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Dorset Street & Gloucester Street Area


Stringy72

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Hi all, I am new to join here, but have looked around the site at old photos for ages and I've found quite a lot of my questions answered regarding old Sheffield.

I have a couple of questions about the area I have lived all my life. The area in the title that is.

1. Did a Bomb fall on Gloucester Street during WW2? This image from 1950 I've produced from Britain from Above shows a cleared area on each side of the road of Gloucester Street. The maps I have looked at on National Library of Scotland show that the side of the road on Gloucester Street that's closest to Havelock had a full row of terraced housing. I know that there was a Gloucester Place on the other side of the road, but the same maps seem to show it was a narrower opening leading to the square.

1667966840_DorandGlouc1950D.png.0cdd03530963e9e3de04e1c6df094109.png

 

2. Does anyone know what the Collection of Buildings was that is now the "Cut Through" from Broomspring Lane to Wilkinson Street (Shown in images below). Again, from 1950

 

1430229872_BroomspringCutThrough1950C.png.ad59e05e46624227df68af7af80683be.png

and a bit more zoomed

637300858_BroomspringCutThrough1950B.png.9197776ecf9ef33b1b7982bfffd57d74.png

and a bit more zoomed, but quite blurry.

305663353_BroomspringCutThrough1950A.png.825d1a2024a537f58ad9c04fde0cbcd4.png

and from a different perspective (1950)

738616669_DorandGloucCorners1950A.png.f8e3de3e844c0dca77d3947592e2228a.png

and a little more zoomed in

551303377_DorandGloucCorners1950B.png.d900ffa0985f261bbebe8ccdfeb8bb12.png

I was born in the early 70's and have limited recollection of the area up until the red bricked houses were completed around 1980. I know that a office block once stood here from the early 80's up to circa 2011.

It's hard to tell exactly what it was back in 1950 though. You can see part of the wall where the current last house before the gap is. What is next to it looks like another house, albeit, with very shallow depth and placed slightly forward of it's neighbour and then a series of 2 rows of outbuildings behind the shallow house.

What might they be? Garages, Old Stables, Workshops? They certainly look too small to be little cottages.

 

3. Also as we are looking down Broomspring Lane on the images above, there was a Fish and Chip Shop I vaguely recall. It was on the right side as we look and between Dorset and Gloucester Street. Does anyone remember the name of it? I'm sure there was a little gap and you went in a door at the side of the building?

Thanks for any help on these. I'll probably have a lot more questions about this area and I'm so glad I discovered Britain from Above as I'd searched for years for images as revealing as these. Such a quirky area around the back of Dorset and into Gloucester Square and quite random house placings, must have been lots of little alleyways leading in to some areas.

Ta!

 

 

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1. Did a Bomb fall on Gloucester Street during WW2?

Yes! and these were just the high explosive bombs.  Incendiary bombs were also in the mix.

Bombs.png.f616c93bc3e6adab41472776c88b1301.png

These maps from 1951 then 1963 might help

1951.png.a669646cf3899ded9c0e6006367c20d4.png

1963.png.9e9aa5f6550293de336c0369b89ee07e.png

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Thanks @Edmund

 

I've seen that image with the black dots before but was confused as it appears to show bombs dropped on Dorset Street as well as Glossop Road near the old Hanrahan's Building, but the images I've seen from 1950 (Like my top image) seem to show no bomb damage. The long row of houses on Dorset looks untouched even the ones where the now playground is were untouched. I remember those from being a kid. Havelock Square (Now Hollberry) does look like it received a couple of hits though.

There seems to be quite a few "hits" on that image that don't bear out on the images of 1950 and a lot of the original buildings in those places still stand today.

I like those map images, where did you find those?

 

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Here's a good image of where all the Hallamshire Hospital and Tree Root Walk areas is, again from 1950.

 

152515636_TreeRootWalkArea1950.png.1b055ab0ed55a1f681c7ee811433f5eb.png

.

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What a great subject. Stringy 72.

 Our family lived in the house on Broomspring Lane (150) from 1953 until 1965 when Mam & Dad took a pub in Ripon.

 We moved there originally to make a Sheffield base for Lees Motorways coaches which was owned and run by my uncle in Worksop.

 The garage was a old stabling building when built I suppose, as there were a lot of clues still in the place.

 I have nothing but great memories of my childhood there and am still in touch with two good friends from that time.

 In no particular order: As I remember the chip shop opposite was call West End Fisheries, next door was a general grocers called Elliot’s then Whiteheads then Hustlers I think. On the lower corner of Gloucester St was another called Gytes. Further along Gloucester St was a shop called Wards. Corner of Dorset St, a butchers called Morrisons and another shop further down Dorset St who’s name escapes me.

Thanks for posting the photos, as from the air it is all so familiar.

Any other information you would like, let me know.

 

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On 27/01/2021 at 17:23, ug52 said:

What a great subject. Stringy 72.

