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Sheffield Out-Townships, 1852

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SHEFFIELD:
Sheffield description, 1852

Source=h:/!Genuki/RecordTranscriptions/WRY/SheffieldDescription.txt

SHEFFIELD PARISH: OUT-TOWNSHIPS, 1852

ATTERCLIFFE-CUM-DARNALL township occupies a triangular area of 1336½ acres, and a population of 4871 souls. It includes the villages of Attercliffe and Darnall, the hamlet of Carbrook, a number of scattered dwellings, the Park Iron Works, and Sunderland Moor;-distant from one to three miles E. and S.E. of Sheffield. It is intersected by the Sheffield and Tinsley Canal ; and the Lincolnshire Railway has a station at Darnall. The Duke of Norfolk is lord of the manor, and impropriator ; but the soil belongs to Earl Fitzwilliam and a number of freeholders, except Darnall, which forms a small manor, of which the heir of the late Gen. Spencer is lord. The common and waste lands were enclosed in 1811, when many of the ancient footpaths were closed. The ancient chapelry of Attercliffe-cum-Darnall, formerly comprised the township of Brightside Bierlow, but it is now separated into five ecclesiastical divisions, under Peel's act. Darnall was gazetted as a church district in 1844; and the Wicker, Brightside, and Pitsmoor,in 1845.

ATTERCLIFFE, the largest village in the parish of Sheffield, is on the Doncaster and Worksop roads, 1½ mile E. of the Market place. It is about three quarters of a mile in length, and many of its inhabitants are employed in the manufacture of pen and pocket knives, scissors, anvils, scythes, spades, shovels, cast steel, &c. The old chapel of ease, at the eastern extremity of the village, was built in 1629; but it is now only used for sepulchral purposes, having an extensive burial ground. The inhabitant now assemble for divine worship in Christ Church, a handsome Gothic fabric, with lancet windows, a profusion of stained glass, and a handsomely groined roof. This church, built at the expence of £14,000, granted by Parliament, stands near the bold cliff which overhangs the Don, and is said to have been formerly the resort of otters, from which circumstance the village had its name. The first stone was laid by the Duke of Norfolk, assisted by Earl Fitzwilliam, on Oct. 30, 1822; and the church was opened July 26th, 1826. Attercliffe Ecclesiastical District comprises the village and suburbs of Attercliffe, which comprise about 3000 inhabitants, and are rapidly encreasing; many new houses have been erected during the past year. The perpetual curacy, valued in 1831, at £180, is in the patronage of the Vicar, and incumbency of the Rev. John Blackburn, A. M. who is a canon of York, and has held the benefice 35 years. The Independents and Methodists have each a chapel in the village, erected about 1803, but enlarged and mostly rebuilt in 1824 and 1832. The Town School, was built by subscription, about 1779; and the master has, for teaching a Sunday School, £3. 3s. yearly, from the bequest of Robert Clay, Esq., in 1786, and £ 13. 9s. 6d. yearly from £449. 3s. 4d three per cent. stock, purchased with £300 left by Mrs. Elizabeth Fell, in 1795. The Church Schools were enlarged in 1841 and 1849, and are now attended by more than 300 boys, girls, and infants. The poor have several small benefactions; and at Darnall are four almshouses, with an allowance of 21s. and a load of coals yearly to each inmate, from Mr. Staniforth, of Liverpool. The four old almshouses in Attercliffe, anciently the town school, were rebuilt by the overseers, in 1836, at the cost of about £170.

CARBROOK is a hamlet and estate, on the Rotherham road, 2½ miles E. by N. of Sheffield, which belonged to the late Admiral Sotheron, and has an ancient hall, formerly occupied by the Brights, and still retaining traces of its former consequence. In one of the rooms is a curious wooden chimney-piece. DARNALL is a scattered village, on the Worksop road, 3 miles E. of Sheffield. Wm. Walker, the supposed executioner of Charles I., was a native of Darnall, and died there in 1700. A small neat Church was built here in 1840-'1, at the cost of £2800 raised by subscription ; and a parochial district has recently been allotted to it, under Sir Robert Peel's Act. The church was not consecrated till Oct. 13, 1845. Attached to it is a National School. The perpetual curacy, with £150 a year, is enjoyed by the Rev. W. L. Gibson, B.A., and is in the patronage of the Crown and Archbishop alternately.

