Talk: Tudor & Stuart Sheffield by David Templeman at Worksop

Talk by David Templeman of Sheffield Manor Lodge on the environs of Sheffield during the 16th and 17th century before the small rural town became the Steel City. 

The Innings, Worksop, S81 0RS. Starts at 7.30pm. £3 entry. bar is open and ample parking

Event - Lady Arbella Stewart – The Queen That Never Was (Worksop)

David Templeman from the Manor House in Sheffield returns to Worksop to give a fascinating talk on Lady Arbella Stewart, Englands ‘lost queen’. Follow her life, the plot to overthrow James I and her final days in the Tower of London.

Thursday 4th April starting at 7.30pm.BCVS Old Abbey School building next to the Priory Church, Priorswell Road, Worksop, S80 2BU. Entrance is still only £3 (or £2 for members) Free tea/coffee and biscuits are provided at each meeting. Membership to Priories Historical Society remains the same at only £5 per year.

Event - The Hawle In The Pondes -Old Queens Head (Sheffield)

A combined acknowledgement/celebration of the refurbishment of Sheffield's oldest domestic building, the  Old Queens Head on Pond Street in Sheffield, is taking place on Wednesday, the 27th March, at 2pm. Its an ad hoc affair organised by the Friends of Manor Lodge and the Friends Of Sheffield Castle. Appearing will be Elizabeth, Countess of Shrewsbury, aka Bess of Hardwick, trying to pull a pint with her lady in waiting and her estranged husband, the long suffering George Talbot,Sixth Earl of Shrewsbury. [He's had a shave to mark the occasion]. 

 

Also you can view some interesting artifacts found when the Old Queens Head was last renovated which have been moved to a more prominent location. Bring your camera's to record the occasion and have a natter with bigronclayton of Friends of Sheffield Castle and Friends of Manor Lodge. 

 

We will be in the OQH from 12:30 so why not pop in for a bite to eat and meet Zuzana Barincova, its new landlady and a representative from Thwaites Brewery, famed for its real ales.

 

Any enquiries to bigronclayton@sheffieldhistorytours

Events - Designed to Shine exhibition (Sheffield)

One hundred years ago stainless steel was discovered in Sheffield by Harry Brearley.

This development revolutionised the modern world and shaped Sheffield into the city we know today.

To mark 100 of Stainless Steel in Sheffield, partners from across the city are collaborating on a programme of exhibitions and events.

A new exhibition, Designed to Shine, opens at the Millennium Gallery on Saturday, February 16.

The exhibition is sponsored by the Freshgate Trust Foundation and explores a century of design and innovation using stainless steel. 

Additional info

Address: Arundel Gate Sheffield South Yorkshire S1 2PP 

From: http://postcodegazette.com/news/9002996310/designed-to-shine-exhibition-AT-sheffield-millennium-gallery/

Event - Campaign to reuse mill gets kickstart (Millhouses)

A CAMPAIGN to bring a historic mill site back to life kicks off with a traditional event this weekend.

The fight to restore the 1,000-year-old building in Millhouses Park, Millhouses, Sheffield, is being led by the park’s Friends group.

On Saturday campaigners are hosting a Wassail – usually celebrated on the 12th night of Christmas – with a quiz, auction, carols and hot food in nearby pub The Waggon and Horses.

Money raised will help bring the building back into use.

Organiser Jane Bradley said: “The idea behind the Wassail was the fact that the traditional festival dates back to Anglo Saxon times around 1,000 years ago and that a mill has been on the Millhouses site for around the same time, so it seemed quite fitting to tie the two together.”

Millhouses was named after the old corn mill, which was first fuelled by water from the River Sheaf.

The Friends of Millhouses Park are working with Sheffield Council on the project and nearly £130,000 has been secured so far.

Work has already started on the small building to make it secure after a four-year battle to save it from destruction.

But another £9,000 needs to be raised to make it weatherproof and so it can eventually be used by the community.

John Brighton, Friends’ secretary, said: “These buildings have huge historical significance and we have fought tirelessly to save them from being knocked down.

“We hope we can bring these buildings back to life and start the next part of their history in Millhouses.”

Tickets cost £5 each or £15 for a family ticket and are on sale from The Waggon and Horses or Perfectly Dressed on Abbeydale Road.

From: http://www.thestar.co.uk/community/campaign-to-reuse-mill-gets-kickstart-1-5268941

Events - City celebrates 100 years of Sheffield steel

IT’S nearly 100 years since the discovery that changed the city and the world forever.


Next year marks the centenary of stainless steel and Sheffield is planning a year-long party to celebrate.

Unveiling the plans at the Millennium Gallery this morning, Master Cutler Neil MacDonald said events would cover, not just Harry Brearley’s discovery in a Brown Firth laboratory, but also the entrepreneurial spirit which saw him realise its huge potential.

“It’s a chance to blow our own trumpet and tell everyone about it,” said Neil.