 Our family lived in the house on Broomspring Lane (150) from 1953 until 1965 when Mam & Dad took a pub in Ripon.

 We moved there originally to make a Sheffield base for Lees Motorways coaches which was owned and run by my uncle in Worksop.

 The garage was a old stabling building when built I suppose, as there were a lot of clues still in the place.

 I have nothing but great memories of my childhood there and am still in touch with two good friends from that time.

 In no particular order: As I remember the chip shop opposite was call West End Fisheries, next door was a general grocers called Elliot’s then Whiteheads then Hustlers I think. On the lower corner of Gloucester St was another called Gytes. Further along Gloucester St was a shop called Wards. Corner of Dorset St, a butchers called Morrisons and another shop further down Dorset St who’s name escapes me.

Thanks for posting the photos, as from the air it is all so familiar.

Any other information you would like, let me know.

 

Thanks for that @ug52some great info there regarding the shops. The only shop I have a vague recollection of is the Chippy (didn't recall the name until you mentioned) and Nellie Melliush' Shop that was on Gloucester Street.

Re the Garage, the Brick Built building in front of the Garage is a very odd building. It's very shallow compared to the other brick built buildings. When you said "Stabling Buildings" I take it you meant the ones behind that shallow building.

My Parents moved to that area in 1964 when the, then new Flat Roofed Prefab type houses were built. Those houses are still there and I'm living in one.

I take it you are still in Ripon? Do you old friends still live in the area? I might recognise their names.

I don't suppose you have any photos of the area that you could take a digital photo of and upload? Sorry for all the questions.

It really is quite unique this area, so much History to go with it too.

Thanks again.

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Hi Stringy72, thanks for the reply.

 I remember when the old houses were demolished on Dorset and Gloucester St, it was very exciting for a 10 year old. We all enjoyed smashing the windows when they had been vacated.

I was speaking to my pal, Geoff Seedhouse the other day and he said he knew of this thread as his brother had seen it. They lived at the end of Dorset St on the right where there is now a children’s playground I think. He also told me the butchers was called Marrison’s not Morrison’s. Geoff now lives up in S6 now. My other pal is Derrick Greenfield who lives up toward Gleadless . Interestingly where he used to live is on one of the aerial photos, he lived on Glossop Rd just after it splits from Clarkhouse Rd. I see them both a few times a year when I visit for the football at Bramall Lane and a few beers at the Bath Hotel. Been curtailed lately but hope it resumes soon.

 The shallow building you speak of was our house. Two rooms down and two up and a bathroom behind that led on to the lofts of the garage/stable.

 Only lived in Ripon for about six years. Now live in London but as I say I only have fond memories of my childhood.

 I will have a look through my photo box and see if anything might be of interest and attempt to post.

Regards Ug.

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On 07/02/2021 at 15:00, ug52 said:

Hi Stringy72, thanks for the reply.

 I remember when the old houses were demolished on Dorset and Gloucester St, it was very exciting for a 10 year old. We all enjoyed smashing the windows when they had been vacated.

I was speaking to my pal, Geoff Seedhouse the other day and he said he knew of this thread as his brother had seen it. They lived at the end of Dorset St on the right where there is now a children’s playground I think. He also told me the butchers was called Marrison’s not Morrison’s. Geoff now lives up in S6 now. My other pal is Derrick Greenfield who lives up toward Gleadless . Interestingly where he used to live is on one of the aerial photos, he lived on Glossop Rd just after it splits from Clarkhouse Rd. I see them both a few times a year when I visit for the football at Bramall Lane and a few beers at the Bath Hotel. Been curtailed lately but hope it resumes soon.

 The shallow building you speak of was our house. Two rooms down and two up and a bathroom behind that led on to the lofts of the garage/stable.

 Only lived in Ripon for about six years. Now live in London but as I say I only have fond memories of my childhood.

 I will have a look through my photo box and see if anything might be of interest and attempt to post.

Regards Ug.

That would be great if you found some photos @ug52thanks, anything from ground level of how it was back then would be fascinating to me.

Wow, what a turn up, the house that fascinated me most was yours. It just jumped out how different that one looked.

There was a real mixture of building types around this area. The ones demolished on Dorset Street to build the flat roofs look like they are 3 floor level buildings, well, taller than some of the others on Gloucester Cres/Street. Must have been a few that were once back to back houses too.

Sounds like my childhood was similar to yours, when I was around 7 (1979) they knocked down most of the other old houses to build new ones and we'd get up to no good in the old houses and then on the Building Sites. It's hard to believe now how easy it was. Kids would never even get into a site like that now.

From those names you mentioned, I can definitely tell you that the name Geoff Seedhouse rings a bell. Don't recall the other name though. I remember those houses where the playground now is. A family who we knew called McMain lived in them too.

I hope you can get up to see your pals again soon once things die down a bit. I'm pleased they've had a chance to see this thread as well. You might need a few Beers after visiting Bramall Lane this season :)

Thanks again.

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