Women’s Voices

                                                           

“It is impossible for the truly generous mind to understand the small envyings that surround the daily path of an author, particularly a female one.” Mary Hutton, preface to Cottage Tales and Poems. (1836)

Looking through the old newspapers for articles on what happened after the National women’s rights association presented their petition in February 1851, I came upon an event they held , and mentioned there was Mary Hutton who read a poem there. Further investigation on Mary Hutton revealed that in her day she had national recognition for her poetry and has since been described as the first working class female poet.

Mary Hutton was  born Mary Taylor in Wakefield on the  10^th June and Baptised  on the 7^th July 1794. father William Taylor and mother Mary. Those are the  only facts I have been able to confirm re her early life. Mary said she was a twin and her sister was much healthier, but there is no baptismal record to be found for her sister, nor was there any obvious rush to baptise a sickly baby that Mary claimed she was.   Her biography may be true but there are a lot of gaps in that history. Of course, records of the working class in that period were meagre unless someone was apprenticed or ended up in court. There are of course baptismal, marriage and burial records but many church records were stored in damp places and subject to damage. Any real detail didn’t appear to the National census records in 1841 and registration of birth marriage and deaths early in Victoria’s reign.

The biography is that her parents had met while in service to the aristocracy in London and on their marriage had moved to Wakefield. Her father had been a servant to Lord Cathcart, her mother a servant to Lord Howe, an Admiral. Her mother Mary nee Parry was described as a nurse/governess), and catholic. Father’s history is very sketchy as neither his place of birth or what type of servant he was, nor exactly what his occupation was in Wakefield, only that it was something to do with the canal boats. Four of Mary’s brothers joined the navy, not uncommon for boys brought up working the barges, so perhaps her father was a boatman. Which would explain why she may have left details out, as Boatmen had a poor reputation, even if it was based more on prejudice than reality.  Mary’s family suddenly moved back to London leaving Mary a sickly child in Wakefield. It is unknown what age she was then, or who they left her with, or why they left, but she couldn’t have been a small child as she talks of reading the few books in the home and walking the moors.

“Books were my greatest treasures, and all that came my way I read with avidity, but in my father’s house I had but very few, but these I made the most of, the bible I read over and over again, and its rich beautiful and delightful pages.

“I loved to wander alone about the green hills, over looking the romantic heath of my native Wakefield; there ever was to me a holy and sweet tranquillity in the rich glorious verdure of the woods, fields, and meadows, that filled my young heart with the most delightful emotions of peace and pleasure; a sort of heavenly blessedness, which the enthusiast can alone feel.” Cottage tales and poems by Mary Hutton 1842.

 Mary moved to Sheffield. What occupation she followed is not mentioned. Sometime between 1823 and 1830 she met Michael Hutton, a penknife cutler, a widower, and after a short courtship married. She was 35 years old, and he was 60 years old, living with an adult daughter also called Mary. He had an adult son Thomas, also a penknife cutler, living away from home.  Michael had been paying into a benevolent fund all his working life so obviously the hope was a quite secure living with them both supported financially for the rest of their lives.  It was not to be.

Michael became ill and when he put in his claim for assistance the benevolent fund denied his claim.

“Before we applied to the parish for my husband, we had parted with every article we possessed in the world, in the delusive hope that something or other would turn up in our favour; for whilst people possess anything to make a shilling of they cannot absolutely die for want in a land of plenty. To young men, I would say in a warning voice, never trust your money to the precariousness and capriciousness of sick clubs; whilst you are in health and strength your contributions will be always welcome….but when old age and sickness, and infirmities overtake you, no matter how good a member you have been….you will then, under some pretext or another, be thrown out, for impudence, ignorance, and injustice generally prevail: my husband’s case, I am sorry to say, is not a solitary one, I would it were.”

Mary was not well either and frequently had to take to her bed for weeks on end. Must have been especially hard for her stepdaughter trying to earn a living and look after her elderly father and his new wife.

Mary came up with a plan that perhaps she could sell her poetry and approached James Montgomery to see if she could get a book of her poems published by him. He said he would, if she could raise enough subscribers (early form of crowd funding) but Mary didn’t know many people with money to spare. She decided to approach the poet, John Holland, who was of similar age and wrote on some of the same topics and sent him her manuscripts. Holland on reading them went to visit her and soon after opened a subscription list.

 Mary’s first volume of poems entitled “Sheffield Manor and other poems” dedicated to the Countess of Surrey, was published in 1831.   

Mary Hutton was not the only woman to be published, but a working-class woman to earn a living as a poet was unique.  Mary’s sheer volume of work was outstanding especially given her personal circumstances.  Mary has been described as a Chartist Poet, but her collections of poems would seem a strange mix for a revolutionary as her Cottage Tales and poems included an effusive poem on the birth of a Royal baby and mourning the death of the King.

“I have been honoured with the thanks of his Royal Highness Prince Albert, and her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent, twice, for those relative to the Royal Family; and for the lines on the death of the late King, of blessed memory, which appeared in the Sheffield Mercury at the time”.

Yet she also wrote this criticising “our rulers”.

“No more thy humanising influence shed,

Cover no more the poor unshelter’d head,

Though famine rages with infernal stride,

Though cries for bread are heard, both far and wide,

Though young and old, and babes with dying moan,

Implore thy aid—even should all nature groan,

Hear not, sweet maid, the universal cry,

Our rulers say, that half the poor must die.

The population is by far too dense,

So preach our high and mighty men of SENSE;

It must be thinn’d, and how can this be done,

 But starving half the poor beneath the sun? “  

 Possibly inspired by Mary Hutton’s success.  Mary Roberts, daughter of manufacturer and Chartist Samuel Roberts, published a set of poems for charity on the theme of Mary Queen of Scots in 1832 and in 1834, Mary Ann Rawson, an abolitionist, produced an anti-slave anthology of poems by women contributors called The Bow in the Cloud.

In 1832 a year after her book was published Cholera hit the town and 402 inhabitants died including the Master Cutler. Times were hard indeed for the whole town.

 “On the Cholera Pestilence”:-

How vacant now each sorrowing home

How dark is the distress!

For a darkening cloud of sable gloom

Has veiled our happiness.

In 1836 Mary brought out her second collected works The Happy Isle and other poems. The volumes cost three shillings which was a lot for any worker to pay as the average wage was about five shillings a week for a cutler. It is not known how much per book Mary was paid.

The author most sanguinely flatters herself that this, her Second Publication, will meet with patronage from the admirers of rhymes, and a generous public. The volume will comprise original Pieces together with a selection of those which have appeared from time to time in the periodicals of the day.

“No baneful workhouses were there;

The rich were not alone protected;

Nor yet the poor sold and dissected;

No prisons for pale infancy.” The Happy Isle

Mary’s poems were now reaching national prominence with a review in a London Journal.

Mary Hutton is an uneducated female in humble life, but she possesses some estimable qualities,  which neither rank nor education can impart. She possesses a vigorous understanding, a warm heart, and a vivid perception of those latent and abstract qualities of nature which furnish the mental aliment of the poet. There is a tone of enlarged humanity and of gentle piety about her poetics, that invests them with great beauty, and gives promise of better things than she has yet done.

The “Happy Isle” is a satire upon England, written more in sorrow than in sport, and containing many bitter truths, which at once the cause and the consequence of our immorality and impiety. The other poems in the volume present much variety, both of subject and of style. Of the higher qualities of imagination Mary Hutton possesses no very large amount; nor is her versification always happy. But in taste and feeling she is never at fault. She is as free from petty affectations as she is from vulgarities. Poland is a favourite theme with her muse, and the “The Children of Kosciusko.” Awaken her keenest sympathies.  

Poland was a theme she was to return to often, as it was an obsession with Chartists especially in Sheffield, where meetings were held to state their support of an independent Poland and their alarm at Russia’s treatment of Poland.  

In 1839 Mary Hutton Published the poem “The Poor Man’s Wrongs”  It is possibly one of her most powerful poems. Here is a small abstract.

Oh, wondrous age! When those we style humane

Delight to view a fellow-creature’s pain:

Oh, wilful wondrous age, when laws neglect

The helpless beings whom they should protect.

Why am I thus neglected-why thus left

Of every stay-of every hope bereft?

Why must I perish-helpless in the cold?-

Tell. tell!  Ye iron men of godless gold.

Why must I perish? Why! because our laws

Do not maintain an honest Christian’s cause:

Why must I die neglected in the cold?

Cause England’s poor have long been bought and sold!

In 1842 she published her third and last book Cottage tales and poems.  The cost per volume had risen to five shillings.

“I beg to say, which of course is no excuse at all for bad writing, that these compositions, whatever may be their defects, or relative merits, have emanated from the mind when deeply bowed down with sickness and sorrow; amid privations and afflictions to which there seems to be no period.  How I have so far weathered the storm, Heaven and myself alone can tell; it has at times been most terribly hard to endure; the pressure upon the heart, and brain, and mind, and soul, have almost been beyond human endurance.”