‘Design To Shine’, an exhibition of stainless objects opens in the Millennium Gallery in February 2013. Kelham Island Museum will host ‘Rustless’ the Harry Brearley Story and the Cutlers Hall is having an open day on March 23.

There will also be a Women of Steel Concert, a David Mellor exhibition and a host of industry visits and tours. Meanwhile Sheffield Newspapers is producing a coffee table book.

Kim Streets, chief executive of Museums Sheffield, said she hoped the celebrations would inspire young people.

For the full programme of events, go to: http://www.welcometosheffield.co.uk/visit/stainless

From: http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/local/city-celebrates-100-years-of-sheffield-steel-1-5193708

News - Historic landmark given new lease of life (Sheffield)

Plans to preserve an important and unique part of Sheffield’s Victorian history have been given the green light after a 15-year battle with conservation authorities.


The Anglican Chapel in Sheffield’s General Cemetery is a Grade 2 listed building and known for its distinct gothic style and Victorian spire. Despite its position as an integral part of local history, the chapel has been allowed to fall into disrepair and has stood empty for a number of years.

Efforts to bring the chapel back into use have been on-going since 1997, but the latest proposal to convert the historic building into two domestic flats has finally been given the go ahead by Sheffield City Council.

Valerie Bayliss from the Sheffield Victorian Society said she was pleased to see an iconic monument being restored. She said: “The General Cemetery chapel has been empty for many years and has been subject to extensive vandalism. There have been several attempts to find a new use for it, and we are pleased that at last the essential repairs will be carried out and the building returned to use.”

The chapel, built in 1850, was designed by Sheffield architect William Flockton in a Victorian gothic style whilst other buildings in the cemetery are considered to be of a Classical or Egyptian style. The building is unique for its distinctive windows and entrance as well as the spire which was purposefully built too big so as to clearly visible.

Sheffield General Cemetery opened in 1836 and is one of the oldest public cemeteries in Britain. A number of figures from Sheffield’s industrialist past are buried there including steel manufacturer Mark First and the 19th century chartist Samuel Holberry, known for his role in the failed Sheffield Rising of 1840.

Two previous schemes to renovate the Anglican Chapel were turned down by planning officials after meeting strong local opposition. The latest proposal however is supported English Heritage and the Sheffield General Cemetery Trust who have looked after the cemetery since it closed to public burial in 1979.

The chapel will be converted into two flats with parking space for four cars. A council spokesman said that every effort would be made to preserve the building’s historical features.

Councillor Andrew Sangar said it was important to bring the chapel back into use but expressed concerns that the proposed plans did not go far enough.

He said: “In the past we have turned down numerous schemes to bring this building back into use and it needs to be done otherwise it will fall down. It is currently in a dreadful state of disrepair.

“In principal I support the idea to bring back old churches and old chapels into use. But I think we have missed an opportunity here.

“Given the history there and the little of it we have left to us today. This scheme does not go far enough to preserve an important and unique part of Sheffield’s history.”

From: http://postcodegazette.com/news/9002759371/historic-landmark-given-new-lease-of-life-AT-sheffield-sheffield-general-cemetery/

Event - Time Traveller's Guide to Elizabethan England (Sheffield)

We think of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I as a golden age but what was it actually like to live then? If you could travel to London in the 1590s, where would you stay, what would you eat and wear? Would you have a sense of it being a glorious age, and if so, how would that glory sit alongside the poverty, diseases and violence?


Ian Mortimer answers the key questions that a traveller to Elizabethan England would ask applying the groundbreaking approach he pioneered in his bestselling Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England.

Dr Ian Mortimer is an award winning author and historian. He also writes historical fiction, published under his middle names James Forrester.

Price £7.50/£5.50 24th November 11.00 at the Showroom as part of the Off the Shelf event.

From: http://www.showroomworkstation.org.uk/ianmortimer

Events - Friends of Wincobank Hill (Sheffield)

The Five Arthurs - a talk by David Anson (£2 includes refreshments)

The Arthur Legend is enduring and has many aspects. David will deal with five of them but is always glad to hear of any more. Come and find out more about the king who never was, but who has entered the British psyche and has had more influence than many real monarchs.

6.30 - 8.30pm Thursday 1st November 2012 at Upper Wincobank Chapel, Wincobank Avenue, Sheffield S5 6BB



AND- save the date for -

The Wincobank Hill Lantern Procession

Wednesday 14th November 2012 5pm from Uppoer Wincobank Chapel

Come and help us light up the hill. The this new and exciting event is being organised by the Friends of Wincobank Hill and Sheffield City Council Woodland and Ranger teams. Local schoolchildren have been making lanterns which they will carry during a walk in the woodlands around and up the hill and some enchanting visual interest is being planned. Park Rangers will be on hand to lead the way and share information about the area.

