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Parkwood Springs


Guest paulie

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Advice noted, was interested as I can't see anything on any maps plus it's a hell of a distance from Neepsend to Blackburn Meadows to tunnel, not to mention the geopgraphy between. Will certainly do some serious research before venturing in (assuming I can even find it).

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Advice noted, was interested as I can't see anything on any maps plus it's a hell of a distance from Neepsend to Blackburn Meadows to tunnel, not to mention the geopgraphy between. Will certainly do some serious research before venturing in (assuming I can even find it).

It could just be cut and cover with pre-cast concrete pipe sections. If it dated from the early days of the power stations most of the route would have been un-developed. It may pre-date the setting up of the National Grid in the thirties, in which case it would inter-connect the two Sheffield Electric Supply Company generating stations.

HD

PS

I've just found a Geographia "Sheffield Master Streetplan" published in 1985 which shows almost the entire route of the "thing" whatever it is. It also shows another "thing" setting off from Blackburn Meadows and going off round the back of Kimberworth. The "things" are represented by little circles up to half a mile apart joined by dotted straight lines. Broadly speaking it runs along the hillside above Wardsend, Along Wordsworth Avenue then across Southey Hill, Buchanan & Deerlands Road. It then runs by the Sheffield Lane Dyke ( Tongue Gutter) and follows the dyke across Ecclesfield Road, across Grange Lane and up the bank above the M1. It then drops down to Blackburn Meadows.

Interesting as Herr Flick would say.

HD

You've got me at it now !

I've been looking on Google Maps satellite view and spotted a concrete pad where a circle is marked at a point by the dyke at Cricket Lane and another in the sewerage works at Blackburn Meadows.

HD

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Guest Martin-Bacon

Is this Neepsend Lane?

I like the photo of Hillfoot Bridge and Sheffield Rolling Mill, posted by DaveH on 26 September 2009. I can remember when the

buildings on the roads off Wood Street was demolished. It has also convinced me of an error on the Picture Sheffield website.

I did a search on Picture Sheffield and found this (image number w00096). I don't think that it shows Neepsend Lane. I sent

an email to picturesheffield.com suggesting an update. That was back in April 2011. Like all of the other emails sent I have

never had any response, which is a shame. At the moment Picture Sheffield is a good but inaccurate resource, rather than a

great (accurate) resource. Picture Sheffield don't spend much time correcting errors on their site, as far as I can tell. I

think someone misidentified the white foreground building as being the Farfield public house.

Here are a few clues to the location of the 'Neepsend Lane' picture.

The Don does not make a right-hand turn at Hillfoot Bridge, but follows a straight course.

I can't find any map with a mill dam (seen in the lower left of w00096) in the Hillfoot area.

The relative position of the cooling towers is also wrong. They are downstream of the photographer's location in image number

w00096, when they should be seen looking upstream.

Old maps of the area show the three cooling towers, all in a line , with two close together and one set a small distance

apart. Also see the picture u01758, which shows the powers station from Cuthbert Bank. (Where DaveH's Sheffield Rolling Mills

picture was taken from, but looking out over Hillfoot, rather than towards Wardsend). This shows the relative position of the

cooling towers, looking up the Don Valley from the a position close to Neepsend. If we move further up the Don Valley to

Bradfield road (image s13666) we can see that the cooling towers are in a line, from the left, with the two closely spaced

towers to the right of the picture. This means that we must move further upstream to determine the position of the

photographer.

The Don makes a sharp right-hand turn close to the junction of Penistone Road North and Herries Road South. Somewhere near to

Penistone Road North and Herries Road South is a good candidate for the location of the photographer.

I think photograph w00096 was taken from a vantage point overlooking what is now the industrial estate on Rawson Spring Road.

The bend in the Don matches this location, the National Grid pylons would be visible from here and the relative positions of

the cooling towers are right. You can see a hipped roof on the right-hand side in the picture. The 1905 map appears to show

the mill dam being silted-up, which can also be seen in picture w00096.

Can I suggest that the photographer was probably located on the Spion Kop or one of the floodlights at the Sheffield

Wednesday ground? That would make the buildings and mill dam, seen in w00096 the Wardsend Steel Co. See the 1905 1:2500 map

at old-maps (http://www.old-maps.co.uk/maps.html). Also have a look at image u04630.

What do other Sheffield History members think and do any of the Wednesdayites out there have a moden picture of the Don

Valley from the Kop?

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Beautifully argued (with supporting evidence) and left open for discussion. Great work, exactly what we need.

Thank you.

(I don't understand how people do clever stuff with maps, but, hopefully someone may do something.)