 In her book she wrote about the practice of child slave labour:

   …Behold yon child of pains;

   Yon shivering, wretched, helpless child,

   On whom contentment never smil’d;

   Compelled to brave the winter wild,

      And wander through the snow.

Possibly the arrest and imprisonment of the Chartist rebels was preying on her mind amongst other matters . Soon after she published her Cottage Tales Samuel Holberry the Chartist leader of a failed uprising in Sheffield, died in Prison.  The Women Chartists became more vocal.

“Sisters we live in an age distinguished from all preceding times by the intellectual progress of the working classes; the industrious millions have began to think for themselves and have discovered that the great cause of all the evils that effect them is class legislation; a most important sign of the times is the wide-spread contempt with which the working classes now regard the trade of butchery and blood-spilling heretofore dignified with the title of the profession of arms. This augurs well for the future, and affords us a bright and buoyant hope that the time is not far distant when men will refuse to become the hired murderers of their fellow men and when the reign of violence and tyranny will give place to the empire of peace and justice. Sisters, we appeal to you to  help your brethren in their warfare against the despotism of class legislation, that we have equal rights and equal laws  by the establishment of the People’s Charter as the law of the land. In conclusion, we beg of you never to forget our petition, signed by three millions and a half of the starving people, spurned rejected by the proud aristocrats of England.” 

 Signed on behalf of the female Chartists of Sheffield.  Ann Harrison Chairwoman  1842   

 In 1843 her husband was then compelled to apply for help for her due to a bout of deep depression, while he himself was admitted as an in-patient of the Infirmary in the Workhouse. Mary was described as suffering from extreme anxiety which was not surprising as very few people who entered the workhouse infirmary as patients left alive. The workhouse didn’t have provision for Mary and she was sent to the Attercliffe Mad House.   

“The Attercliffe Mad house was an unlicensed place, more like a prison than an asylum, and better calculated to produce insanity than to cure or relieve it. “

“The Attercliffe “Mad House” is a damp place, with low rooms, and two confined courts, and, saving the sky above their heads, and the walls around them, which some have painted with figures in order to while away their tedious hours, the poor lunatics see nothing – the soothing and diverting prospect of nature being shut from their eyes. “

There was between 20 and 30 lunatics crowded together sometimes sleeping two to a bed, the presiding doctor visited about 3 times a week and lived about 2 miles away.  

 A letter to the paper says “There she remained during two weeks of such dreadful sufferings, that had they been longer continued, they must, she says, have precluded all hope of recovery”. Mary was then sent to the Wakefield Asylum, “a change as she states, almost resembling a removal from hell to heaven.   

Provision for pauper patients in Sheffield was poor. The York Asylum opened in 1777 with accommodation for 54 pauper patients. Unfortunately, due to mismanagement it became overcrowded and led to extreme ill-treatment of some patients. It was the unexplained death of a Quaker patient there that prompted William Tuke to open the Retreat of the Society of Friends which had a gentler humane approach resulting in many patients returning home.  

  In 1814 the visiting magistrates of the West Riding of Yorkshire resolved to establish an asylum for the County near Wakefield and Samuel Tuke, grandson of the founder of The Retreat at York,   was invited to provide recommendations for the design of the building.  

Even though by the time Mary was a patient the Asylum had had to be extended several times the contrast alone must have been therapeutic.

The records in the Wakefield Asylum reads  

Fifty-year-old Mary Hutton, a housekeeper from Sheffield, was admitted on 18^th October 1843, suffering from melancholia caused by mental anxiety. Married with one child, she was said to have been insane for three weeks, her first attack. She was considered to be suicidal and was prone to tear her clothes.

Mary was given medication to help with sleeplessness and constipation and by late December was much better and able to be given some work.

23^rd December 1843. Is employed in the Workroom, sewing or knitting. She is recovering rapidly. From what be learned of her past life, and present appearance, she seems to possess a peculiarly sensitive mind. She is highly intelligent for her sphere in life and is an Authoress, but her sensitive nature subjects her to poignant suffering from the privations and hardship of life.

Mary was in the Wakefield Asylum for four months and recovered under the care of a  Dr  Corsellis and his wife.

“You will perceive by this that memory and reason have returned, consequently, the recollection of the bitter past. I should very much like to be at home with you, and my dear Mary; and I think that I am quite well enough to be so. It was only on the fifth of the present month, that I was conscious of the march of time; I fancy that I have been here four or five weeks; at least so I am given to understand. My time must have been very short at Attercliffe; for I know I was at my own home the latter part of last September. I was treated with great cruelty at Attercliffe: too gross and shameful to think of. I have no complaints to make against the authorities here, for I have met with kindness from them. I was dragged from Attercliffe in the pauper’s dress of degradation: all my own clothes were taken from me: I had scarcely anything on to keep me from the cold: I will make no more complaints. I am much obliged to the kind governor of this place, for permission to address you.”

Later in gratitude for her care in Wakefield, Mary wrote a poem in their honour.

                                               TO DR AND MRS CORSELLIS 

                                    To You, ye worthy, noble-minded pair,

                                     Devoted Love and Gratitude I owe,

                                     For your exalted skill and timely care,

                                     Uprais’d me from the lowest depths of woe.

                                    When in a storm of wild convulsions toss’d

                                 My health and strength and blessed reason lost:

                                    And when I scarce could know my depth of pain,

                                    Through the wild whirlings of a fever’d brain;

                                    Angelic tones fell softly on my ear.

                                   And sweetly soothed and bade me banish fear,

                                   And cheer’s my poor desponding soul with love,

                                   And bade me hope and trust in heaven above.

Samuel Roberts and James Montgomery put a plea in the paper :–

“as of 19 January 1844, Mary has “been returned to Sheffield, about three weeks….(and husband and wife) are now living, in a very feeble state, with an only daughter, who has nothing but what she herself can earn to live upon…. Any persons wishing to afford relief, may forward their contribution to either of those whose names appear below, who will take care that all which is in any way contributed, shall be properly applied “

Mary’s remarks were seized upon by concerned doctors who had felt serious disquiet over the use by the Sheffield Board of Guardians of what was an unregistered asylum, which was both poorly staffed and crowded with many patients being there long-term and used as domestic staff. There was also talk of many patients escaping and being found walking along the high street. Also, a patient who was not eating or drinking spent weeks in the Mad House when relatives believed he was going to be sent to Wakefield Asylum.

There followed many critical letters in the papers leading to an inquiry. There was concern that patients that should have been sent to Wakefield were not. Perhaps the real reason for that was the cost which was six shillings a week per patient and using a strictly illegal unregistered Madhouse was thought as a lot cheaper?

In 1845 a new act of parliament was brought in which required lunatic hospitals to be inspected by government officials on a regular basis and lunatics had to be sent to specialised hospitals for treatment. However, no purpose-built asylum was built till 1872 in Sheffield.

In 1846 Michael Hutton died in Green Lane and was buried in St Paul’s churchyard. The church has long since been demolished and all the burials removed to another graveyard as a mass burial. Sheffield’s Peace Gardens now occupy part of the space where St Paul’s once stood.

By 1851 Mary is shown in the census as poetess.   She and her stepdaughter Mary are living together. Her stepdaughter stuffed upholstery for a living. Not easy to know whether she was getting many poems published but she wrote a poem for the women’s political association that year so was obviously still actively writing then. Her name is down as a member of the political association too.  As Chartist protest faded due to electoral reform and the abolition of the enforced high cost of corn, Chartist women in Sheffield regrouped and created a women’s political association. Anne Knight, a well-known Quaker activist encouraged the women to rename it the Women’s Rights Association and used her influence and her experience of public relations to help them successfully to petition parliament.  

                                                                     The Petition

“To the Honorable the Commons of Great Britain and Ireland, in Parliament assembled, the humble petition of the Female inhabitants of the Borough of Sheffield, in the Country of York, in public meeting assembled. 

“SHEWETH,-That we the females of Sheffield do approach your Honourable House will all due respect, to make known our desires and opinions upon a subject which we consider is a right withheld,-but which legitimately belongs to our sex –the enfranchisement of Women. Therefore, we beseech your Honourable House to take into your serious consideration the propriety of enacting an “Electoral Law,” which will include ADULT FEMALES Within its provisions, and your petitions as in duty bound will ever pray.”

Signed on behalf of the meeting.

Mrs Abiah Higginbottom, chairwoman.

“hope deferred maketh the heart sick,” and we have waited too long, cherished that hope too much, until we have found that we must organise independent of our brothers, and fight our own battle; and proud are we to say that our humble appearance on the field, and the few steps we have taken, have proved satisfactory, for the congratulations we continue to receive from various quarters embolden us to go forward in faith until the accomplishment of Universal Suffrage in its full extent is achieved . Abiah Higginbotham February 1851

Also in 1851 some of Mary Hutton’s beloved Polish rebels were rescued from Liverpool before being forcibly repatriated to the US. A chartist committee brought 28 refugees to live in Sheffield.