If you fancy a magical walk through our Ancient Woodland come and join us. Bring a torch and wrap up warm. Strong footwear advised. We regret the event is not suitable for pushchairs or wheelchairs due to the rough ground and steep hill. There will be hot drinks served at the Chapel afterwards. The event should finish by 7pm. For further information please phone 07980 143 776

There is a reserve date of the following Wednesday,November 21, in case of very bad weather.

http://www.wincobankhill.btck.co.uk

Via SCHF

Event - Ecclesall Woods Heritage day (Sheffield)

A celebration of Sheffield’s Woodland Heritage through Wood and Metal Sunday 28th October 11am - 3pm


FREE!
● Traditional Woodland Crafts ●

● Making Iron from Ore and Charcoal ●

● Folk Music Around the Fire ●

● Learn what it was like to live in the woods ●

● also Tea and Cake●

Ecclesall Woods

Woodland Discovery Centre
Abbey Lane, S7 2QZ, 01142356348

Via SCHF

News - £2m boost for Sheffield heritage projects

STAFF at two historical attractions in Sheffield are celebrating after scooping £2 million in lottery cash to spend on improvements.


Sheffield Cathedral and Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet, which are each Grade I listed, have both been successful in applying for grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Both can now do major work to transform them into top attractions for the city.

Fiona Spiers, head of the Heritage Lottery Fund for Yorkshire and the Humber, said: “This investment is fantastic news for Sheffield - two of the city’s much-loved heritage sites awarded funding to improve their visitor experience and bring them alive for the next generation.

“A stunning cathedral, dating back to 1430, and an 18th-century steelworks, a rare time capsule from a bygone industrial age, will now offer exciting opportunities for people of all ages to get involved in the heritage on their doorstep.”

Sheffield Cathedral has been awarded £1.3 million on a new entrance, learning and exhibition space, learning activities for children and adults, training for staff and volunteers, lighting, signs and historical interpretation boards.

Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet, a former 18th-century steel works near Dore, will spend its £895,700 restoring the delicate waterwheels and machinery and creating a new heritage and learning centre as well as training programmes for volunteers.

The aim is to encourage the community to learn and pass on traditional millwright skills for future generations.

John Hamshere, Chief Executive of Sheffield Industrial Museums Trust which is responsible for the Hamlet, said: “This is great news and we are delighted the bid has been successful.”

From: http://www.thestar.co.uk/lifestyle/2m-boost-for-sheffield-heritage-projects-1-4989065

Event - Pocket History of Sheffield Theatre (Sheffield)

City Centre Theatre Walk: Saturday 6th October 2.30pm.A Pocket History of Sheffield Theatre. A walk and talk with Roy Rogers and Chris Reece.The history of theatre in Sheffield from the Assembly Rooms to the Crucible. Meet on Tudor Square. £5 (pay on day) Duration 1 hour 20. Tour repeated on Thursday 15th November.


A History of Theatre in Sheffield 1750-2012. Saturday 24th November 11.00am-3.30pm.

At the Quaker meeting House 10 St James Street S1 2EW (near Sheffield Cathedral) Tickets £16/£15(concessions).Bookings via Quay Tickets: 0843 208-0500 www.quaytickets.com A workshop presentation with slides and overhead projections tracing the extraordinary history of Theatre in Sheffield. Followed by a walk round the city centre theatre sites.

Further details from royrogsheffield@aol.com

Via SCHF

Event - The Cutlers' Company: its history and function (Sheffield)

A talk by Joan Unwin on the Cutlers in Hallamshire, who have maintained the standards and quality of Sheffield manufactured cutlery and steel products since 1624

Wednesday 19th September 2012 starting at 6.30pm

Jackson Room, First Floor, Central Library, Surrey Street, Sheffield, S1 1XZ

Book your place for this free event: Tel. 0114 203 9395 or e-mail archives@sheffield.gov.uk

Article - How deep do the arts council cuts go? (Museums Sheffield)

The Central Library in Sheffield opened in 1934, when my father was four. As a teenager and medical student in the 1940s and 50s, he would work there, an escape from the confined, cramped home he grew up in. It was, he remembers, "state of the art": a grand public building with elegant, deco curves to the custom-made furniture, handsome timber bookshelves and bright brass handrails up the stairs. On the top floor there was an art gallery, named for JG Graves, who had funded the building – a magnate who made his money from mail-order catalogues.


The library and the Graves Gallery are still there. The latter is part of Museums Sheffield, and has a wonderful collection, including a great Paul Nash, a beautiful Eric Ravilious, a Murillo – and, startlingly, two Italian Renaissance paintings found in the basement of the National Union of Mineworkers' headquarters in Barnsley in the 1960s.

