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Help with heritage project


John OFP

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Hello one and all, my name is John Gelder and I'm involved with a project called Our Favourite Places - we publish a book and website about some of the interesting and unusual places to visit in Sheffield. We also produce a number of fun trail maps to the city such as a poetry trail, a runners trail, real ale trail and a typography trail.

We are in the process of producing a tour to some of the city's hidden heritage. We want to draw peoples attention to the historical artefacts that they might walk past every day without knowing its significance.

The type of thing that I had in mind are: the weights and measures by the town hall, bomb damage to the city hall, Signage for Howard Gallery on Chapel Walk, Jeffie Bainbridge Children's shelter, elephants on the Cutler's Hall doors. 

I wonder if any of you guys would be able to point out any 'well I never!' items in the city centre? They don't necessarily have to be ancient - or especially ornate, but just have an interesting part in Sheffield's story. The idea is that the trail could be done in a day, so I'm looking for things within a mile of the town hall.

I recently went on a walking tour with Sheffield History poster andy1702 who suggested that this forum was home to lots of helpful and knowledgable people! If anyone is able to make any suggestions it would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

John

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Hey John and welcome to the site

I'm sure there will be loads so let's see what the readers and members can come up with!

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Hi John,

The nude statue of Vulcan on Town Hall 1896 was modelled by one of Queen Victoria's Life Guardsmen (can you name him?)  Cathedral spire, climbed by William Battye who played  a tune on his french horn while at the top.

The police box at the side of the town hall, originally part of a network put in place by Chief Constable Percy Sillitoe who defeated the Sheffield Gangs (Mooney etc), Paradise Square (originally Pot square) various stories, eg Wesley, Chartists, John Lees sold his wife ther for sixpence, to Samuel Hill in 1786

Queens Head - laundry for the castle?  Wicker arches bomb damage, Wicker history on Sembly Tuesdays, for Lord's militia and archery practice.

 

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Birthplace of football ?

I can pinpoint it (the site of Parkfield House and the probable location of the parlour) to within a couple of metres - no it's not on Alderson Road...

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Thank you Edmund - lots of great things there, just the sort of thing I had in mind. I didn't know the connection between the police box and the Mooney gangs, nor did I know about William Battye. Also Paradise square, I'm looking into the story and so far have found lots of interesting stories (mostly on this forum!). 

Unrecordings - thank you for the football idea. It's a huge part of Sheffield history and I'd love to feature something on it - I'm hoping to feature things that can still be seen today (rather than modern buildings that are built on top of older sites of historical interest). Is there anything left of the original building?

I'm aware that the Cutlers Hotel in town is linked to Sheffield FC, but I'm not sure if that is a historic link or a commercial link.

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On ‎15‎/‎09‎/‎2017 at 20:08, Edmund said:

Hi John,

The nude statue of Vulcan on Town Hall 1896 was modelled by one of Queen Victoria's Life Guardsmen (can you name him?)  Cathedral spire, climbed by William Battye who played  a tune on his french horn while at the top.

The police box at the side of the town hall, originally part of a network put in place by Chief Constable Percy Sillitoe who defeated the Sheffield Gangs (Mooney etc), Paradise Square (originally Pot square) various stories, eg Wesley, Chartists, John Lees sold his wife ther for sixpence, to Samuel Hill in 1786

Queens Head - laundry for the castle?  Wicker arches bomb damage, Wicker history on Sembly Tuesdays, for Lord's militia and archery practice.

 

There used to be a police box on Rustlings road by the entrance to Whiteley Woods. A retired Police officer told me that in those days beat police had to report in to a designated box at the start of their shift. Shillitoe did not want them wasting time by reporting to a police station and then having to travel to their beat. The retired Police officer was a friend of my grandfather's, he was a very large Irishman who reckoned he had been recruited in Ireland to help beat the Mooneys. I have heard the black and white check pattern around police caps referred to as "The Shillitoe Tartan" !

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The carvings of the Creation of the World on Carmel House on Fargate by the Tory family, they also did the carvings on the White buildings in the square,this family do not get the recognition they deserve. The medieval Ladysbridge should also be seen, I have the only colour photograph of the old bridge.

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Parkfield House was demolished around 1902 (if memory serves) and the land used to build Parkfield Place

Assuming the parlour was on the south side of the house at the front, then that's in the middle of the current road

Screen Shot 2017-09-18 at 20.36.13.png

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Thanks for the map, Unrecordings - I can just about make out the route of the old road on Google maps where the factories are angled. What's the road that says "lane" on the overlay? It looks like an extension of what is now St Barnabas Road.

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Tozzin - thank you for the suggestion of Carmel House. I've seen those carvings but never realised they were the story of creation - exactly the sort of thing I was after - thank you. Time for me to do a bit more research into what each panel represents.

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1 hour ago, John OFP said:

Thanks for the map, Unrecordings - I can just about make out the route of the old road on Google maps where the factories are angled. What's the road that says "lane" on the overlay? It looks like an extension of what is now St Barnabas Road.

The thing marked 'lane' is still technically there as a little gennel leading to the old school on Alderson Road - but it's now blocked off and overgrown

(and although it's marked 'lane' it looks like it was still private land)

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1 hour ago, John OFP said:

Tozzin - thank you for the suggestion of Carmel House. I've seen those carvings but never realised they were the story of creation - exactly the sort of thing I was after - thank you. Time for me to do a bit more research into what each panel represents.

The Tory family are interesting too, the identical twin brothers could only be told apart because one wore a red tie and the other a blue one. Here's some more of their work.

 

Pawson & Brailsford Facade High Street carving by the Tory Family.jpg

Carved Frieze by the Tory Family on Pawson & Brailsfords building on East Parade featuring Geofrey Chaucer & William Caxton.jpg

Tory Brothers.jpg

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Those carvings are lovely. I'm trying to place them - I don't think its Firth Hall or the old Jessops Hospital.

One wore a red tie and one a blue - that's Sheffield!

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3 hours ago, John OFP said:

Those carvings are lovely. I'm trying to place them - I don't think its Firth Hall or the old Jessops Hospital.

One wore a red tie and one a blue - that's Sheffield!

East Parade, what was Pawson and Brailsfords stationers and printers.

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I seem to remember the tale about the crosses marking a place where someone was killed in the blitz was put to bed a while ago...it is a myth. Most of those killed were sheltering...very few were killed in the open.

Sheffield's pre-war  Council housing  development in Europe is worthy of note...with Low Shiregreen being the biggest single development in Europe when first built. In that neck of the woods we also have Wincobank Hill a Brigantine Hill fort as well as a smaller one ( I could never find it) said to be in Roe Woods. Pitsmoor was the site of the annual football match between Sheffield and Ecclesfield...the accompanying riots usually needed the militia to quieten them down,..Hillsborough Barracks, built to a design for our troops in India, could hold a self contained unit of artillery, infantry, and cavalry...it was built when Sheffield was a hot bed of "sedition" and demands for political rights.

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