Some time after Mary was admitted to the Shrewsbury Alms-houses where she died at the age of 64 and was buried on May 8^th 1959 at nearby St john Cemetery, Park. Coincidentally Abiah Higginbotham died the same year.

                                                       Bibliography

Scrimgeour David, 2015, The Proper People, Early Asylum Life in the words of those who were there. Published by Scrimgeour, Prepared and printed by York Publishing Services Ltd 64 Hallfield Road, Layerthorpe, York YO31 7ZQ

Hutton Mary, (1842) Cottage Tales and Poems SHEFFIELD : J. BLURTON, PRINTER, BOTTOM OF KING STREET. MDCCCXLII.  (Available online re Google Library)

Hutton Mary (1839) Written on Seeing a Poor Miserable Sweep, The Dublin Weekly Herald.

Timney Meagan B (2009)   OF FACTORY GIRLS AND SERVING MAIDS: THE LITERARY LABOURS OF WORKING‐CLASS WOMEN IN VICTORIAN BRITAIN   Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Dalhousie University  Halifax, Nova Scotia,  © Copyright by Meagan B. Timney, 2009   

Hutton Mary, (1844, March 23^rd) To Dr. and Mrs. Corsellis, The Leeds Intelligencer.

Kettle Roseanna (2023) Poetry and Industrialism in Liverpool, Sheffield, and Manchester, 1770-1842,  PhD University of York English and Related Literature

The Reviewer (1836) The Happy Isle; and other poems. By Mary Hutton, The General Advertiser and London Journal

Hawksworth JS (1843 Nov 25^th) The Attercliffe Madhouse. Letter to Sheffield Iris.

Nicholson John MD (1843 Nov 21^st) The “Attercliffe Madhouse” To the Editor of the Independent.

Hawksworth JS (1843 Dec 9^th) To Mr. Robert Waterhouse. Sheffield and Rotherham Independent.

Montgomery James, Roberts Samuel (1844 March 9^th) The Case of Mrs Mary Hutton. Sheffield and Rotherham Independent.

Nicholson John MD (1843 Nov 25^th) Correspondence. The Attercliffe “Madhouse” To the Editor of the Sheffield Iris, Sheffield Iris.

Pauper Lunatics, Official Inquiry (1844 Jan 20^th) Sheffield and Rotherham Independents.

The Establishment of the Sheffield Female Political rights Association (1851) The Atlas

Holland John (1831 Jan 22^nd) Editors Preface, Sheffield Manor and Other Poems, The Sheffield Independent.

Newsham William Cartwright (1845) The Poets of Yorkshire, Comprising Sketches of the Lives. London Groombridge and Sons, Paternoster-Row; Sheffield, Ridge and Jackson

Arrival of Polish refugees (1851, 4^th March) Liverpool standard and General Commercial Advertiser

Petition by Women of Sheffield (1851 15^th February) Saint James Chronicle.

Died (May 12^th 1859) death of Mary Hutton, Sheffield Telegraph

Robert Murray Gilchrist and Friend

                                              

I started this research sparked by my friend Local Historian Ann Beedham who was giving a talk on remarkable Sheffielders who have become virtually forgotten.  The research isn’t comprehensive but as it is LGBTQ month, I thought I’d let you have a flavour of it.   

In Holmesfield just outside Sheffield stands Cartledge Hall, once home to Robert Murray Gilchrist, declared by critics “As a ‘rural’ short-story writer he has, in my opinion, no superior among Englishmen.”  Yet there is no blue plaque there. His gravestone in the local churchyard makes no mention of his occupation. However, as my research continued, I think perhaps there should be two plaques there, not just one.

First you are probably asking so who was R M Gilchrist? What most biographies seem to miss out is his family background and his childhood.

 The Murray Gilchrists family started in a small area of Kircudbrightshire when John Gilchrist married Mary Murray.

In 1832 Mary’s brother Peter Murray, a widower, married Jane Stubbs from Doncaster by special licence in Sheffield and settled in Sheffield. The next year he is mentioned as a Tea Merchant in the Trades Index and over the years added draper to the index and became firmly established in Charles Street Sheffield. Sometime between 1841 and 1851 Peter’s sister Mary and her husband John Gilchrist arrived and set up a tea business in Sheffield too. Their son Robert later known as Robert Murray Gilchrist had been born in Kircudbright in 1834. The Murrays and the Gilchrists created a close-knit Scottish community, founding a Robert Burns club and a curling club.  In 1853 Peter Murray was 1 of 18 Sheffielders who got together to create a new Scottish Presbyterian church in Hanover Street.   Robert Murray Gilchrist senior besides his work as a travelling draper was making a name for himself as a popular lay preacher. From 1860 onwards he drew crowds to fundraisers across South Yorkshire and Northern Derbyshire. Unfortunately, newspaper accounts don’t say what he preached or how he preached but his popularity lasted at least twenty years.

In 1860 Robert Murray Gilchrist senior married Isabella Murray his cousin, and in 1861 the Murray Gilchrists had their first child Peter.  Jane was born in 1864, Robert in 1867, Isabella in 1870 and Alexander Keenan in 1874 and died 14 months later, John was born in 1875 and died in 1878. From the age of eight Gilchrist’s experience was of birth and death, and his isolation must have been added to by his eldest brother emigrating to Australia in 1882

The Murray Gilchrist family was different possibly, but not extraordinary. His mother was said to be a published author, though I haven’t found any book titles with her name on it  His two sisters stayed on at school longer than many girls and Jane continued on to take Royal Academy of music exams for the piano to concert pianist level, while Isabella took art lessons at the Art College. The two girls are mentioned entertaining. Isabella singing Mezzo Soprano with Jane on the piano. Jane also gave a musical lecture on the history of music.  Gilchrist was said to be a musician too and coupled with his father’s preaching talents, it could be said to be an artistic family. Gilchrist was apprenticed to a relative’s cutlery firm  run by Edmund Murray Dickenson after he left the Grammar School. Gilchrist was known as a bright boy, always writing, but on face of it he looked destined for a very ordinary life. Everything changed when Gilchrist reached 21. 

When Robert finished his apprenticeship, Gilchrist decided to become a writer fulltime. Here is where my research is a little thin.  In another writer’s autobiography he maintained that Gilchrist started by submitting children’s stories to “Young Folk’s Papers”. The magazine was aimed at older children and young adults and to encourage young unknown writers. It is known that Gilchrist started a correspondence with the Editor William Sharp, but not whether he was published at that time. Sharp, ten years older than  Gilchrist ,was enthusiastic about Gilchrist’s talent and he went on to form a strong friendship with Gilchrist  and Gilchrist’s partner George.

I know Gilchrist did write for children. Many famous writers including Robert Louis Stephenson started in the Young People’s Papers, as the rise in children’s literacy pushed up demand for appropriate reading material. So perhaps he was already being published when he took the momentous decision to give up his work at his cousin’s Cutlery factory and become a writer fulltime and write his first novel?

 1890 would seem to have been a momentous year for Gilchrist, his first novel Passion the Plaything. was published, and he and George Garfitt, who became his life partner, moved to a farm cottage outside Eyam. Garfitt’s sister had married the year before and his mother had given charge of the business to him and his brother Charles.

Highfields Hall Eyam

Gilchrist was only 23 when his first novel Passion and Plaything (1890) was published to mixed reviews. Some praised its ‘hauntingly beautiful prose’ but the Spectator voiced reservations: ‘It is an almost delirious story of passion which in ordinary life would end in hysteria or madness, suicide or murder. The author is not devoid of literary prowess, but altogether this is an unpleasant book containing far too much in the way of sensuous description.’ So, what was to continue for much of his life a strange collection of reviews that loved his attention to detail and descriptiveness but not sure about his sense of the macabre yet drawn to it. Although he is often described as a gothic horror writer or a writer of the weird,  Gilchrist had a unique style difficult to describe exactly.

“ Gilchrist divided opinion – he introduced themes considered controversial and even taboo by much of Victorian society. Gender lines were blurred, traditional roles of hero and heroine reversed, and the rising feminist cause ardently espoused. One of his characters was almost shockingly unthinkable – a female serial killer. Several stories featured same-sex desire” Peter Seddon Great British Life 20^th April 2015

The couple set up home at Highcliffe Nook, near the crest of Sir William Hill (now topped with a tall communications mast), high above Eyam.  The Nook, a lane, runs from Hawkhill Road, up the steep hill to Highcliffe Farm and Highcliffe Hall, from which there is an extensive view. Some of his best novels are centred in Eyam, which he called Milton. Garfitt found a passion there for studying the stone circle and other ancient stones.  

“Eyam Moor has none of the depressing grandeur of the Kinderscout region; its beauty is softer and more ingratiating. A place to walk over in the still hours of a summer’s night, when the grey paths are only faintly visible, and there is no sound save the whirring of the goatsucker’s wings. And at dawn one hears the cold singing of the larks overhead, as they welcome the rising sun, as yet unseen by mortal folk. Of an evening too, in winter, one sees the clouds gathering over the uplands of Middleton Moor, like goblins making their way towards some monstrous ark” The Peak district by RM Gilchrist .

