W's' there are on these maps across Sheffield??? Surely this cannot be the only one? Victorian emporiums, stuffed with every kind of products were numerous (Cockaynes was contemporary of the period) and I would imagine there would be many similar businesses scattered all over the place?

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Well I certainly like how gennels and alleyways like this still exist, with newer buildings sticking to the previous buildings boundary lines. 

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1901 White's Directory

Cooper I. J. & G. Limited, Manchester warehousemen
(Alfred H. Cooke, manager), High street

Copestake, Crampton & Co. laoe manufacturers-, Man
chester warehousemen & haberdashers, High st. &
h. 2 Hawksley road, Hillsborough
London, Nottingham & Paris; Jas. B. Curry, mngr

Ibbotson J & F. woollen merchants & Manchester
warehousemen, Fitzalan square (T.N. 18) & Leeds

Whelan J ames & Co. woollen merchants & Man-chester warehousemen, Mulberry st. T .N. 303
Ashland road

warehouse.png

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1 hour ago, LeadFarmer said:

Well I certainly like how kennels and alleyways like this still exist, with newer buildings sticking to the previous buildings boundary lines. 

It will be in land records that the buildings are on. The alleyways and jennels are public rights of way or are owned by someone else. The owners of the threehold will only have the rights to build on the space that an old building was on. In my experience if you find a path which is narrow then it's very old. Even though much of the area around it could be quite modern. Sometimes the path has become a street or a road. But mostly they are left, perhaps in some cases as the developers couldn't find who it belonged to and therefore left it in. 

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The Jehu Lane name came straight from the bible, Jehu was a king of Israel and he was renowned for driving chariots at a very fast pace, the cab and coach drivers of Sheffield had to get a reasonable pace going to ascend the steep hill leading to the direction of the square and Commercial Street and as the people of the time had a great knowledge of the events and people in the bible, so seeing cab and carriage drivers driving recklessly up the hill the term " driving like Jehu" was soon transferred to the steep road. Nothing to do with Jews or a corruption of the word Jew.

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20 hours ago, tozzin said:

The Jehu Lane name came straight from the bible, Jehu was a king of Israel and he was renowned for driving chariots at a very fast pace, the cab and coach drivers of Sheffield had to get a reasonable pace going to ascend the steep hill leading to the direction of the square and Commercial Street and as the people of the time had a great knowledge of the events and people in the bible, so seeing cab and carriage drivers driving recklessly up the hill the term " driving like Jehu" was soon transferred to the steep road. Nothing to do with Jews or a corruption of the word Jew.

Doesn't that apply only if there is no evidence of the use of the word to describe the road in question from a later date. Certainly the road was called "Jehu" in the 1771 Fairbank map. Therefore it would be the place where the Jewish area of the town would have been located. There being no commercial "cabs" around to use it. Indeed to me it looks like only a connection road not something cab companies would take.  The fact that it turns into "Commercial Street" implies it was the centre of commercial activity and since the Jewish people would be at the forefront of this activity it stands a good chance of being the place where Jewish people were found. Many times alternative explanations are found for street and place names. Especially when the name is controversial. But I don't see the name being adopted from that explanation. And since the Cab Drivers were much more common when the name was already in use I think it's highly unlikely that a name would have caught on by this method. In any case it's more likely that the drivers would be more likely to ride recklessly going down the hill, rather than up it!   

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I  still think my explanation of Jehu is correct irrespective of when it was used, the Jew name I think would not have been corrupted to Jehu as many people gave the Jews bad press so to speak.

 

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Some years ago we lived in Melbourne Australia, where all the big stores had a 'Manchester' department which sold household linen.

Apparently the original term was 'Manchester goods', so a Manchester warehouse would make sense.  Textile factories were also built to be fire-proof using iron frames and masonry.

Roger

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2 hours ago, tozzin said:

I  still think my explanation of Jehu is correct irrespective of when it was used, the Jew name I think would not have been corrupted to Jehu as many people gave the Jews bad press so to speak.