Here are two chapels, one belonging to the Wesleyans, built in 1822, and the other to the Independents, erected in 1828. Acreshill Field (3½a) belongs to the poor of Darnall. It is held at the yearly rent of £3. 10s, by the Fisher family, who enclosed it from the waste many years ago.

BRIGHTSIDE BIERLOW township comprises 2680 acres, and in 1851, had 12,039 inhabitants. It includes the villages of Grimesthorpe, Brightside, Neepsend, Pitsmoor, and Crabtree ; the seats of New Hall, Burngreave, Norwood, Shirecliffe, Firs Hill, Wood Hill, &c. ; the woods of Wincobank, Hall Car, Cook, Old Park, &c. and those populous suburbs of Sheffield, called the Wicker, Nursery, and Bridgehouses, lying on the left bank of the Don. The only benefactions now possessed by the township are, £40 vested with the overseers, and left by some person unknown ; and £3. 10s. yearly from land purchased with £50 left by John Mirfield, in 1785 For these, twelve poor children are educated in the school at Grimesthorpe, which was built by subscription, in 1802, on land given by the Duke of Norfolk, the lord of the manor. The Occupation Road, which leads from the Wicker to Grimesthorpe, is studded with handsome villas ; and at the foot of it is the STATION of the Sheffield and Rotherham and North Midland Railways, enclosing the ivy-mantled mansion of Hall Carr, above which is the Barnsley New Road, opened in 1837, through the sylvan dell of Burngreave, to Pitsmoor, thus avoiding the precipitous hill of Pye-bank. From the Station in the Bridgehouses, the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway crosses the Wicker by a stupendous Viaduct of one large and two small arches, of massive and beautiful masonry, to Victoria Station, formed upon an extensive range of piers and arches on the other side of the Don. The township of Brightside Bierlow was formerly included in the chapelry of Attercliffe-cum-Darnall, and was without any episcopal place of worship, till the erection of the Wicker District Church, in Nursery street. The northern and eastern parts of the township have been formed into two other ecclesiastical districts, called Brightside and Pitsmoor: Christ Church, at Pitsmoor, is already noticed. It is hoped that a church will soon be erected for Brightside District Chapelry, as Earl Fitzwilliam has given an acre of land for the site of it and the parsonage and schools;, and a subscription has been opened for erecting the buildings, and now amounts to about £600.

BRIGHTSIDE is a scattered village on the Don, 3 miles E.N.E. of Sheflield. Here are extensive iron forges, and a railway station. At a short distance, is New Hall, erected by the late John Fell, Esq. who amassed considerable wealth at the iron works here, and whose widow, after appropriating much to charity, bequeathed the residue of her ample fortune to the father of the late Richard Swallow, Esq. The lawn and pleasure grounds of New Hall, (now occupied by John Sanderson, Esq, merchant,) are watered by the Don, and bounded on the east by the village of Attercliffe. Near New Hall are the extensive forge, tilt, and rolling mills belonging to Messrs. Sanderson Brothers and Co,, who, a few years ago, greatly improved and enlarged the works. In Brightside are the extensive steel furnaces, tilt, and rolling mill of Messrs. Wm. Jessop and Sons.