It is generally agreed that Eyam became the inspiration for many of Gilchrist’s stories, often written in the Derbyshire Dialect, as well as being a source of delight to Gilchrist for his love of hiking and the natural beauty of Derbyshire. Not all his stories were in Derbyshire, but were for the most part set in the north of England, such as Cumberland or Lancashire.  

It is likely that the Garfitt and the Murray Gilchrist family were well acquainted. Garfitt’s parents were devout Wesleyan Methodists as was Robert Murray Gilchrist senior. In Heeley where Garfitt and most of the family were born, the family had strong links to the local Methodist Church founded by among others Garfitt’s grandfather. Garfitt’s father Thomas unfortunately died in 1878, and a year later Garfitt’s brother Thomas  died at the age of 19 and his mother took over the running of the company, Thomas Garfitt & Sons.  At 16 Garfitt  became a trainee clerk there.  It was not unusual for wives to take over when their husband died though their name rarely features in the trade directories. The Cross-scythe works, as it was called employed 20 men and six boys and made scythes sickles and knives.  The company also spread across several continents with the firm having permanent representation in Paris. The firm obviously kept its international reputation as two years later under his mother’s control the firm won a gold medal for their wares at the Sydney Exhibition in Australia.

As Garfitt grew older he travelled quite extensively for the business, visiting, for example, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Calais, Paris, and Cork. On these journeys he wrote regularly to Gilchrist. From the Victoria Hotel in Kilkenny in April 1898 he wrote: “I think constantly and tenderly of you and my thoughts always turn to you”, though at the same time he lamented: “It seems an age since I had a letter from you”.  

I have found no physical description of Garfitt. Gilchrist apparently  was a hard man to miss. The novelist and friend, William Kineton Parkes recalled meeting him at Axe Edge, six miles from Buxton, on the way into North Staffordshire, “a great figure in Scottish tweeds came towards me over the moor; striding in knickerbockers, hat in hand, revealing the finest forehead I have ever seen; a lock of auburn hair drawn over it to qualify its wonderful height; the biggest and gentlest man I have ever known”. (The Bookman, May 1917)  

A notebook, with a sermon used as a cover, in the Sheffield Archives gives a glimpse of how he created his stories. It is like a word sketchbook where he would jot down descriptions of a building or a character. Here is his description of the house in Eyam.

The Nook in a November Twilight

Inexpressibly eerie lay the tall highly chevroned house, against the background of gaunt, leafless sycamores and sky of crystal-green-citron. The rippling mumbling of the two springs the only sound; the light in the house-place window the only sign of life. Frozen snow lay thinly on the over- grass-grown road.

In 1892 Gilchrist submitted stories to “The National Observer” which increased his readership and gave him a mentor and gentle critic, the editor, W E Henley. Gilchrist’s story were printed alongside other famous authors such as Yeats, and H G Wells.  Later, fans of Gilchrist’s work would relate how they scanned each edition eagerly searching for Gilchrist’s contribution.

In the same year Gilchrist  also sent a story The Noble Courtesan to Sharp for his magazine the Pagan Review. Sharpe said he thought the woman in the story should be more mysterious and less evil.  The magazine had to be cancelled due to Sharp’s ill health, but Sharpe found Gilchrist’s review of it in The Library and was pleased by it, and, Sharp wrote, he would look to Gilchrist “as one of the younger men of notable talent to give a helping hand”.

In 1893 Gilchrist brought out 4 more stories for the National Observer, and another novel. All this while on a personal level life was getting busier elsewhere, as  Garfitt and his brother Charles took over management of the family firm in 1891, and Garfitt had to go to Paris to represent his company at the Agricultural Fair there. It is suggested by some researchers that about that time Gilchrist was in Paris. Rather than be parted, did he join Garfitt in Paris?  Sharp had suggested Gilchrist and Garfitt visit him at his home that year but instead he visited them in September at Eyam, and they visited him the following year. Gilchrist helped Sharpe find a publisher in Derby who would publish Shape’s books under his pen name Fiona MacLeod which Sharpe wanted to do so as to explore his feminine side. As Sharpe told a friend “Don’t despise me when I say that in some ways, I am more a woman than a man.” Through Sharpe and other literary friends Gilchrist and Garfitt made friend with others who were Gay or were happy to accept them as they were.  

It was in 1894 that Gilchrist produced the book the Stone Dragon which critics agreed was his best work so far, and was a sign of his maturity as a writer.

“The book is sinister, enveloped in gloom — yes, and Decadent (like much fine literature): but it is strong, it has authenticity; the effect sought is the effect won. There is nothing quite like The Stone Dragon in modern English fiction.”

Gilchrist dedicated his book to Garfitt and many experts when they came to review the books in recent times have commented on his short piece “My Friend” prompting them to remark without knowing anything about Gilchrist that he was “possibly homosexual?” But what did his fans and critics think at that time? Being homosexual was not legally acceptable. It was only in 1828 that the death penalty had been removed.  And in the spring of 1895 the most famous or infamous trial of Oscar Wilde exploded into the papers. With his conviction and imprisonment for acts of gross indecency, how must that have impacted on Gilchrist and other Gay writers? Although public attitudes grew suspicious and aggressive to same sex relationships, there is no indication that anyone felt that way locally in Sheffield or Derbyshire. People always spoke warmly of Gilchrist

“Always moderate of habit – the only writer to regularly contribute to the Abstainer’s Advocate the journal of the Temperance Movement – he was a big handsome presence with a stately grace, who had the same word of welcome for both rich and poor. Dazzlingly eccentric and something of a country dandy, he favoured brightly-coloured clothes, and periodically turned up in church wearing a cassock and girdle. We shall remember him as a man of quiet charm, a soft-spoken companion among his pipes and books.’ 

In 1895 the couple came to a new arrangement and together with Gilchrist’s parents and sisters rented the two sections of Cartledge Hall in Holmesfield. The two wings were independent of each other and declared separate households in the 1901 census. Why they left their beloved Eyam is unknown. Perhaps to make things easier for Garfitt’s work, or that Garfitt’s many trips abroad often left Gilchrist feeling isolated and lonely. Whether they joined together for meals or to entertain Gilchrist’s guests is also unknown, but several of Gilchrist’s author friends mention Gilchrist’s mother Possibly it was a suggestion by Edward Carpenter, the socialist poet and Gay activist, who lived in nearby Millthorpe with his longtime partner George Merrill? Merrill was always registered as a servant in census returns. Garfitt was not, as apart from anything, given his high position in Thomas Garfitt & Sons that would have been stretching credulity too far. In 1901 census he is put as a visitor but in 1911 he is put as a boarder. I am unsure what the quiet living couple would make of Edward Carpenter, though pretty sure Merrill with his hard drinking would be difficult for a couple strong on Temperance.  

Cartledge Hall

Another admirer was the writer Hugh Walpole, who was visited by Gilchrist on one of his rare visits to London.   Walpole visited Cartledge Hall several times. “The house was all that the most romantic novelist could desire; its rooms were so low that you must be for ever bending your head, thickly beamed & quite incredibly dark. […]. So dark was the house that we lived for most of the day by candle-light. Gilchrist preferred it that way. Out of doors he would walk mile upon mile with a giant stride and couldn’t have enough of the sun, wind and air; indoors he liked candles and Elizabethan thickness of atmosphere and, if possible, the rain beating on the leaded panes”. “I think that my youth provides no more charming memory than of this big-limbed broad-shouldered man gently reading one of his richly fantastic stories in the candlelight while, beyond the windows, the storm swept the moor and the rain hissed down the chimney.”

In Rue Bargain Gilchrist uses a description of Cartledge Hall.   “A squat, rambling manor at the end of a well- wooded village. The furniture dated from the last century. The rooms were large and low pitched, panelled with unpolished English oak, all diapered in satin veinings; the ceilings were of ornate Elizabethan plaster work”.  

Moving to Cartledge certainly didn’t slow Murray Gilchrist down. He increased his magazine contributions to a wide range of publications but was also often bringing out two books a year. Gilchrist was described as a methodically writer who rarely took time away from his writing.  

Suddenly in 1901 uncharacteristically Gilchrist stopped and no new writing appeared.  Not because he was losing popularity. His latest which came out in 1900 “The Courtesy Dame” was getting rave revues. Both from friends.

“I owe you a letter since-how long? I had a rather not try to calculate. But I know its an inconsumable time, for the thought of it has more than once been with me in the watches of the night.

I read the Courtesy Dame – (this, after all, is what I wanted to say). – ‘with very great pleasure. It has character and atmosphere, and is excellently written. You are going steadily up and up; & tis not without a sense of pride that I watch your ascending. I remember how I backed you long ago, & I rejoice to know I was justified in you, as in so many more.”  1901 W E Henley

And in the Press

The Courtesy Dame

By R. Murray Gilchrist

Literature “It possesses all the sweetness and rusticity of a pastoral, but through it a thousand lights and shades of human passion are seen to play. The story will immediately grip the reader and hold him until he reaches the last chapter.” The Morning Post  – Mr Murray Gilchrist is an artist to the point of his pen, whose story is at once amongst the freshest and sweetest of recent essays in imaginative writing.