But times are hard. The building remains elegant, but is now rather worn and tatty. Some of the 1930s furniture is still there, but much has been replaced by unprepossessing office desks and chairs. The paint is peeling from the toilet walls. It is worth the visit for the art on the top floor, but pick your time carefully: the gallery is open only four days a week, and shuts at 3pm. In common with other councils, Sheffield is wondering about the purpose of libraries in an information (and austerity) age, and is "consulting" on the future of its service. Elegant architects' plans for the building's refurbishment were drawn up some years ago, but put aside when money got tight. This building, built as an act of philanthropy in the teeth of the Depression, now needs another JG Graves, but, says the museum's director, Kim Streets: "I've yet to meet him."

As the triumphal Olympic and Paralympic summer fades, and time is called on the large-scale, knock-'em-dead Cultural Olympiad work that was made to showcase British arts to a watching world, the industry faces a grim autumn. It is now, after Britain's moment in the sun, that the cuts implemented in the spring will begin to show. The picture is complex: England has lost 30% of its arts council budget, but with the proviso that only 15% should be passed on to "frontline" arts organisations. By March, English local-authority spending on the arts and culture will be down by 16% since 2009-10, but with the picture varying wildly: Somerset County Council, for example, has cut its arts provision by 100%. Scotland, notwithstanding damaging rows between artists and its funding body, Creative Scotland, is on standstill funding.

How are people faring on the ground? This spring, Museums Sheffield's application to become part of Arts Council England's national portfolio was turned down, meaning a loss of £800,000 annual funding. Its income from Sheffield council has also drifted downwards, from £2.38m in 2009-10 to £2.04m in 2012-13. At the same time, energy bills – a significant outgoing for any museum – have been soaring.

Along with the Graves, the museums trust also runs Weston Park Museum, which focuses on social and natural history, and the city-centre Millennium Gallery, devoted to art, craft and design. The cuts have had an undeniably large impact on the programme. "If you'd come here 10 years ago," says exhibitions manager Kirstie Hamilton, "you would have seen 30 shows a year. Now we are hoping to do about 10 – and what would have been a 10-week exhibition is now scheduled to last six months." The cuts provoked local outcry, with hundreds of visitors rallying in support, many registering their outrage on the museum's blog. On one wall of the Graves is a Damien Hirst, lent by Jarvis Cocker to his hometown's museum when he heard about its plight.

Staff are being shed, and fast. From a staff of 108, this autumn they will be 70. By far the hardest-hit department is education. Laura Trevis, recently part of a team of 23, is now one of three. They used to run 24 education workshops a week; that's down to eight. To cater to their 14,000 school visitors a year, she tells me, as she walks me through an exhibition on magic at Weston Park (themed around children's literature, with a Narnia wardrobe and faux-fur coats), they will be offering training to teachers, so that they can guide their own pupils round the exhibits. She is upbeat about the possibilities, but admits: "I think schools may look for other places to take their pupils, at least initially."

When I speak to Stephen Carley, who teaches art at Edward VII School in Sheffield, he is more pessimistic: "It's an absolute tragedy. There's no hiding from that." He mentions the museums' Youth Forum scheme, now gone, which his Year 10s could sign up for and continue with through their A levels: it meant long-term involvement with curators and artists, and hands-on museum experience. "Even with the most inspiring teaching, you can't do that in the classroom. It made the world of art and design real." His ex-pupils number graphic designers, architects – the sort of jobs that are supposed to be fuelling Britain's creative, information-based economy. Many, says Carley, cite that sustained contact with the museum as hugely influential: "That's what the younger pupils are going to miss out on." The arts council has given Museums Sheffield money to tide them over the redundancy period, and they have applied for further funds, but the future remains uncertain.

Museums Sheffield is not the only organisation in the city to have suffered. To the dismay of most who knew their work, Third Angel, a small experimental performance company based in Sheffield, has lost 100% of its Arts Council England grant of just over £33,360 – not even peanuts in the big picture of public spending, but lifeblood to them. At the Edinburgh fringe this year, I saw the company's delicate, thoughtful show What I Heard About the World – a meditation on how the world is increasingly within our grasp, and yet all too frequently experienced via substitutes or simulcra.

It is fantasy to think that Third Angel could exist without public support, and yet it is the kind of work that, eventually, trickles through the system to invigorate the mainstream stages. I meet Alexander Kelly – who, with Rachael Walton, is co-artistic director of Third Angel – one day in Edinburgh. He recalls the morning they got the funding rejection letter, in early 2011. "We weren't all that surprised. We'd been at standstill funding and had been turned down for every other stream of funding we'd applied for at least once, so we knew we weren't a priority." He thinks the arts council "didn't really get what we were doing – but there is a much better understanding of that now". There was an outpouring of protest from fans and, though ACE did not reverse their decision, they did offer some support for the year ahead. Despite the huge setback, packing in wasn't an option: "We've always said that we would carry on as long as we want to make shows together, and we still do," says Kelly. There has been soul-searching and some major changes: Third Angel is now company-in-residence at Sheffield Theatres, sharing ideas and office space, a move that is "properly exciting", says Kelly. Their situation is still precarious: they have no funding in place beyond spring 2013. But, assuming these artists are not defeated in one last, exhausting tussle with a funding application form, the work will go on.