GRIMESTHORPE lies in a picturesque situation, under the woody hill of Wincobank, 2 miles N.E. by N. of Sheffield, and is inhabited chiefly by grinders, and fork and shear makers. It has a Wesleyan Chapel, and two Sunday Schools, the former a neat Gothic edifice, erected in 1833. ECCLESALL-BIERLOW township forms the south-western portion of the parish, lying chiefly betwixt the Sheaf and the Porter, but including a large portion of what may properly be called the town of Sheffield. It comprises 4180 acres, and from 1736 to 1851, it increased its population front 2352 to 24,542 souls. It includes the HAMLETS, &c., of Abbey Dale, Bents Green, Button hill, Cherrytree hill, Greystones, Highfield, Little Common, Little Sheffield, Mill Houses, Sharrow Moor, Sharrow Head and Vale, Machon Bank, Upper and Nether Edge, Brincliffe Edge, Broad Oak Green, Carter Knowl, Dobbin hill, Silver hill, Whirlow, and Whiteley Wood, extending from the town of Sheffield to the distance of 4 miles W. and S. W. It comprises Broomhall estate, (where many handsome stone houses have been erected during the last ten years;) and a large portion of Crookes moor ; and has many handsome villas and well built streets, which are amongst the best portions of the town and suburbs; especially on and near Glossop road. The beautiful Gothic mansion of Banner Cross was rebuilt by the late General Murray, who, died in 1818, before the work was completely finished. This charming sylvan retreat is now a seat of H. M. Greaves, Esq., who married the General's neice and heiress-Miss Mary C. A. Bagshawe, daughter of the late Rev. William Bagshawe, M. A., who resided here till his death, about six years ago. The mansion is a much admired, though unfinished work of Sir Jeffery Wyattville, the distinguished architect of Windsor Castle. There is no village properly called Ecclesall, the CHAPEL, (All Saints) now a District Church, being near Banner Cross, on a pleasant eminence, where it was built in 1788, at the cost of £1553, on the site of a, small ancient fabric, in which the monks of Beauchief had long filled the pastoral office. It is a neat stone building, about three miles from the town, and was new roofed and thoroughly repaired about ten years ago. The Vicar of Sheffield is patron of the perpetual curacy, valued at £120; and the Rev. W. H. Vale, M. A. has been the respected incumbent since 1819, and has a neat Parsonage House with pleasant grounds. From several benefactions, the poor have £7. 14s yearly ; the master of Sharrow School, £9. 10s., for eight free scholars; and the master of Broad Oak Green School, £2 for six free scholars. Earl Fitzwilliam is lord of the manor, but a large portion of the soil belongs to other proprietors. WHITELEYWOOD, near the head of the delightful vale of the Porter, 4 miles S. W. of Sheffield, is a neat mansion with extensive and well wooded grounds, but is now unoccupied, It was the seat of the late Miss Silcock, who, in 1838, built and endowed Fulwood Church, which stands on the opposite side of the river, in Upper Hallam township. Ecclesall Poor Law Union is already noticed ; as also are the Ecclesiastical Districts of Eldon street, Carver street, Broomhall, Gillcar, and St. Mary, in this large and populous township.

NETHER HALLAM township has 1902 acres, and had 8896 inhabitants in 1851. It includes the hamlets and suburbs of Upperthorpe, Walkley, Birkendale View, Fir View, Malin Bridge, Hill Bridge, Hill Foot, Portmahon, Philadelphia, and most of Owlerton, stretching from 1 to 2 miles N.N.W. ; Steel Bank, Spring Vale, Spring Hill, Barber Nook, Crookes, & Hallamgate, 2 miles W. by N.; Endcliffe, Lydgate, and Tapton, 2 miles W.; the populous village of HEELEY, which is in three portions, called MIDDLE, UPPER, & NETHER HEELEY, nearly 2 miles S.; and Newfield Green, 3 miles S. by E. of Sheffield.

CROOKES Church, dedicated to St. Thomas, is a neat Gothic building, erected and endowed in 1810, by subscription, and now in the incumbency of the Rev. F. Owen, M.A. Its clerical district comprises Crookes, Crookes moor, and the neighbouring parts of the township. The School at Crookes is endowed with land let for £22 a year; and near it is a Methodist chapel, built in 1836, and the Hadfield Reservoir, at the head of the numer- ous clams on Crookes moor, belonging to the Sheffield Water Works.