A clue to this sudden gap may be that Garfitt’s mother died in the June of 1901.   Gilchrist’s short stories were now syndicated across the country, and beyond, with stories being printed in many   local weekly newspapers. The papers proudly announcing they had the latest Murray Gilchrist story printed in its entirety and their readers would be the first to read it, as if the story had been newly written, which was not always so. Perhaps it was Gilchrist’s popularity with the ordinary people that led some critics to undervalue his work. The writer and critic, Arnold Bennet, had no doubts about Gilchrist’s talents. A book he sent to Gilchrist is inscribed: “To Murray Gilchrist, author of some of the finest short stories in the English language. From one who holds very strong opinions on literary questions, & believes in them with his whole soul. E.A.B.”.

While Gilchrist’s career was definitely in the ascendant, Garfitt’s business was hitting obstacles not of his making. In 1905 unrest and nationwide strikes in Russia meant that one of the companies’ biggest customers, the Russian government was not paying their bills and Garfitt asked the Foreign Office to intervene, but their reply was far from helpful. In 1906 the works caught fire and the majority of the works was gutted. The damage was said to amount to several hundred pounds. The works were insured but it could not have happened at a worse time.

Around 1906 Garfitt decided to buy a car. Gilchrist also wrote a mystery crime novel called the Abbey Mystery in which a car goes up in flames. Whether that was something he saw or from his imagination I doubt we will ever know.  The car enabled them to explore the country more easily.   Gilchrist was commissioned to write some guidebooks. His first was understandably the Peak District.    

 In 1912 Garfitt was elected to the Sheffield Trade of Commerce and in same year joined membership of  the Royal anthropological society.  The Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (RAI) is the world’s longest-established scholarly association dedicated to the furtherance of anthropology (the study of humankind) in its broadest and most inclusive sense. Garfitt also joined the Hunter Archaeological Society in Sheffield, which was formed in 1912, and named after the antiquarian Joseph Hunter, the stated aim of the society was “To…record all antiquities discovered in the progress of public works”, and to collect information in general that “require more thorough examination by systematic scientific investigation”  In 1913 Garfitt is to be found helping fundraise for an exploration of the Templeborough Roman site (Now Magna) He wrote an article in 1914 for Hunter’s Archaeological society called Castle Hill in which he argued that many of the mounds that Norman built their castles on may have been made much earlier. It is one of the few pieces of writing I have found but it  indicates a well-educated man, capable of researching literature and confident enough to make his own assertions. In 1916 he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute, a section of the British

At the same time Gilchrist was visiting places to write his guides, the Dukeries in 1913, Scarborough and Neighbourhood in 1914. He obviously wasn’t impressed with Filey  as he described Filey as ‘rigid and inhospitable, cold virgin to Scarborough’s countess in his notes . Gilchrist was slowing down. His large frame was causing him pain in the shape of what he called his “rheumatism”.

His main obsession became the Belgium refugees, and he spent a lot of time learning about their lives in Belgium and their culture and their love of waffles.  In 1915 he wrote an article for the Sheffield Telegraph “Belgium Guests, some Characters”.  It was said that he had completed a book on Belgium lives and culture, but it doesn’t appear to have ever been published.

He also wrote an article in the Telegraph of a walk to Smeekley wood and beyond, in June 1916. Quite possibly a walk he had often made. There is possibly a wistfulness there in the writing but Gilchrist was often wistful.  

Just before Christmas in 1916 Gilchrist’s father died. For a man who had lived for 82 years his obituary said very little.

In February 1917 Gilchrist’s latest book was released “Honeysuckle Rogue.” It was described as

“ A delightful story, delightfully told. It carries you right into the heart of Rural England, there to become a privileged spectator of a charming romance. A typically English tale, to read it is almost as good as holiday.” The Daily Telegraph February 23^rd 1917

On Sunday 28^th of February 1917 Gilchrist took ill with a chill, and made a bed in the dining room as the bedroom was too cold. Pneumonia set in. By eight pm on the Wednesday, he was dead. The obituaries say he died of a heart attack. The Obituaries were long, and from far and wide. It must have been especially hard for Garfitt with the significance of their long relationship together of nearly 30 years not able to be mentioned. Did people know and choose to ignore it, or did the two sober hardworking sons of Godfearing fathers just not fit with people’s stereotypical view of a Gay couple?  Eden Philpotts , a close literary friend wrote a memorial poem part of which is quoted here, with echoes of a poem by Lord Alfred Douglas, Oscar Wilde’s lover, which had as its last line “The love that dare not speak its name

Work ended and the bells have chimed their perfect  

Chime  

To him the splendour worthy of his pains.  

With death, the shadow of a purple cloud,  

 And love, to speak his living name aloud  

While beauty hand in hand with righteousness still reigns.  

St Swithins Holmesfield

 After the funeral Garfitt went back to Cartledge Hall and carried on his work at the works, and his increasing involvement in archaeology. Gilchrist’s sister gave readings of her brother’s short stories and some obscure local newspapers continued printing Gilchrist’s short stories.  

Gilchrist, in his 27+ years of writing had 30 books published and over 100 short stories plus many non-fictional articles. His work was well known by everybody who read a weekly local paper. His last book went into several reprints in the first few weeks of it being published, so why is he so little known now even locally?

Let us also ask why Garfitt is dismissed by many who have written a Biopic of Gilchrist’s life? Apart from the fact that he was Gilchrist’s support all Gilchrist’s literary career. It was suggested that Garfitt and Gilchrist might have met when both apprentices, which is hardly likely since when Garfitt was junior clerk at the age of 16, Gilchrist was still a pupil at the Grammar School. No one has examined Garfitt’s educational background. He was obviously educated but self-educated or did he gain a scholarship to the Grammar School like Gilchrist?

 In 1919 Garfitt and his brother Charles sold the company which freed Charles to move to the Isle of Wight with his family, and Garfitt to concentrate on his archaeology. For the first time, since Garfitt was 16, he was free of all family obligations.

In 1920 Garfitt returned to his first enthusiasm which developed when he and Gilchrist lived in Eyam and gave a lecture at the Hunter’s Archaeological Society on stones which were thought to have carvings on and his thoughts that the stone circles were of a much earlier date than was currently thought. More recently the carvings he cited on two Eyam stones is now thought to be natural weathering but the latter has turned out to be true. That same year he was a member of the Hunter’s Archaeological Society committee investigating the Templeborough site.

In 1921 a work man blasting for Blue John found an ancient skeleton in a cave near Castleton. Garfitt was excited. It was a place he and Gilchrist knew well.

“Of old the only way of crossing was by the “Winnats”, a romantic pass that starts impressively but soon becomes dull and uninteresting.” The Peak District, R. M. Gilchrist.

Garfitt and Leslie Armstrong were appointed by the British to investigate the site and rock fissures and caves in Derbyshire generally.

In June his brother died and once again he was facing family obligations. Charles left £12,619 15s 10d to his widow and his brother. In 1922 Garfitt married his brother’s widow and moved to the Isle of Wight. Garfitt was 60 years old. He can’t have spent much time there, judging by the work he became involved in back in Sheffield and elsewhere.  

Throughout the years from 1920 – 1926 Garfitt was partnering Leslie Armstrong in investigating the caves near Castleton and the caves at Cresswell Crags.  But in 1924 Garfitt chaired a conference in Toronto on the origin of Copper working. It is his work on this that was to gain the most recognition and praise from his fellow historians.

The idea was to collect copper ore samples from known old copper mine workings in Africa and Egypt and establish their unique structures and compare them with the crystalline structure of ancient artefacts and look for possible common source. For an ex-steel manufacturing owner of an international company this was work Garfitt was especially suited to. He had both expert knowledge and the contacts overseas. 

 In partnership especially with Harold Peake they organized work on early metallurgy based largely on spectroscopic and chemical analysis of minute borings of ancient implements. This work   led to an increased knowledge of early sources of metallic ores, technical processes, and lines of trade. He not only organised ore samples and artefacts for Professor Desch to analyse he even travelled to Mozambique in 1929 to chair a conference there. Peake comments in his Presidential address that the acclaim should be going to others, especially the secretary, Mr G. A. Garfitt, “to whose untiring energy is due the work that has been accomplished.”

 Garfitt continued his involvement both locally, in working with Leslie Armstrong to record the remains and what artefacts were appearing when building commenced on the Sheffield Castle Site in 1929, and coordinating with the investigation of the Kent Caverns near Torquay, as well as all the copper research till the day he died. His obituary in the Daily Independent headlines it as Mr. G. A Garfitt, Well Known Sheffield Business Man Dies. It goes on to say.