At the opposite end of the country, I arrive in a sun-warmed farmyard at the end of a labyrinth of high-hedged lanes: the office of Take Art, an organisation that brings dance, theatre and performance to audiences in rural Somerset. Its neighbours, in the rose-covered outhouses, are an architect and a blacksmith.

But in the office, things are not as idyllic as they look. The workforce has halved since 2010. Against the wall lie banners with the slogan "We value the arts: against 100% arts cuts", left over from 2010's fruitless struggle against Somerset Council. They have lost around £70,000 a year, taking into account cuts from local councils, too. They still have their arts council funding of £159,000 a year (£30,000 less than they asked for). But the result is that they are providing half the shows they used to. They have launched a fundraising scheme, with hopes to raise £10,000 – though chief executive Ralph Lister is unhappy that Take Art was turned down for ACE's Catalyst scheme, which offers support for fundraising and development. And, though he praises Bristol's Old Vic theatre, with whom Take Art is collaborating, he wishes there were more solidarity shown by the big, national companies. "I've heard a lot of talk about the responsibility of the larger organisations to connect with the smaller ones. Why doesn't [National Theatre director] Nick Hytner call up and say, 'Can we work on a proposal for a rural touring show?'"

One of the organisation's most prominent schemes is its Rural Touring programme. It's a way of getting excellent-quality performances to village halls, and serving areas where access to the arts would otherwise be nonexistent: for 30% of their audiences, says Lister, the work that Take Art brings is the only art they get to see. Often this is quite adventurous: experimental theatre company Kneehigh (Brief Encounter, The Red Shoes) was a regular in their earlier days. Lister points out that, in rural areas, getting in the car and driving to Bath or Bristol may not be an option, as fuel prices rise and pressure on household purses increases; meanwhile theatres in the smaller towns, such as the Merlin in Frome, have been hammered by Somerset's cuts and are clinging on to life.

Take Art offers a "menu" of different shows to village halls, and can subsidise the work to make it affordable – theoretically. In some areas, such as Mendip, the loss of council funding means the subsidy is gone, and the villages can no longer take on the risk. Frances Horler, a retired legal adviser from Kilmersdon near Frome, tells me she has been bringing Take Art shows to her village for 15 years – until now. "We built up an audience," she says. "It's all part of the community feeling of the village." For her, it wasn't just about the evenings out, but a way of gathering people together, and making a few quid to keep the village hall going. Max Miller, from Chilcompton in North Mendip, agrees. "It's a way of people getting to know each other, like the church, or the pub, or post office." Sometimes performers would get involved in workshops at the local primary school. "It's been a strong part of what the village is – its identity." Despite the loss of subsidy, Miller plans to book future shows at full price, but he'll be go for the less adventurous stuff. "In the past, we've had musicians from all over the world – Africa, Eastern Europe – and without the subsidy we wouldn't have been able to take the risk."

The arts are not yet at crisis point. There is no apocalypse, but the damage is real. There will be changes, some of them obvious: a local museum reducing its hours and programme; a local theatre having more dark nights, and fewer shows of real imagination. Other changes will be less tangible: a teenager not getting the spark of inspiration that makes her decide to train as an architect, a village community less bound together by shared experience. Arts organisations are, for the most part, putting a brave face on things, working out how to adjust, not wanting to admit there will be any diminution in what they can do; artists like Alexander Kelly will find ways to make art because that is their life's calling. Walking round the busy, impressive museums in Sheffield, it's clear that those who work here are coping as well as they can. It's still a great place to visit.

But I wonder: how long can you chip away at what a museum does before it starts to look down-at-heel? How far can you cut an exhibition programme before the place feels static? How far can you strip away a staff and still expect them to perform a crucial role in the education of a city's young? What is the point at which a museum, at some quiet, unmarked moment, stops being a questioning, contemplative space at the heart of its city's intellectual and imaginative life, and becomes an irrelevance? The fear is, here and everywhere, that this autumn's hardships are just the beginning: there will come a point when no amount of ingenuity, flexibility and cunning can stand in the way of empty coffers.

From: http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2012/sep/16/arts-council-cuts-how-deep?newsfeed=true

Book - New Sheffield history book very ‘old school’

IT was one of the biggest and most ambitious civic projects ever undertaken in Sheffield; a scheme so huge it would change the face and life of the city forever.


Plans announced in 1870 would eventually see some 64 major public buildings – described as “like castles” – go up in almost every suburb.

They would cost close to £1 million and an estimated 500,000 people have passed regularly through their doors since.

“And yet when we think of Sheffield’s architectural treasures we often overlook them,” says Valerie Bayliss.

“It’s a great shame because not only were they designed to inspire us, there’s an argument it’s the finest collection of such buildings anywhere in the country.”

So, what are they?

None other than the city’s very first state schools built in the 40 years following the 1870 Education Act which made schooling compulsory for the first time ever.

