Sheffield in the mid 1700's - a glimpse

[Bayleaf]

At the end of the post in the Celebrities Forum about Robert Eadon Leader there is a list of publications by him.

http://www.sheffieldhistory.co.uk/forums/i...?showtopic=6883

One is a short story entitled "Judith Lee"

The story itself is unremarkable, Leader himself says it was an attempt to illustrate life in the town around 1745.

However, the preface gives a glimpse of the lives and place in the mid 18th Century. Here it is.

PREFACE

The following tale was written with a view to giving some idea of the state of Sheffield in the half of the last century. Its date is placed in the year 1745,-a year memorable for the last effort made by the representative of the Stuarts to regain the Crown of England.

We beg our readers to remember that the personages whose acquaintance they will make in the following pages, did not wear Tweed " cut-away" coats and " wide-awakes" elastic-sided boots and "peg-top " trousers, but that they disported themselves in flowing coats with ample cuffs and frills, and with buttons and button holes their entire length; deep elaborately trimmed waistcoats hanging over the thighs, and long white hose drawn over the knees.

They adorned their heads with flowing wigs surmounted by three-cornered, high brimmed hats. Their shoes were rendered imposing by means of buckles, and their necks by long lace cravats or bands.

As to the material of their elaborate coats, it might be cloth, though among men of fashion, velvet, silk and satin were " the go," of every colour, sky-blue, crimson, plum, or any of the light hues we now see only in the dress of ladies - who by the way have worked round again to the fashion of hoops, then all the rage, and fantastically dressed hair. Whether it is in store for gentlemen to revert in turn to cocked-hats and knee-breeches we must leave the unknown future to disclose.

As illustrative of the fashions, mode of life, cost of living &c., at this period, some curious comparisons may be made from the entries in the unpublished account book of the Rev. John Pye, who became minister of Nether Chapel in 1748, and who continued in the office until his death, in 1773. Mr. Pye kept an accurate account of his income and expenditure from the time he came to Sheffield.

On arriving he had in his pocket only £3. 15s., and although for many years he had an income which did not exceed £100 per annum, yet, out of that, he kept a horse and saved (comparatively) considerable sums.

Up to the year 1757, in which he was married, he paid the modest sum of £13 per annum for board and lodgings, and after his marriage his household expenses ranged from £2. 2s. to £4. 4.s per month, though occasionally they were both higher and lower.

He appears to have paid his servant £2 a year wages. We give a few illustrations of the entries contained in this book.

1745 April 22-The Taylor for making a coat and breeches,... £ 0. 8s. 6d.

Mr Roebuck for cloth, shag trimming, ...£3. 4s. 0d.

A pair of shoes ...£0. 5s. 6d.

Mr. Hall for half-year's shaving. ..£0.5s.0d.

1749 May 30.-A pair of baggs... £.0.10s.6d.

Nov. 2.-Paid theTaylor for a waistcoat making - and mending other things... £0. 3s.0d.

To Mr Roebuck for trimming for do.... £0. 4s.11d.

1750 May 19.-For the keeping of my mare six weeks ...£0.15s. 0d.

June 30.-Paid Mr. Brodie for worstet for a pair of breeches... £0.8s. 0d.

Trimming for do. ... £0.3s.6d.

Mr. Hall for a wigg ...£1.1s.0d.

March 7.-Paid the Joyner for my bookcase ...£1.15s. 0d.

Nov. 26.-Received for my horse after having paid for keeping,shoeing, physic, &c ...£3.18s.6d.

1756 Oct. 25.-A Journey to London exclusive of 36s.given to me by Mrs. Cook ...£6.10s.0d.

1757 Jan. 18.-Gave two guineas towards buying corn for the poor of our town... £2.2s.0d.

Nov. 11.-License, marriage, and journey, &c. ...£4. 0s. 0d.

1760 Oct.18.-121b. of tea ...£0.12s.4d.

1764 Mar. 27.-A load of wheat ...£0.14s.6d.

1766 Jan.4.-A bed gown ...£0.6s.0d.

May 29.-Mr. Goddard a pair of stays ...£1.13s.0d.

1767 Aug. 15.--Cranberries and cowberries ...£0.6s.0d.

The cost of shaving appears to have risen in the later years, and instead of having a contract with Mr. Hall, whose name is so often mentioned in the accounts at 10s. per year, one Mr. Kay got the appointment at 15s:

The old gentleman got through a good many "wiggs." At first he gave £1. 1s. each to the same Mr. Hall, but their price seems to have been raised too, and in one instance he gave as much as £2. 2s., though this may have been specially elegant.

The item of tea quoted above is the only entry as to the purchase of that luxury.

Mr. Pye seems to have bought his books of a Mr. Smith-possibly the Mr. Richard Smith who died in 1757, aged 52, and on whose gravestone, on the north side of the Parish Churchyard is, or was, the following inscription;

"At thirteen years I went to sea

To try my fortune there,

At twenty-three I taught to dance,

At thirty-five laid dancing down

To be a bookseller in this town,

Where I continued without strife

Till death deprived me of this life."

The book is a curious memento of a man who in his day held a prominent position in the town, and is an interesting record of the manner in which those who are now called "the middle 'classes," lived a hundred years ago.

Mr. Pye saved a considerable portion of his scanty income, and, judging by the frequency with which his neighbours borrowed his savings, he must have been of an easy disposition, and they of needy circumstances.