HEELEY is a detached member of Nether Hallam, at a considerable distance from the rest of that township; but in ecclesiastical matters it was constituted in 1846 a separate parish, which comprises some parts of Sheffield Park, as already noticed. Its Church dedicated to CHRIST, stands on the pleasant acclivity above Middle Heeley, and was consecrated August 8th, 1848. The first stone was laid November 4th, 1846. and the building was finished at the cost of about £2630, raised by subscription, aided by a grant from the Incorporated Society. It is a small structure of early English architecture, and has 450 open sittings, of which 250 are free. There is room for a gallery, if one should be required, and the chancel has a tesselated pavement. The font is handsome, and some of the windows are enriched with stained glass. The building is cruciform, with a short tower rising from the north transept. The perpetual curacy has been endowed by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners with £150 per annum, and is in the incumbency of the Rev. H. D. Jones, B.A., and alternate patronage of the Crown and Archbishop. Heeley has a school, endowed with about £20 per annum, and a small Methodist Chapel, built in 1826.

UPPER HALLAM is an extensive, wild, and thinly populated township, forming the north western portion of the parish, bounded on the north by the Rivelin, and on the south by the Porter, and containing 8836 acres, 1499 inhabitants, and the scattered hamlets of Carsick Hill, Crosspool, Fulwood, Nether Green, Ran Moor, Sandy Gate, Stephen Hill, and Stomperlowe, from 3 to 5 miles W. of Sheffield. The Independents have a chapel at Fulwood, and the Methodists another at Ran moor. The School at Fulwood, built in 1793, is endowed with land let for £13. 13s. a year, purchased with several benefactions, for the education of 18 poor children; and in 1836, £5. 18s. yearly, was left by Mr. Hadfield, for 15 additional free scholars. Higher up, in the romantic vale of the Porter, opposite the mansion of Whiteley Wood, is CHRIST CHURCH, in FULWOOD, built and endowed by the late Miss Phoebe Silcock, under the Act of the 1st and 2nd of Wm. IV., cap. 38, and vested in trustees. The first stone was laid August 16th, 1837. It is a handsome building, in the lancet Gothic style, 82 feet long by 39 broad, with a tower at the west end, 67 feet high. It cost about £2200, and will seat upwards of 300 hearers. The Rev. E. B. Chalmer, M.A. is the incumbent. Fulwood Ecclesiastical District comprises this township and some parts of Ecclesall Bierlow, in and near Whiteley Wood. Beyond the church is Lord's Seat, Fulwood Head, & Ringinglowe, adjoining the mountainous moors of Derbyshire; and north of these is Redmires Reservoir, a fine sheet of water, covering about 50 acres, and being now the principal source of the Sheffield Waterworks. It is near the source of the Rivelin ; and lower down the stream, on the lofty and precipitous banks of that rivulet, is Bell Hag Inn, 3 miles west of Sheffield, commanding extensive views over the hills and dales of Stannington, Loxley, and Bradfield. The inn and large reservoir at Redmires are about six miles west of Sheffield; and a delightful walk of a mile further to the west, car- ries the tourist to the lofty summit of Stanage Pole, where many of the mountain peaks and dales of Derbyshire are opened to his view. Other large reservoirs have been formed for the supply of the millowners; and another, of about 50 acres, is now constructing at Redmires.

The MANOR is a small village, nearly 2 miles E.S.E. of Sheffield, and formed principally in the ruins of the ancient Manor House of Hallamshire. It is in Sheffield township, nearly in the centre of the PARK, which is now enclosed, and contains a populous suburb of the town, on the acclivity rising from the Sheaf; and many scattered farm houses, handsome villas, &c. Near Park Grange, is QUEEN'S TOWER, the castellated mansion of Samuel Roberts, Esq.; and the beautiful grounds of THE FARM, the seat of Michael Ellison, Esq., agent to the Duke of Norfolk. Beyond these is the NEw PARK, which has lately been planted and tastefully laid out in delightful walks, at the expense of His Grace, for the recreation of the public.


Data transcribed from:
Whites Directory of Sheffield 1852
Transcribed by
Colin Hinson ©2003