Today, 46 still survive with 28 in such good condition they are still schools.

No other city in the country outside London has so many. Manchester has only nine of such original institutions still standing.

“Almost all of us have one on our doorstep,” says Valerie, chairman of The Victorian Society’s South Yorkshire Regional Group. “But I don’t always think we appreciate what gems they are.”

It is something the society is seeking to put right. It has just released a delightful new book which charts all 64 of those schools built between 1870 and the start of World War One in 1914.

Above all else, Building Schools For Sheffield 1870-1914 shows how quick the city was to embrace universal education (21 schools went up in just 10 years) and how much emphasis was placed in making the buildings inspiring and often beautiful places.

As Liberal MP David Chadwick noted in 1875: “The School Board have persuaded the ratepayers of Sheffield to tolerate the extravagance of spending £100,000 in the building of schools as substantial as castles.”

Valerie, of Muskoka Avenue, Bents Green, says: “It’s not been easy researching them all but we felt this was an important part of the city’s history which we should be proud of and which needed rediscovering.

“You’ve got to remember in 1870 there was no compulsory education, no state schools.

“To go from that to 21 by 1880 was civic construction on a scale which is unimaginable today – and yet all the schools are incredibly well designed. That’s why so many remain in use today.”

A little of that history then?

Schools existed in Sheffield long before 1870 but these tended to be charity, church, voluntary or fee-paying institutions.

When the 1870 education Act was passed, promising universal education, this Liberal-run city was very much in full support.

The government’s announcement that elected city school boards would be formed to roll out the new system and new schools was greeted with enthusiasm. Prominent citizens voted on to that first board included steel magnates Mark Firth, Charles Doncaster and Sir John Brown as well as draper Skelton Cole of Cole Brothers fame.

“They brought an energy to the whole process that really helped Sheffield hit the ground running,” says Valerie.

“An interesting fact is that the first school in the entire country to be built after the act was passed was Newhall in Attercliffe. Unfortunately for the board’s pride, strikes delayed its opening so it wasn’t the first to welcome children.”

Land was chosen in prominent positions where the building would inspire the importance of education in children, perhaps the best example being Pye Bank Board School which overlooks the city from its position in Andover Street.

And the designs – drawn up by various city architects, notably 32-year-old Charles Innocent – were grand for the same reason.

“Substantial requirements were laid down by central government as to how the buildings should be,” explains Valerie. “It included the layout, cost and technical specifications which all new schools had to adhere to but it didn’t mention style.

“Charles Innocent had a clear view on how he thought the buildings should look and his predominant style was English Domestic Gothic.”

This meant castle-like bell turrets, ornamental stone carvings, arched windows and multi-storeys.

“How well they functioned, on the other hand, was something of a debate” notes Valerie.

“One early inspector noted that although the buildings were handsome, they were so full of drafts he had to wear a hat for the full visit.

“One wonders what effect the cold would have had on the occupants.

“But the fact many are still schools shows something was done right.”

Building Schools For Sheffield 1870-1914 by The Victorian Society is released through ALD Print and is available from book shops and at www.victoriansociety.org uk now.

Sheffield Schools 1870-1914

Opened 1873
Newhall, Sanderson Street (demolished early 1970s).
Broomhill, Beech Hill Road (still a school).
Netherthorpe, Netherthorpe Street (still a school).
Philadelphia, West Don Street (demolished early 1970s).

Opened 1874
Attercliffe, Baldwin Street (demolished 1950).
Carbrook, Attercliffe Common (hotel).
Crookesmoor, Oxford Street (community building).
Lowfield, London Road (still a school)
Walkley, Greaves Street (part school, part apartments).

Opened 1875
Darnall, Darnall Road (youth centre).
Park, Norwich Street, (demolished 1967).
Grimesthorpe, East Marshal Road (council building).
Pye Bank, Andover Street (empty).
Springfield, Broomspring Lane (still a school).
Norton, Mundella Place (still a school).

Opened 1876
Manor, Manor Lane (part converted, part still a school).

Opened 1878
Fulwood, David Lane (council building).
Langsett Road, Burton Street (community foundation building).

Opened 1879
School Board Offices, Leopold Street (hotel).

Opened 1880
Central Schools, Orchard Lane (restaurants).
Heeley Bank, Heeley Bank Road (derelict).
Brightside, Jenkin Road (still a school).
Woodside, Rutland Road (demolished 1967).
Beighton, School Road (still a school).

Opened 1881
Burgoyne Road, Burgoyne Road (apartments).

Opened 1883
Duchess Road, Duchess Road (demolished 1982).

Opened 1884
Huntsman’s Gardens, Attercliffe, (demolished early 1980s).
Hillsborough, Parkside Road (still a school).
Wincobank, Newman Road (still a school).
Intake, Mansfield Road (still a school).

Opened 1887
Sharrow Lane, South View Road (community centre).