 

Another explanation into the pot, from Leader's Reminscences of Old Sheffield:

LEONARD : Do you know what is said to be the origin of the name Jehu lane? The tradition is, that when Mary Queen of Scots arrived in Sheffield for imprisonment at the Manor, this lane was the main road, and through it she had to pass. The streets had not been planned in expectation of such things as coaches rolling through them, and the lane astonished the Queen’s coachman to such an extent that he ejaculated "Jehu!" - by way, I suppose, of invoking the tutelary genius of drivers in his difficulty.

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4 hours ago, Edmund said:

Another explanation into the pot, from Leader's Reminscences of Old Sheffield:

LEONARD : Do you know what is said to be the origin of the name Jehu lane? The tradition is, that when Mary Queen of Scots arrived in Sheffield for imprisonment at the Manor, this lane was the main road, and through it she had to pass. The streets had not been planned in expectation of such things as coaches rolling through them, and the lane astonished the Queen’s coachman to such an extent that he ejaculated "Jehu!" - by way, I suppose, of invoking the tutelary genius of drivers in his difficulty.

Leader was a bit biased towards Mary Stuart. In fact if you read his own book it's very clear that George Talbot went over the top when Mary was brought to Sheffield, treating her too much as a Queen. Mary Stuart was NEVER imprisoned anywhere in Sheffield. She was housed in Sheffield under guard as protection. Something that she requested in her letter to Queen Elizabeth. Though she tends to forget this later on. However no historian should forget this. And if you look at George Talbot tomb in the Cathedral it confirms this. 

Leader was a newspaper owner and I suppose would have been familiar with cab driver tails. But like Edmund's explanation it lacks any collaborating evidence. Who would have recorded the coach driver saying that, then giving it the name to the lane? Indeed Leader's clearly made up explanation is likely to be the source of Edmund's reference. With some later historian claiming it as a likely source, with it being used by cab and coach drivers at that time.

As for the spelling it fits in with the various spellings of Jewishness. It could have even been developed from the name of a Jewish person who lived in that very street. Somebody who had been given the surname of Jehu. It's not uncommon for streets to be named after people. Corker Bottoms Lane for example comes from the guy who owned the bottom fields the lane ran through. 

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11 hours ago, History dude said:

It could have even been developed from the name of a Jewish person who lived in that very street. Somebody who had been given the surname of Jehu. It's not uncommon for streets to be named after people.

Not necessarily Jewish - Jehu Tompson (son of Hugh, sister of  Maria) was baptised at the Anglican parish church on 4th January 1646.  There's no record so far, unfortunately, of his residence once an adult. Edit: Jehu was buried on 5th January 1646, but the principle remains

59c78f49e9c52_JehuTompsonBaptism1646.png.5bf131e84d8125267b3746539065817c.png

The road was labelled as "Jehu" on Gosling's 1736 map.

59c790b771755_Gosling1736(part).png.dea71969b0c45af951f69a90b0223146.png

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According to this site the first known use of the word Jehu meaning "a driver of a coach or cab" was in 1560,  so could it simply be a place where horse drawn passenger vehicles waited for custom just as taxi cabs of all types have used the area in more modern times and possibly ever since those days.       ---------------------         https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jehu  

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So from boginspro's link above..

It would appear that Jehu was the king of Israel, who was originally a commander of chariots for Ahab, king of Israel. Jehu later led a revolt against the throne and became king himself. 

In the Bible, it is noted of Jehu that "he drives furiously".

In the 17th century, English speakers began using jehu as a generic term meaning "coachman" or, specifically, "a fast or reckless coachman."

So it might be possible that the road is named after Jehu, or its named after coachmen/taxi drivers driving furiously on the road, or its named after an area where coachmen/taxis congregate.

Or, its named after an area frequented by the Jewish people of Sheffield.

Either way, its nice that the current and little used lane off Fitsalan Square carries a name relevant to the history of this area.

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Looking at the 1736 map it doesn't look big enough for any traffic to hang around at. And I am torn at the idea it was used a lot by coachmen or taxi.

I do like the idea that it was a first name of somebody.

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