Page Hall

[dunsbyowl1867]

You'd never know it - but this is still there - or at least it was last time I looked! Any history?

[ceegee]

Hi Dunsbyowl - The following is from a self published pamphlet "The Old and Historical Buildings of Sheffield" by J. Edward Vickers. It was published 1968

[dunsbyowl1867]

Hi Dunsbyowl - The following is from a self published pamphlet "The Old and Historical Buildings of Sheffield" by J. Edward Vickers. It was published 1968

Thank you - I enjoyed the line surroundings of great beauty !

[Bayleaf]

I can flesh that out a bit. The house was built on land called Page Field, hence Page Hall. In 1874 it was bought by Mark Firth, who gave 35 acres of the surrounding land to become Firth Park in 1875.

[dunsbyowl1867]

I can flesh that out a bit. The house was built on land called Page Field, hence Page Hall. In 1874 it was bought by Mark Firth, who gave 35 acres of the surrounding land to become Firth Park in 1875.

As it is November 2008 tucked away in a little corner of North Sheffield!

[dunsbyowl1867]

As it is November 2008 tucked away in a little corner of North Sheffield!

And I wonder if this odd little house was some sort of gate house - amidst red brick terraces

[Guest Gramps]

And I wonder if this odd little house was some sort of gate house - amidst red brick terraces

When I asked a local resident about it 30 years ago I was told that house had been built after the war.

The railings on the right of that picture belong to some recently built properties that occupy the site of a land-mine explosion in 1940. Four or five houses were demolished and the site for many years was occupied by a row lock--up garages. The opposite corner occupied by the house in your picture may have suffered the same fate - but I didn't know the area well until the 1970s.

It may be on the site of an old gatehouse. On the 1890s map the entrance to the carriage drive was about that position..

I do remember the old stable block to Page Hall that fronted onto lower Bolsover road - these were demolished and replaced with some poky little houses or they may be maisonettes.

[locket]

And I wonder if this odd little house was some sort of gate house - amidst red brick terraces

it used to be a co-op. i lived across road from it for 25 years

[yorkshirecath]

It's at the bottom of Vickers Road that house where i lived for all my childhood. It was well known in earlier yrs as being a bit of a den of iniquity!

[Ponytail]

Page Hall, entrance originally on 'the Barnsley Road'. 

s05774

Copied from, 'The Bagshawes of Ford', by W.H.G. Bagshawe (1896).

Notes: Built 1773, in surroundings of great beauty by Thomas Broadbent founder of the Sheffield Bank. Other owners included George Bustard Greaves and James Dixon. The estate was then bought in 1874 by Mark Firth, part of which he donated by deed of gift to the Sheffield Corporation for the people of Sheffield for a Public Park for ever. The Park was opened by Edward, Prince of Wales in 1875. The Hall has also been used as an orphanage for girls, then flats and its present use Abbey Grange Nursing Home (2002). 

Page Hall off Cammell Road (original entrance from the Barnsley Road) 1967.

Picture Sheffield s28039

 

The following interesting conversation appeared as part of articles and letters in The Sheffield and Rotherham Independent during 1872 & 73. Edited by Robert Eadon Leader in 1875 and published as "Reminiscences of Old Sheffield it's streets and it's people. 

Pages 164 & 165.

"Leonard: Our notice of the suburbs of Sheffield would be incomplete if we failed to glance at Page Hall in the days when Mr. George Bustard Greaves, with his bag-wig, and his portly person, did the honours of Sheffield to visitors of distinction, or rolled into the town in his yellow carriage (a phenomenon then) with sky blue liveries. It is just over one hundred years since Page Hall was built on land, described in the early deeds as "Page Field," and "Page Greave," by Thomas Broadbent, the banker of the Hartshead. It was a notable place, for it was the first great outcome of the increasing wealth of the town. Many as have been the magnificent houses since built by our manufacturers, Page Hall stood alone then, and there were not wanting birds of ill-omen who, Cassandra like, prophesied a bad end to such unprecedented extravagance. There was some foundation for their gloomy views, for before the Hall was finished, Thomas Broadbent, who must have been a man of large ideas, found that he had not sufficiently counted the cost, and that his plans were too grand for his purse; so he curtailed the dimensions of the house in a way plainly to be seen in the entrance hall to this day. Nor was this all, for within a very few years (the house was built in 1773, and the event I now relate took place in 1780) the banking firm of the Hartshead had to suspend payment, and Page Hall was mortgaged to Mr. James Mimes, of Thornes House, Wakefield, the trustee under the bankruptcy. In 1786, it was conveyed to Mr. George Bustard Greaves, who had married the heiress of the Clays, of Bridgehouses. He, as I have said, kept high state there until his death in 1835, when Mr. James Dixon, whose biography is one of the striking manufacturing episodes of the town, became the purchaser. It remained in the possession of his son, the late Mr. William Frederick Dixon, until his death, and the estate has just been sold ( May 1874) to Mr. Mark Firth, who intends to give a portion of it for the purposes of a public park. 

Leighton: Which reminds me that since we began these conversations, the lady of Weston Hall has laid down her benevolent life (May 3 1973), and her property has been bought by the town for the recreation of the public.

Twiss: A word or two as to the earlier history of the "Page Greave" Estate may not be uninteresting. Prior to 1717, it was in the possession of a family of Rawsons, and in that year James Rawson conveyed it to John Potter, of Beighton. It was in 1759 that the then representative of the Potters, described as a brushmaker of Pagefield, sold the estate to Joseph Broadbent, the father of Thomas, the builder of the Hall. Included in the estate recently sold, is Skinnerthorpe. Part of this formerly belonged to the Bournes, afterwards to the Mellands ; the other part to the Barkers (of Bakewell) and the Lees, who, in 1775, assumed the name of Carril Worstley. I should not omit to mention that the Dixon family claims to have sprung from the immediate neighbourhood of the estate, the late Mr. James Dixon having been the grandson of William Dixon, of Shiregreen."