Opened 1889
Owler Lane, Owler Lane (demolished in 1990).

Opened 1890
Abbeydale, Abbeydale Road (still a school).
Neepsend, Hoyland Road (demolished 1958).
Heeley, Anns Road (derelict).

Opened 1891
Carlisle Street, Carlisle Street (demolished unknown date).

Opened 1892
Woodbourn Road, Woodbourn Road (Pakistani Centre).

Opened 1893
Hunter’s Bar, Sharrow Vale Road (still a school).
Firshill, Barnsley Road (still a school).

Opened 1894
Meersbrook Bank, Derbyshire Lane (still a school).

Opened 1896
Bole Hill, Bole Hill Road (commercial units).
Coleridge Road, now Tinsley Park Road, (empty).

Opened 1898
Gleadless, Hollinsend Road (still a school).

Opened 1899
Woodhouse East, Station Road (adult training centre).

Opened 1900
Pomona Street, Pomona Street (still a school).
Upperthorpe, Daniel Hill (demolished 1990).
Woodhouse West, Station Road (demolished date uknown).

Opened 1901
Western Road, Western Road (still a school).
Morley Street, Morley Street (still a school).

Opened 1903
Meersbrook Bank, Derbyshire Lane (still a school).
Norton Lees, Argyle Close (still a school).
Bradway, Bradway Road (still a school).

Opened 1904
Ranmoor, Fulwood Road (still a school).
Greystones, Tullibardine Road (still a school).
Hammerton Street, Ouseburn Road (being restored as an educational building).
Malin Bridge, Dykes Lane (still a school).

Opened 1905
Woodseats, Chesterfield Road (still a school).

Opened 1906
Carterknowle, Carterknowle Road (still a school).
Wadsley Bridge, Penistone Road North (demolished 1997).

Opened 1907
Highfields Special School, Sitwell Road (youth centre).
Lydgate Lane, Lydgate Lane (still a school).

Opened 1909
Salmon Pastures, Warren Street (demolished 1998).
Whitby Road, Fisher Lane (still a school).

Opened 1910
High Wincobank, Bracken Road (demolished mid-1990s).

From: http://www.thestar.co.uk/lifestyle/features/new-sheffield-history-book-very-old-school-1-4919576

Event - Roam the Ridge (Wincobank)

Come and Roam the Ridge and find out the facts on Wincobank Hill on Saturday 15th September. A guided history walk round Wincobank Hill Fort and the Roman Ridge with archaeologist Jared Bryson from the University of Sheffield

Meet 10.15am at the Forum Public House, Sandstone Road S9 1AE.   For More information visit the Friends of Wincobank Hill website at http://www.wincobankhill.btck.co.uk/

News - Restored works’ heritage visit (Sheffield)

A HISTORIC cutlery works in Sheffield which has been the focus of a major restoration project is being visited by the head of English Heritage next week.


The Grade II* listed Joel’s Yard, on Well Meadow Street, is set to be paid a visit by Baroness Andrews next Thursday after English Heritage donated £200,000 towards repairs at the site.

Joel’s Yard, once classed as a ‘building at risk’, has been taken over by a private developer and transformed into flats.

Repairs included reinstating a cobbled courtyard so the workshops are closer to their original state.

Another restoration project is also starting next door at North Yard, also a former cutlery factory which includes a crucible shop, forge and cutler’s smithy.

English Heritage has offered a grant of £300,000 towards the refurbishment which will see the creation of nine new homes.

From: http://www.southyorkshiretimes.co.uk/news/local/restored-works-heritage-visit-1-4767855

News - Roundhouse nears finish after arson (Heeley)

AN ARSON-hit archaeology experiment to create an Iron Age-style structure is nearing completion after a Sheffield community chipped in.


Residents and youngsters helped to paint the walls of Heeley City Farm’s reconstructed Roundhouse - which had its roof burned deliberately in a blaze in 2010 - over the weekend.

It takes the experiment a step closer to being finished, with only the roof now left to work on.

But weeks of downpours have been a setback in the scheme’s progress this year.

Sally Rodgers, community heritage officer at the farm, said it had taken longer than planned to reach this point.

She added: “It was upsetting when the fire happened but then these are the kinds of problems people would have faced in the Iron Age!

“We’ve worked really hard to repair the damage and, considering it is in an open space, there hasn’t been much damage, only the fire.

“Over the weekend the walls were painted using different natural techniques like coloured clays and ground wood.

“It still needs some work on the roof but we are hoping it will be completed this year.”

But the aim of the roundhouse, which started in 2009, is not really about it being used as a complete structure.

The farm and Sheffield University began the scheme to help learn about how things were done by Iron Age man, how people worked and what it was like to live.

On Saturday and Sunday volunteers got messy with paint, even creating Celtic designs with their brushes on the roundhouse walls.

Museum Sheffield plus Sheffield Young Archaeologists offered support and artists also showed their skills in metalworking and basket weaving demonstrations.