“The death has occurred at Ryde, Isle of Wight, of Mr. George Alfred Garfitt, a member of an old Sheffield family and a well-known man in Sheffield.

Mr Garfitt was head of the firm of Thomas Garfitt & Sons, of Highfield, Sheffield, a business which was established in the 18^th century, and up to about 12 years he lived in Sheffield and was a well known figure.

He was a member of the Sheffield Reform Club and took a keen interest in archaeology. He was also a member of the British Association and at one time was chairman of one of the sections of the association.

Although he went to live in the Isle of Wight when he retired, he visited Sheffield from time to time”

No mention of a wife, or his living for 28 year in Cartledge Hall or Robert Murray Gilchrist.

                                                    Further reading

Here are some links to Gilchrist’s writings.

https://archive.org/details/gilchristthestonedragon1894

Short stories and articles can be found by using  https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/ (pay to view but can download several at same time)  

Garfitt has 2 articles that can be found within the Hunter Archaeological Society publications in Sheffield Archives.

Happy New Year?

Another year gone and as usual there were good things and bad things that happened last year and some possibly positive things on the horizon and potentially disastrous things too.

What is obvious is that we still need better connectivity between heritage groups and collective action. Some groups imagine its their postcode that results in their neglect when in reality it is citywide problem. For example two historic park buildings have both been in limbo for what is now years. Millhouses Mill at Millhouses Park and Birley Spa. Then there is Concorde park Cruck Barn and Abbeyfield House. The main problem is a failure in strategic thinking and openness re Sheffield’s publicly owned buildings, and in particular those within the parks. The present problem re the immensely popular Rose Garden Cafe in Graves Park is a particular example. It is obvious that there needs to be some honest and open discussions about our publicly owned buildings, and our historic buildings and Open spaces generally. Burying our heads in the sand while our assets crumble and communities fragment or selling them off to developers instead of using them for what they were intended when they were gifted or bought by the Council is false accounting. Gain temporarily a few thousand pounds, but lose millions by removing the chance of community cohesion, and a happier healthier community. As the poverty bites in our city it is obvious that the lack of vision within the council has left us with one hand tied behind our backs. Buildings lie derelict which could have been community hubs or even tourist destinations. We could be using our heritage buildings to boost our economy as well as our health and wellbeing.

There are over 500 thousand listed buildings in England and Wales. Most are privately owned, with a high proportion used commercially. There are approximately 142 thousand businesses in the towns and city centres alone.

With the rise in energy prices as well as the desire to cut carbon emissions there has been a growth of demand for retro-fitting buildings but there is a serious shortfall in trained evaluators and retro fitters.  When it comes to restoring and retrofitting listed buildings qualified people in commercial sector would seem to be non existent. There is also no advisory body.  No agreed standards.   Heritage England they said there had not been enough research for them to publish guidelines. This places all historic buildings in danger of clumsy damaging retrofitting.   However it could also be seen as having potential for producing sustainable jobs. For example HSBC suggested giving lowcost loans to small businesses who want to be greener. Many of the listed buildings in Sheffield are used by small businesses.

Although Most listed buildings are in private ownership and used commercially,  there are a few in community use. Local Heritage has been proved to be a strong anchor point for the local community.  However the cost of restoration, together with the running costs, make it difficult for the community organisations to keep viable without charging high prices to the groups renting space. We have seen during Covid how important those community hubs have been and continue to be.  What if we suggested to corporations that funding retrofit for community buildings was great way to offset their carbon use? And what if we started the ball rolling by collecting funding from HLF, University research grants, apprenticeship schemes, and sponsorship to restore and retrofit a listed community building as a template? This could work in conjunction with retrofitting training both at a practical level in college with a diploma, or as part of degree course for architects and other courses on making buildings sustainable. It would put Sheffield at the forefront of retro-fitting pre 20th century buildings. We already have had some successful work done re Sheffield Cathedral and Lyceum Theatre. Plant a tree and it takes 10 years growth to make an impact. Retrofit an old building and have immediate drop in energy usage.

What is also happening in communities throughout UK is crowdfunding and charitable grants used to train fitters and fit solar panels across housing estates and using the money from energy produced to train more fitters and other community projects. In a welsh mining village they are installing one of the largest ever wind turbines that will supply the local community with £thousands in revenue annually for next 30 years. We could be doing that too. Sheffield historically has led the way in making the world greener (ironically also was one of the dirtiest). Sheffield created the first National Park, was the first to instigate Greenbelt policies and smokeless zones, had the earliest allotments, and has the largest number of ancient woodlands. Thousands of Sheffielders are in conservation and heritage groups. There is the will there and the expertise.

Sheffield schools are some of the lowest funded schools in the UK and although achievement has risen a lot in last few years there is much more to be done. Using Sheffield’s Green Spaces and heritage can help boost children’s achievements as studying outdoors has been proved to do that, as well as improve health of an area, as children who have spent fun time outside walking the local woods also drag the family out at weekends. Another area that improves pupils performance is music and with so many historic brass bands in the area we have yet another tool already there that we aren’t using.

If we are to level up or form a Northern Powerhouse, we need to stop wasting our assets, both the buildings and green spaces, and prevent the selling, neglect and destruction of them. They are not SCC’s to do with as they see fit, they are our properties. They belong to all of us. Green policies suggest that communities should be what they call 15 minute communities. That is, most of the things they need to access is within 15 minutes walk or cycle. Sheffield is a collection of distinct communities in the main and using historical buildings to bring those communities together makes not only sense from health and wellbeing point of view but also from a green environmental point of view.

Over the years there has been a strong move to collective action with organisations like the Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust, the Green Spaces Forum, the Cultural Consortium and Joined up Heritage. There are gaps both geographically and demographically. If you do nothing else please join an organisation and make your voice heard and if you are part of an organisation make sure your organisation and events are on the Joined Up Heritage website. https://www.joinedupheritagesheffield.org.uk/

The Last Spa

 “We have evoked a great deal of laughter at one time or another by referring to give possibilities of Sheffield being a health resort. But we were not so far out after all. Apparently if it had not become a great steel centre, it might have evolved along the lines of Harrogate or Leamington.” ₁

I doubt anyone would ever have thought of Sheffield as a spa town with any real enthusiasm. In 1800, King George III was reputed to have said “Damn’d bad place, Sheffield!” But it is true that within Sheffield and surrounding areas there were many mineral springs, wells and spas, some articles suggesting that they were in use for their healing properties even before the Roman occupation.

The main Celtic tribe in the area was the Brigantes who worshipped Brigantia the goddess of springs, streams and rivers.  It is tempting to believe that there may have been many springs sacred to the Brigantes in the Sheffield area during and before the Roman occupation. ^{2 3}

With the conversion to Christianity, it was said that the church tried to stop the Pagan worship of the springs and wells, but eventually came to a compromise and gave them saints’names.   In Sheffield there was St. Quentin’s Well  Bradway, St. James’s Well  Midhopestones, St. John’s Well, Beauchief Abbey, St. Ann’s Well, Smithy Wood, Woodseats, St. Anthony’s Well Crookes,  St. Ann’s Well, Redmires. and St. Matthews Well Tofts,( also known as Matty’s Well)  Rivelin Valley, and possibly Lady’s well in Grimesthorpe. ⁴

This Folklore is romantic but evidence that most wells go back to medieval , let alone went back to Roman or Celtic times is non-existent.

“Natural healing powers associated with the well waters became attributed to God and the saints, and pilgrims travelled long distances to be cured by the ‘sacred’ waters.  In the 16^th Century, following the Reformation, the saints were forgotten; but the medicinal reputation of the waters lived on and sites achieved new distinction as spas and perhaps more recently as hydropathic establishments.  This story sounds entirely reasonable.  But it is largely myth.” ⁵

Many were only given their saintly attribution in the 18^th or even 19^th century. It is likely that the wells at Beauchief Abbey and at Midhopestones are genuinely holy wells but clear evidence is sparse. Other wells and springs were given less saintly names. For example there were   Dragon’s Well at Bolsterstone and another so named at Wharncliffe; Fulwood Spa;  Sparken well or old wife’s well at Totley,  Sparken being old Norse name, Dead Man’s well at Totley;  Robin Hood’s Well, Bullstone Springs, Lord Edward Howard’s Spring and Lord Surrey’s Spring all on Howden Moor;  Wild Well in Norton Woodseats;  Carper Well in Ecclesfield, Brunsten Croft Spring on Broomhead Moor; Tommy Raw-head Well  Hackenthorpe,  Birley Spa, and a spa with no name in Cuthbert Bank Road Owlerton said to have been rediscovered in the 1860s, and a well mentioned in Sheffield Cathedral grounds,  but none would seem to have a clear documented history. ⁶

The Roman Spas such as Bath and Buxton had fallen into disrepair by the time of the Norman conquest.  Yet through the determination of John Villula, the Bishop of Bath and Wells, the baths were rebuilt in 1088 following the specifications of Roman temple precinct. Medieval history text Gesta Stephani noted how in 1138, “from all over England sick people come to wash away their infirmities in the healing waters, and the healthy gaze at the remarkable bubbling up of the hot springs.” ⁷