 

[Ponytail]

More extracts from "Reminiscences of Old Sheffield, it's streets and it's people" about the Greaves family of Page Hall. 

Pages 223 & 224.

"Wragg: At the Bridgehouses end of Nursery Street, near the Ironbridge and destroyed by the railway, was the Bridgehouse, the residence of the Clay family. Robert Clay, who died in 1737, came from Chesterfield to Sheffield, and for some time resided at Walkley. His granddaughter married Mr. George Bustard Greaves, of Page Hall —

Leighton: Who was extremely wealthy, since the property of the two families was joined by his marriage with the heiress of the Clays.

Wragg : Mr. Greaves had a warehouse and town residence in Norfolk Street, and, previous to his purchase of Page Hall, he lived, I believe, in a large house on Oaks Green, Attercliffe. He was the only person in the town who kept a carriage with coachman and footman. Hunter's pedigree represents the Clay family as having expired in an heiress, as a genealogist would say, but this is not so, as Joseph Clay, the father of Mr. Greaves' s wife, was twice married. By his first wife, Elizabeth Speight, he had a son, who went to America. From some cause Mr. Clay discarded him, and left him only £10, all his property going to Mrs. Greaves. This disinherited son, however, left issue in America, one of whom was the founder of the Clays of Kentucky, from whom descended the celebrated American senator, Henry Clay. His head, according to phrenologists, was the best developed or most equally balanced on record.

Leonard : Mr. Clay was the only gentleman in the neighbourhood who was eulogised by Mather — all the rest he satirised or vilified. But this must have been Joseph Clay, not Robert Clay, his father, with whom Mr. John Wilson has confused him. Robert Clay died in the year in which Mather was born.

Wragg: The last inhabitant of the Clays' house was George Burgin, who had entered Mr. Clay's service in boyhood. His son was a printer."

 

Extract from page 250. 

"Wragg: On the side of the street opposite the Upper Chapel were the warehouse and town residence of Mr. Bustard Greaves, of Page Hall. The warehouse is occupied by Mr. Hay, the spirit merchant, and the site of the house is now the Savings' Bank.

Leighton: Concerning the same premises and the same firm, it has been related how a young man, named Woodhead, became a partner of Mr. Greaves's. He was apprenticed to Mr. Greaves, and being sharp and steady he was offered a partnership, after he came of age, if he could find £1,OOO. Having no money of his own he went to one of the Rimingtons, an old friend of his employer, and told his story. Mr. Rimington, with a generosity so unexplained that I fancy some essential point may have been omitted from the narrative, advanced £1000, wishing young Woodhead every success, and telling him that if he failed the repayment of the loan would never be asked for. Mr. Woodhead became a wealthy man, built himself a mansion at Highfield, and lived to a good old age. It is said that manufacturers liked to do business with the Woodheads, who were factors. So long as the article was good no objection was raised to the price."

 

An extract from page141 regarding James Dixon. 

"Leonard: It has been stated that at one time the late James Dixon, of Page Hall, lived in Spring Street next door to the Ball Inn, in a house the rent of which was £9 per annum. That was before he went into partnership with Mr. Smith  - Smith and Dixon the firm was at first."

 

[Ponytail]

1855 Map Showing Page Hall. 

 

https://maps.nls.uk/view/102345193#zoom=6&lat=1411&lon=13645&layers=BT

 

[Ponytail]

Portrait of George Bustard Greaves, 1758-1835 of Elmsall Hall and Page Hall in Yorkshire painted by George Romney in 1786.

Married Ellen Clay of Bridge Houses, Sheffield in 1786.

George Bustard Greaves died 23rd February 1835 aged 77.

 

Estate of George Bustard Greaves in Attercliffe 1838.

https://www.picturesheffield.com/frontend.php?keywords=Ref_No_increment;EQUALS;arc03903&pos=46&action=zoom&id=53919

Notes:There is no title, but the fields are named and coloured.

 

Plan of the estate of the late G B Greaves in the township of Attercliffe, 1838. 

Notes: Drawn for the purpose of explaining under what title each parcel of land is held.

Surveyor: J. Fairbank and Son.

https://www.picturesheffield.com/frontend.php?keywords=Ref_No_increment;EQUALS;arc03901&pos=52&action=zoom&id=76540

 

Plan of the estates of the late George Bustard Greaves and also of those belonging to the late Ellen Greaves (his wife) situate in the township of Attercliffe, drawn for the purpose of explaining under what title each parcel of land is held. 1838. 

https://www.picturesheffield.com/frontend.php?keywords=Ref_No_increment;EQUALS;arc03902&pos=5&action=zoom&id=5700

 

[Ponytail]

Link to:

Desirable Country Property for Sale or Let and To Let Warehouses and Premises 19 Norfolk Street. 

8th July 1830.

https://www.sheffieldhistory.co.uk/forums/topic/13603-desireable-country-property-for-sale/

George Bustard Greaves. 

 

[Hopman]

5 hours ago, Ponytail said:

 The estate was then bought in 1874 by Mark Firth, part of which he donated by deed of gift to the Sheffield Corporation for the people of Sheffield for a Public Park for ever. The Park was opened by Edward, Prince of Wales in 1875.

At the time of opening the park, Edward planted an oak tree. In the background with last year's crop of acorns in the foreground.