Sally added: “We’ve had masses of help from lots of community groups who volunteered their time to help to get the walls repaired and to get the roof structure stable again.”

From: http://www.thestar.co.uk/community/roundhouse-nears-finish-after-arson-1-4743606

Event - Crumbling heritage (Sheffield)

ONCE they were grand and glorious buildings, stunning symbols of Sheffield’s confidence and civic pride.


But now some of the Steel City’s most instantly recognisable landmarks are looking, well, all but unrecognisable when viewed from inside.

These astonishing pictures are to be exhibited this weekend - and they show how historic sites, including the city centre’s Grade II listed General Post Office, the 19th century Middlewood Hospital chapel and Parson Cross’s art deco Ritz complex, have been left to go to rack and ruin.

“I hope there is an element of shock when people see them,” says co-organiser and one of six photographers Jim Lambert. “If we let these buildings crumble around us we will never get them back. The pictures show something must be done before the damage is irreparable. People have every right to be furious that it’s happening.”

It is not the first exhibition Jim, 57, of Netherthorpe, and pal Hedley Bishop, 43, of Woodseats, have been behind.

The pair featured on this page previously after a website they founded in their spare time - called Pictures Of Sheffield Old And New - became so popular, it attracted more than 3,000 members and led to them displaying some of the contributed images in Castle Market and in The Moor.

But this particular exhibition may prove a little more controversial than those.

Because these images - 40 in all including shots of the 1960s Hallam Tower Hotel in Broomhill and the nineteenth century Abbeydale Road Tram Depot - were all taken without the consent of the building’s owners.

In other words, they were taken while trespassing.

“But we’ve taken advice on this and under no circumstances is what we do a criminal matter,” says Jim, who works in the construction trade. “We don’t break into anywhere ever and we don’t do any damage. We’re respectable people and we feel strongly this is in the public interest - that’s why we’re holding this exhibition. This is our city’s heritage that is being allowed to fall apart.”

For Jim and Hedley, they reckon, it’s one the most important things they have ever done.

“The old pictures of Sheffield were always among the more popular in our previous displays,” says Hedley, a mental health nurse. “And I get why that is. But these are pictures with a social conscience. We want people to sit up and take notice of them.”

The exhibition, called Hidden, takes place at Block Projects Gallery in Eyre Lane this weekend, opening Friday 6 - 8pm, and Saturday and Sunday 10am - 4pm.





The snapped six



General Post Office, Fitzalan Square, city centre (1910).



Middlewood Hospital chapel, off Middlewood Road, Middlewood (1872).



The Ritz, Wordsworth Avenue, Parson Cross. (1939).



Hallam Tower Hotel, Fulwood Road, Broomhill (1965).



Abbeydale Road Tram Depot, Abbeydale Road, Nether Edge (1899).



Sheffield Foundry Workers Social Club, Beaumont Road North, Manor Park (1975).

From: http://www.thestar.co.uk/community/the-diary/crumbling-heritage-1-4702251

News - Sheffield Wincobank Hill battle victory

CONTROVERSIAL plans for new homes on a historic Sheffield site - which received hundreds of objections - have been refused.


Sheffield Council turned down the proposals for a 24-property development on Wincobank Hill, off Sandstone Road, yesterday despite a recommendation for approval.

The decision was made on the basis of protecting the historic nature of the site, which lies 200 metres south of the Iron Age Wincobank hill fort.

Residents say it is likely to contain prehistoric archaeological treasures which could be destroyed by the building work.

Bridget Ingle, of the Love Wincobank Campaign, said an 1,100-strong online petition signed by people across the world had been handed in at the meeting to boost more than 400 objections.

She said: “We are all very pleased because everything was against us having a victory, however it is one step at a time.

“The councillors rejected it on archaeological grounds but we are not resting on our laurels because the developer will appeal the decision and we’ll have to fight it again.”

The site is used by Wincobank families and concerns about the loss of open space for local people were also behind the decision.

Campaigners think the site is on the line of the Roman Ridge, a 10-mile linear earthwork thought to be have been built as a defensive structure between Sheffield and Kimberworth, Rotherham.

Investates Development proposed the three-bedroom homes, which were also opposed by the Friends of Wincobank Hill, Sandstone Road Residents’ Forum, the Hunter Archaeological Society and the Sheffield Ramblers.

Dr Roger Doonan, head of archaeology at the University of Sheffield, spoke at the planning meeting.

He said: “The chairman said it was the most difficult one he had been to in his planning career.

“I think this was the only right decision to be made really.

“This is a really important area, it was the northernmost extent of the Roman empire at one point.

“No other city in Britain I know has an iron age hill fort standing in the middle of it.”

It is hoped the site could be used as a community resource, like in heritage trails attracting visitors in the future.

Dr Doonan added: “It is a resource we should recognise.”

From: http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/sheffield-wincobank-hill-battle-victory-1-4702602