Beyond the City of Bath, ‘taking to the waters’ was met with fierce opposition from government and royal officials. Medieval church officials saw public bathing as a sinful practise.  Nevertheless, many monasteries saw the springs, wells and spas as useful for their treatment of the sick and disabled. ⁸

Generally the monasteries and the churches were the only support for the poor when, ill, disabled elderly or left widowed. In Dronfield in Derbyshire the Guild of the blessed Virgin Mary, founded in 1349, set up an early health insurance scheme up to care for the poor and sick. Yearly contributions and bequests of land made it an extremely wealthy guild. Bequests of land to provide income to look after the poor and sick were not unusual. What was unusual was the contributory payments made by members of the guild which amounted to a very early sickness and death insurance. ⁹

The folklorist, Jeremy Harte, has listed about 900 wells in England (excluding Cornwall) of likely medieval origin, which equates to a density of five wells per 250 square miles.  The density in Cornwall is much greater, at 18 per 250 square miles. In Yorkshire West Riding the density was 7.5 per 250 square miles. ¹⁰

The dissolution of the monasteries and the guilds meant the loss of medical assistance and insurance for the poor and they were delivered an extra blow by the dismantling of wells and closure of spas by Henry Vlll. In 1537, King Henry VIII proclaimed that anyone found relaxing in the waters of a public spa or hot springs would be apprehended and dragged, forthwith, to the Tower of London to be tortured. ¹¹

The existence of so many designated holy wells became problematic when Henry the VIII split with the Roman Catholic Church in 1534. He feared the holy wells would be gathering places for Catholic dissidents and prohibited their use. The Roman Baths at Bath had an Abbey built over them at that time.  Some major wells were dismantled, but most rural holy wells were small and unobtrusive and survived unscathed.  Despite persecution, many laymen retained their faith in holy wells, which were often the scene of social gatherings in summer months.   This, however, left many of the poor without the use of many of the springs and spas or the services of the monks and nuns who had tended the sick there. ¹²

The Suppression of the Monasteries Act was passed in 1539 and allowed for the dissolution of larger and wealthier monasteries or religious houses. The dissolution of the monasteries had an impact on the network of hospitals, leper houses and alms-houses that had developed around religious institutions. Hospitals were closed, and those who lived in alms-houses were forced out. The Guild of the Blessed Virgin Mary was closed down and their assets seized.  The home of the monks that ran it is now a pub called the Green Dragon.  Dole land (a source of income for care of the poor and sick) that belonged to churches and monasteries was also seized.   The people of Sheffield of Sheffield appealed for the return of the land and the revenue from it. This led to the foundation of the Town Burghers who were given oversight of the land and is still in existence as the Town Trust.¹³ As the hospitals and alms-houses closed, those who lived in them were forced out. The King’s attention was now drawn to ‘those miserable creatures which do now daylye dy in the streets for lack of their due porsion’.  ¹⁴

The other result of the closure of the wells was that the Catholic dissidents then went to European Spas “for their health” which although for some there was a genuine need, for others it was a meeting place for those who wanted to make England Catholic again. ¹⁵ The poor still kept attending the more isolated and less well-known Spas. 

 In 1536 John Blythe, an ordained priest, son of Richard Blythe of Norton, (now Sheffield previously Derbyshire) was appointed Regius professor of medicine at Cambridge University. ¹⁶ This was a ground-breaking post as never before had there been either a department of medicine or a professor of it. John was awarded a salary of £40 per annum for this post. In chancery John is seen as suing the estate of the late Bishop Geoffrey Blythe for money promised for John’s studies in Padua which is where he got most of his medical training. ¹⁷

John Blythe’s association with church and medicine was not unusual, bearing in mind that for most people medical care came through the monasteries.  John Blythe was however also at the beginning of a separate secular standardised system of teaching for medical practitioners.   

  By the middle of the 16th century there were, in broad terms, a few physicians (mostly with a degree from Oxford or Cambridge) who diagnosed internal problems; barbers who conducted minor surgery such as bloodletting and drawing teeth, surgeons who carried out major surgery in the presence of a physician (both barbers and surgeons had generally been apprenticed), and apothecaries (also apprenticed) who sold drugs and sometimes treated patients. There was much overlap and frequent disputes between the various bodies: when physicians petitioned parliament to ask that nobody without appropriate qualifications be allowed.  The earliest reference to medical regulation in the England dates from 1421 to practise medicine. The doctors said that unqualified practitioners caused “great harm and slaughter of many men”. ¹⁸

The best doctors were too expensive for the poor to employ, and many would not attend cases of typhoid or the plague. Homemade potions and cures were often the only medicines available. Also doctors and apothecaries were few, and the dissolution of the monasteries left many communities without care for their sick.  It was the duty of an Elizabethan or Stuart housewife to ensure that such medicinal recipes were available to her family.

 Many herbal medicines are recognizable as similar medicines today especially cough medicines. It seems on reading many books, that the day-to-day medicines for minor ailments were probably quite workable. However, the harder to treat and incurable diseases resulted in the bizarre and potentially lethal.

Gout – apply to the affected foot a mixture made out of worms, pigs’ marrow, herbs all boiled together with a red-haired dog.

 Curing a girl whose arm wouldn’t stop bleeding after having a nail in her arm.  Apply pig manure on it.

Cure of shingles, blood of a black cat’s tail with juice of houseleek and cream, and anointing warm three times a day

Rheumatism was treated by the patient being made to wear the skin of a donkey. 

Bleeding at the nose stopped by frogs-A Young Man, the Son of a Yeoman living near Gaddesden, bled so violently at the nose, that all applications proved in vain, till frogs were made use of; and then, by their being bound to his neck, their cold nature entirely stopped it.

 Deafness – mix the gall of a hare with grease from a fox. Warm the resulting concoction and place it in the ear.

A cure for the bite by a mad dog the person must plunge himself over head and heels in a pond for a month and every other day for a fortnight after.

A gentlewoman having a swollen infected hand put her finger into a cat’s ear, and within two hours was delivered of her pain; but the Cat was so pained, that two men could hardly hold her.

Cure for Whooping Cough, skin a field mouse and make into small pie to eat, the warm skin being bound hair side to the throat and kept there for nine days.  ²⁰

You can see why many would prefer the spa treatment to such outlandish cures. But how did the belief in healing waters come about?

“The healing properties of most mineral springs were discovered accidentally by local inhabitants who had received some benefit attributed to their use, and it was easy to believe that those who could speak from experience knew the powers of the waters better than the physician himself, however learned. Older springs still retained their traditional Christian connexions as Holy Wells, whilst their chemical contents, as of those more recently discovered, were unknown.” ²¹

Throughout Europe wells and spas that had at one time been holy sites of pilgrimage, many associated with healing, were adapted by Protestant reformers to fit their new model of faith.  In Denmark, for example, belief in holy springs was initially abolished by royal decree in 1570, but when this was clearly ignored, they turned instead to emphasising that the healing power of the springs was due to the grace of God, not due to some saint or other force inherent in the spring.    

In England a Protestant doctor, William Turner, ²² a graduate from Cambridge, became physician to Edward’s V[‘s uncle, the Protector Somerset.  Somerset had control of many of the previously episcopal estates of Wells and Bath and replaced the Dean of Wells with Turner so he had control of the Bath Spas. The Spa at Bath had been a great source of revenue and local employment and Turner was keen to reinstate them. However due to the politics of the time Turner had to spend time in Europe and he used that time to study German and Italian spas. With the coronation of  a Protestant Monarch, Elizabeth, Turner returned to England.  

 In 1560 Dr Turner published the first work on English mineral waters. Deploring the sorry state of Bath and Buxton, he exhorted his fellow-countrymen to a better use of their natural resources.  Turner’s approach was a more scientific approach to the spas by the use of observation and analysis. He pushed for resident medical advice always being available at the spas. This meant that the poor who were treated there, as well as the rich, had access to medical advice. As a Protestant, Turner had several reasons for wanting the spas reopened other than financial ones.

There was the political reason for re-opening and promoting the English spas. ²³ The spas in Europe were a gathering place both of English Catholic dissidents determined to overthrow Elizabeth and put Mary Queen of Scots on the throne, and Protestants who felt Elizabeth did not go far enough. Her government attempted to restrict people going to Europe by supplying passes only for those who had taken an oath to the Queen. Obviously if there were spas in England to the same standard as the continental ones and which had a strong record of effective cures there would be no reason to travel abroad for cures.