We should very much like to have some account of that " journey to London" which figures in the good man's accounts. In nothing would then contrast more forcibly with now, than in the perils which probably beset him on the road and the adventures of the journey, compared with the four hours' dash we make to the metropolis, unmarked by any incident of greater importance than a basin of soup or a glass of sherry at Peterboro'.

As to the state of Sheffield itself at the period, we may record the following particulars.

Willkinson Street and the neighbouring streets now occupy the site of the famous Broomhall Spring. The grove of oaks which surrounded it was formerly one of the many "sylvan beauties" of the town. The spring itself was, as many persons still living remember, in the garden of the house at the corner of the north side of Conway street (the lane leading from Gell street into Hanover street, opposite the Presbyterian Church) and Gell street, and was approached from the town by a footpath across fields, there being a style where the "Bee-Hive" now stands.

Broomhall Park then extended over a much larger area than at present, reaching across what is now called the Ecclesall road, and including the area of the present Cemetery.

With its magnificent timber, and the Porter flowing through its centre, it formed a most attractive and picturesque demesne. On the other side it reached to Sheffield Moor, the entrance gate being near to the old horse dyke.

The carriage drive to the Hall ran in the course now pursued by the Ecclesall road, and then took the direction of Hanover street.

Not long before the date of our tale, be it remembered, Sheffield Park (alas ? "how fallen, how :changed" now) still boasted the magnificent timber which had excited the admiration of Evelyn, the author of "Sy1va," himself the possessor of an estate which has the finest beeches in the kingdom.

The grand avenue of walnut trees, that stretched from the gate nearest the town (in what is now Broad street, on the right of the Corn Exchange,) to the Manor, and formed an arched roof through which neither sun nor shower could penetrate, had not long disappeared.

Properly to understand what sort of an avenue that was, the reader should visit the neighbourhood of the before-mentioned Evelyn, and in Betchworth Park, near Dorking, he will find and admire the curiously twisted and gnarled walnut trees, such as might perhaps still have adorned Sheffield Park had not the genius of iron taken up his abode here.

The steep side of the Park hill, rising above the Sheaf, was then disfigured by none of the tenements which now cover every square foot of ground, but was clothed with a wood, the " amphitheatrical pride" of which, "stretching down to the very brink of the Sheaf that flowed at its base, and rising upwards to the lofty summit that overhangs the eastern side of the town, the long line of hill on which the Manor stood just intervening between the topmost boughs and the horizon"-no one, says an informant of Mr. Hunter, who has not seen can properly conceive.

This was known as Clay Wood, and the name still exists in the quarry below the cholera ground, which is at about the summit of the old wood.

While endeavouring to give some idea of Sheffield at this time, let us add that where the Independent Office now stands was a large garden, that the site of Carver street chapel was occupied by fields,

that Norfolk street was only a footpath, bounded on one side by gardens and on the other by fields running down towards the Sheaf ;

that beyond St. Paul's Church there was only one building before Little Sheffield, and that Barker pool was a square sheet of water, surrounded by a very ancient wall. It was an important source of supply to the town.

Sheffield moor was a swamp through which a path was made by two embankments being thrown up, between which was a deep ditch. The present road was made at great cost by this ditch being filled up.

The solitary house just mentioned as being upon or near it, is still standing. It was long known as Mr. Kirkby's house. It is at the corner of Button lane and Eldon street, and part of it is now occupied as the "Blacksmith's cottage" public-house. The date over the door of the other part is 1705. Two miserable shops occupied by a butcher and a greengrocer have been built in front of it.

Salmon were still to be found in the Don, which was crossed at the bottom of the " Crofts"_ (where the Iron Bridge now stands) by stepping stones.

With reference to the expedition of Prince Charles Edward, to which allusion is made in the tale, it is of some interest to record that a legend is in existence which asserts that the Prince visited Sheffield on his return to the North, and various details are given of the circumstances connected with the event.

Those who maintain the truth of the tradition on which this legend is founded, have not succeeded in advancing such grounds for their belief as are altogether satisfactory or convincing.*. Of course the route taken by the retreating army is well known, and it is necessary, therefore, in order to give any colour of likelihood to the assertions that are made, to suppose that the Prince came incognito.

But then the question arises with what object could he come here at such a time ? It is said that he was entertained at the house of Mr. Heaton, in what was long afterwards known as " The Pickle"-a name applied to the district in Saville street, between the entrance to the Midland Station and the Twelve o'Clock bar.

A little on the town side of the Twelve o'Clock was " Jerusalem. "

Pickle House, where Mr. Heaton lived, still stood within the memory of persons now living. It was on the site now occupied by the steel works of Mr. Hobson.

Descendants of the Heaton family living in the town, have in their possession various articles said to have been left with their ancestor as presents by the Chevalier when he departed. Among, them are a sword, wine glass, &c., and a harpsichord which the Prince afterwards sent, along with a portrait of Charles L, to.his friends.

* "Fide correspondence in the Independent, Feb. 3,10, 17,1566, et seq.

[Bayleaf]

" four hours' dash we make to the metropolis,"

This was written in 1886. How long does it take to get to London from Sheffield now?

[RichardB]

" four hours' dash we make to the metropolis,"

This was written in 1886. How long does it take to get to London from Sheffield now?

'bout Six and £300