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Photo taken after 1949 as cooling tower on left was still being constructed, Background left to right, five arches just out of view, Rawson springs. Wardsend cemetery, and smoke to the rear of the new cooling tower is from the power station spoil tipped by suspended buckets. I would say the shot was taken from top of one of the Hillsborough floodlights being constructed in the early 50s. W/E.

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Photo taken after 1949 as cooling tower on left was still being constructed, Background left to right, five arches just out of view, Rawson springs. Wardsend cemetery, and smoke to the rear of the new cooling tower is from the power station spoil tipped by suspended buckets. I would say the shot was taken from top of one of the Hillsborough floodlights being constructed in the early 50s. W/E.

I completely concur with the views expressed. Members of my family lived close by at Wardsend Cottages and my older cousin and I used to play in the stockyard area in the foreground and sail home-made boats on the open water of the mill dam. The Wardsend Steel Works was I think part of the Andrews Toledo Group in the fifties. I seem to remember the name painted on the big chimney.

The dam extended under the road and the bit on the other side was heavily silted. The factory playing fields were at the back of the factory extending along the Herries Road South and my uncle was groundsman for a time. The electricity pylons shown were the old 132kV line which was replaced with a 400 kV line a bit closer to the railway line.

HD

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Guest Martin-Bacon

Is this Parkwood Springs?

I have a calendar showing pictures of Sheffield. One has a cropped image from the Mirrorpix archive, and, on the callendar claims to be from the 1950's. I looks more like the 70's to me. A couple of uncropped thumbnails of the picture can be found by visiting the http://www.mirrorpix.com/ site.

Just search on 'sheffield teddy boys' to find it. Mirrorpix don't give a date for the photo.

Can anyone put a date to the picture? The photographer was Dennis Hutchinson. Where was it taken? It shows a gas holder in the middle distance in a valley, which might be at Neepsend. It could show Parkwood Springs, either in the forground or across the valley. (The gas holder could also be by the Blackburn Brook, or in the Effingham Road area). What do former Parkwood Springs residents think?

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I'm not convinced that the scene is set in Sheffield. As far as I know the only single gas-holder was the one at Earl Street / Eyre Street and I think that one had gone by the fifties. Also the lantern on the street light doesn't look right, it appears to have a hemispherical glass which wasn't used in Sheffield. Also after doing a bit of Photoshoping on the background to try to show more detail, I don't recognise any local buildings.

Methinks it might be Leeds which to a Mirror reporter might be near enough.

The terraced houses look a bit ornate for Sheffield and more like those found in West Yorkshire.

HD

Edit

If you blow up the top of the street lamp (control +) you can clearly see that the lantern is supported by a u shaped bracket. I have never seen this type of lamp in the Sheffield area.

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Looking at this picture I would say it was Walkley as you can see Rutland Road in the far background.

If that's Rutland Road, what happened to the block of flats on the right hand side of the road with at least 10 floors ? The Stanley works were not as high. On the other hand the terrain does look familiar but if it is Rutland Road then the viewpoint would be from somewhere behind the old Royal Infirmary, say St. Philips Road.

HD

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My thoughts are,

that the photo was taken from the north looking south across Neepsend and Penistone Road,

looks like part of the university arts tower in the L/H side of the skyline

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If that's Rutland Road, what happened to the block of flats on the right hand side of the road with at least 10 floors ? The Stanley works were not as high. On the other hand the terrain does look familiar but if it is Rutland Road then the viewpoint would be from somewhere behind the old Royal Infirmary, say St. Philips Road.

HD

I'd say it is taken more from the top end of Whitehouse Lane when they were demolishing some of the property

in that area as you can see behind the lads.

Looking at the picture , St Philips Road would be to the right of Rutland Road.

Give me another day and I'll probably tell you the name of the " Ted " fourth from the left.

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I'd say it is taken more from the top end of Whitehouse Lane when they were demolishing some of the property

in that area as you can see behind the lads.

Looking at the picture , St Philips Road would be to the right of Rutland Road.

Give me another day and I'll probably tell you the name of the " Ted " fourth from the left.

Neddy is the man to ask, he would know all the types of property in this area. W/E.

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If the hill in the background is Rutland Road then the viewpoint must be somewhere in the Netherthorpe area. If you look at the road the top is to the right of the bottom part. If you draw a line down the course of Rutland Road and continue it through the site of the old Royal Infirmary and up Oxford Street behind it, then the view point must be to the right (south-east) of that line. If that is the Arts Tower on the left then the view point must be behind (up-hill) from the Tower, that would put the view point about where the Octagon Centre is (no terraces there). The tower may be one of the Netherthorpe tower blocks. That still leaves the alien street light lantern (I'm interested in such things and have never seen anything similar in Sheffield), and the building that looks like a block of flats with ten stories to explain. I used to roam all around the Netherthorpe area when it was being knocked down and I can't remember any ornate houses like the ones pictured. I'm still not convinced That it's Sheffield.

