Whirlow Farm

[Guest vikinruby]

Please can anyone tell me if Whirlow Farm was originally a farm, or did the existing buildings belong to another farm? Or perhaps it wasn't a farm at all? I can't

find any history on Whirlow farm before it became a trust in 1979. Any help would be appreciated.

[Guest digger]

I do believe that it was originally owned by the Bright family in the 1600's and then in the 1700's passed to the family name of Shortland but after that information is hard to find!!! :rolleyes:

[Bayleaf]

Big houses usually had a 'home farm' supplying the needs of the big house and selling the surplus and this was the case with Whirlow farm. It was part of the estate of the previous Whirlow Hall that dated back to Elizabethan times and possibly earlier.

There's a little book entitled " Whirlow, the story of an ancient Sheffield Hamlet" by Shirley Frost you might find useful. It's still in the bookshops, and in the City Libraries.

[Edmund]

Below are links to an archaeological survey done in 2011 of Whirlow Hall Farm and associated buildings. The desk based assessment is very good but has a lot of duplication of the pages, check through the whole document to see all the material.

http://www.archaeolo..._Assessment.pdf

http://www.archaeolo...tion_Report.pdf

http://www.archaeolo...ding_Report.pdf

http://www.archaeolo...sics_Report.pdf

http://www.archaeolo...king_Report.pdf

http://www.archaeolo...ting_Report.pdf

A brief extract:

The estate was of some importance during the 12th century and although there is no cartographic evidence for the original timber-framed hall it is mentioned in a deed from 1303. The second Hall, known as Old Whirlow Hall, was built sometime during the Elizabethan Period and represents the grandest period in the farm’s history. The Bright family who owned the estate during this period managed to build up a large sphere of influence that stretched across Sheffield and into Derbyshire. When the estate was lost and the Hall finally demolished in the late 18th century it was the start of a different phase in the farm’s life. The post-medieval period saw the construction of Low Cottage, many of the immediate outbuildings and the buildings to the east of the farm.To the north-east of Whirlow Hall Farm is Thryft House which was built in the 17th century and was probably a replacement for an earlier building mentioned in a document from 1504.