HD

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If the hill in the background is Rutland Road then the viewpoint must be somewhere in the Netherthorpe area. If you look at the road the top is to the right of the bottom part. If you draw a line down the course of Rutland Road and continue it through the site of the old Royal Infirmary and up Oxford Street behind it, then the view point must be to the right (south-east) of that line. If that is the Arts Tower on the left then the view point must be behind (up-hill) from the Tower, that would put the view point about where the Octagon Centre is (no terraces there). The tower may be one of the Netherthorpe tower blocks. That still leaves the alien street light lantern (I'm interested in such things and have never seen anything similar in Sheffield), and the building that looks like a block of flats with ten stories to explain. I used to roam all around the Netherthorpe area when it was being knocked down and I can't remember any ornate houses like the ones pictured. I'm still not convinced That it's Sheffield.

HD

I must admit it's the design of the houses that is puzzling me.

Having lived in that area most of my life I can't remember seeing houses like that but

having said that , they could have been demolished many years ago.

There is a face there that looks very familiar, but I can't put a name to it yet.

Where's neddy when you need him?

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If it was looking towards Rutland Road what would be the two buildings on the skyline, no large buildings on that skyline till the Shirecliffe college was built.

and that doesn't look like a view from the springs the only road you would have a possibility of a view of the gas tanks facing that way would have been Mount Road, and thats not it.

Nearest pic I have looking Burgoyne Road to Parkwood

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I'm still not convinced that it is Sheffield. The building on the skyline could be Shirecliffe College but it seems too near to the top of the hill that we think may be Rutland Road. Also I have never seen a street light lantern like the one on the photo. I have attached a crude sketch to show what I mean.

HD

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If it was looking towards Rutland Road what would be the two buildings on the skyline, no large buildings on that skyline till the Shirecliffe college was built.

and that doesn't look like a view from the springs the only road you would have a possibility of a view of the gas tanks facing that way would have been Mount Road, and thats not it.

Nearest pic I have looking Burgoyne Road to Parkwood

Hi neddy.

This picture is too much to the left to compare to the original, we can't see Rutland Road

on it. Don't forget the picture was taken over 45 years ago when a lot of buildings were still standing

including a tall power station to the left [ on the picture ] of the gas tanks near to Wardsend .

Why would the author of the pictures Dennis Hutchinson put " Teddy Boys taken on a street in Sheffield "

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Hi neddy.

This picture is too much to the left to compare to the original, we can't see Rutland Road

on it. Don't forget the picture was taken over 45 years ago when a lot of buildings were still standing

including a tall power station to the left [ on the picture ] of the gas tanks near to Wardsend .

Why would the author of the pictures Dennis Hutchinson put " Teddy Boys taken on a street in Sheffield "

It could well be Sheffield but from the Effingham Road end, there is a pic on picture sheffield u01859 that also names the Effingham Road tank as Neepsend, it also puts it at the side of Tommy Wards Albion Works

Looking over Don Valley towards Pitsmoor & Burngreave, visible are, All Saints Church, Sutherland Road (left of centre below the horizon), Neepsend Gas Works & Thos. W. Ward's, Albion Works (centre)

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It could well be Sheffield but from the Effingham Road end, there is a pic on picture sheffield u01859 that also names the Effingham Road tank as Neepsend, it also puts it at the side of Tommy Wards Albion Works

Looking over Don Valley towards Pitsmoor & Burngreave, visible are, All Saints Church, Sutherland Road (left of centre below the horizon), Neepsend Gas Works & Thos. W. Ward's, Albion Works (centre)

Mmmm I see what you mean , that gives me something else to ponder over :mellow:

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I've been looking into the author of the photographer Dennis Hutchinson on the Mirrorpix website. (Just put his name into the search box).

He seems to have specialised in celebrity photo's, the Nolans, George Best etc. One of his photo's is entitled Jimmy Saville meets Prime minister Edward Heath. It shows a young Jimmy Saville and Harold Wilson. I suggest a bloke who didn't know the difference between Edward Heath and Harold Wilson wouldn't know his Sheffield from his Leeds.

I still think it's not Sheffield>

HD

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They were interesting times .

You have to remember that we were living in the centre of a city . But we were remote from the everyday turmoil of the city life . We were quite often seen as the lost world - certainly by the city council . They wished often that we would get lost . " Cocoon " comes to mind .

The times however were real . I have a brother and a sister . They may have some photographs , .

Did you live near Vincent Briddon, and any photos turned up yet? W/E.

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