In 1569 the Earl of Pembroke’s second wife Catherine, daughter of George Talbot, 6^th Earl of Shrewsbury, had a fatal illness. As a measure of desperation in 1575 Pembroke took her off to try the healing waters  of spa, then known as Spaw, now in Belgium, from where he wrote to the queen and Lord Burghley; but the countess died that year.   As a memorial to his daughter Talbot worked hard to improve facilities for the treatment of the sick and disabled at the spa at Buxton.  The Earl of Shrewsbury built Buxton Hall in 1572 to enable he and his family to “take the waters”. The hall was situated over a natural thermal spring.  ²⁴

 Elizabeth l revived the use of the spas after a visit to Bath in 1574. She said that the public must have access to the springs, and allowed people to drink and bathe in the waters, providing no miraculous element was involved.  Cures no longer relied on the blessings or actions of some saint, which were incapable of analysis, but on some property of the water itself. 

This led to the growth of ‘spas’ (named for the town of Spa in present day Belgium, where people could both drink and bathe in medicinal waters).  Spa wells were nearly all new foundations and were rarely ‘reincarnated’ holy wells.  This is because the feature of holy wells was their pure and wholesome water, whereas spa waters were generally characterised by their distinctive (and generally unpleasant) taste, derived from high concentrations of dissolved minerals.  There were exceptions: St Anne’s Well in Buxton made the transition from holy well to spa because of its thermal properties. ²⁵

 In Buxton Shrewsbury was having to increase lodgings for the nobility to visit. Buxton’s most famous visitor was Mary Queen of Scots, who was in Talbot’s custody for 14 years in Sheffield Castle and his Manor Lodge in Sheffield. Her repeated requests to visit the Buxton Baths to treat her severe rheumatism brought about her confinement in the cold damp Sheffield Castle was both embarrassing for English Government and concerning, as they feared Mary would get the chance to plot with the nobility who visited there. Apart from Shrewsbury’s interest, a gentleman of her household, Robert Tunstead, was a native of Buxton. Elizabeth allowed Mary to go there in August 1573 since Shrewsbury guaranteed her security. After a stay of five weeks, she longed to make return visits and went altogether nine times. In 1576 she wrote to Elizabeth of the improvement of her health.  Shrewsbury again reassured the government about security in 1580 saying the beggars now wanted her gone so that they could be allowed to return to the town. In 1584 Mary was to have her ninth and last visit to Buxton.  Buxton was so popular with the nobility they often had to double up in the fairly small Shrewsbury’s home. The patronage of Mary and Shrewsbury made Buxton a social magnet for the nobility, and it was a profitable investment for Shrewsbury who supplied both lodgings and food. One estimate was he was making between £3,000 and £4,000 annually but the Earl of Leicester thought that was probably too high an estimate. Elizabeth herself never visited Buxton though she did request a supply of Buxton water to be sent to her.

The government had become alarmed about who was gathering at Buxton Well.  They were concerned about the visits of Derham, a priest from Norwich in 1578 and about the activity at Buxton during the Babington plot for Anthony Babington of Derbyshire had a house at Dethwick near Matlock. Sir Thomas Gerrard and others there planned to free Mary Queen of Scots, and a general meeting of priests was arranged at Buxton. In 1593, a rebel priest, Francis Ridcall, fled to Buxton to meet Sir Robert Dorner and other papists, but he didn’t stay long and hid in a wood. Mary Queen’s execution in 1587 and Shrewsbury’s death in 1590 shifted political attention from the North and Buxton lapsed in importance.   

 The belief in the healing waters of the local mineral springs in Sheffield had always remained strong.  It’s difficult to know how many local Spas were still in use and which had been discovered after 1700. We know of one in Fulwood deemed to be “cold beyond any other” by Dr Short in 1734. The Historian Joseph Hunter suggested that many had used the spring to ward off the plague in 1665 and a constable was paid to keep people away. It is understandable why so many looked for cures from the springs and spas when you read Samuel Pepys’ words in his diary.

“6th October 1665: But Lord, how empty the streets are, and melancholy, so many poor sick people in the streets, full of sores, and so many sad stories overheard as I walk, everybody talking of this dead, and that man sick, and so many in this place, and so many in that. And they tell me that in Westminster there is never a physician, and but one apothecary left, all being dead – but that there are great hopes of a great decrease this week. God send it.” ²⁶

 Queen Mary Henrietta was said to be cured of her infertility in the Chalybeate Spring in 1629. Her son, and the English Court, often made the 50-mile trip from London to Tunbridge Wells, fondly known as the ‘courtiers’ spa. Its Chalybeate Spring (name derived from the Latin word for ‘steel’) containing a particularly high iron content. Charles II visited the town in 1663 and 1664 with the same hope of his Queen Catherine conceiving his long-awaited heir. So the spas were still fashionable by the time the Plague hit. ²⁴

In 1696 the warm waters flowing from the hillsides near Cromford were commercialised by Rev. Fern of Matlock, (Now husband to the widow of William Blythe of Norton Lees  ) and Mr Hayward of Cromford. The first bath, made of wood and lined with lead, was fed water from a thermal spring with a constant temperature of 68 deg F. The purpose being hopefully to bring investment and tourism to Matlock.  In 1698 the Bath and rights were sold to Messrs Smith and Pennell of Nottingham. The area became known as Matlock Bath. ²⁸

In the early 18^th century Birley Spring near Handsworth was open to bathers in a fairly rudimentary fashion. Fulwood Spring was covered over giving the bather some protection from the elements and some privacy.

The growth of the medical profession as a whole, and its increased status, assisted the proliferation of the spas. The eighteenth century has been called ‘the great age of the apothecaries’: in 1703 their standing was enhanced when the House of Lords ruled that their function was not only to compound and dispense but also to direct and order the remedy for disease. Apothecaries previously only supplied drugs to doctors, rather than prescribed medicines themselves. They trained through apprenticeships and, from the 1500s, some studied at university too The growth of the medical profession as a whole, and its increased status, assisted the proliferation of the spas. The eighteenth century has been called ‘the great age of the apothecaries’ ; in 1703 their standing was enhanced when the House of Lords ruled that their function was not only to compound and dispense but also to direct and order the remedy for disease. Now the local apothecary could join the physician, and prescribe bathing at a local spa.

The urban spas which emerged as Bath’s rivals in the eighteenth century were one aspect of the contemporary spa mania; there was also a plethora of new minor spas as accumulation of capital from agricultural, commercial and, later, industrial profits gave surpluses not only for more travel but for investment in spa projects.  The landowning classes not only founded the spas but with the middle and professional classes, especially the clergy and medical men, were the consumers of their health and entertainment services. But although the pacemakers in both the promotion and patronage of spas were the leisured people, the taking of mineral waters for health reasons was not their monopoly, for the poor were frequently provided for.  

It was said that there were over three hundred villages and towns that might be called a spa or spaw for having a spring of mineral water.  Such springs and wells were present throughout England, but not all were developed into spa towns.

 Thomas Short, after graduating in medicine in Edinburgh, settled in a practice at Sheffield.  He made several journeys to visit the mineral springs of Yorkshire and of other parts of England. He published in 1725 ‘A Rational Discourse on the Inward Uses of Water’ ²⁸ and in 1740, Short listed 228 mineral wells in his history of Mineral Waters, but only a few of them blossomed into health resorts.  He only listed 2 in great detail in Sheffield, and two others in Darnall and the Ponds area in Sheffield he named as poor; none were known as Holy wells.   Many only attracted a local clientele and their fame did not stretch beyond the limits of the county. Among the wells which became spas, many never reached what geographers call ‘urban status’.  Dr. Short was a methodical man with an enthusiasm for water, especially mineral water. He not only listed as many mineral springs and spas as he could, he tried to ascertain by rudimentary chemistry what minerals the waters contained and what diseases they might be best at treating.

  Most of the available tests were qualitative, lacking precision, even though the need for improved accuracy had been recognized. The importance of careful observations was regarded as paramount, although these were mainly concerned with the colour, taste, and smell of the water, together with its effects on galls and a few other vegetable extracts. Acidity was often recognized by testing the water for its power of curdling milk as well as its reactions with oil of tartar and other alkaline substances.  Mineral waters were frequently found to deposit an earthy sediment, or ochre, on standing -a fact which was taken as a clear indication that some continuing chemical process was involved. 

Short also gathered statistics from a number of areas to make comparisons on life expectancy depending on the geology of the area and chemical composition of the drinking water. ³¹

 William Buchan took up a practice in Sheffield from 1761 until 1766. Yet another Scottish graduate who was welcomed in Sheffield.  When Buchan returned to Edinburgh, he published his famous work Domestic Medicine.³² The first edition sold for only six shillings and was a great success. Domestic Medicine went on to sell over 80,000 copies, and 19 editions were printed, translated into almost every major European language.  In it he addressed new health areas such as industrial diseases. The writing of Domestic Medicine took place near the start of the Industrial Revolution and was welcomed by the industrial workers. Generally, these industrial diseases and cures suffered from second hand observation rather than more stringent clinical observation; however, their promise of better health garnered general support.

Buchan did just use spa water therapy but also used other forms of therapy using water. The type of bathing prescribed depended on the nature of the condition and how advanced it was.  It could take the form of: full body bathing, head bathing, leg bathing, or feet bathing. It could also be either fresh water bathing or sea water bathing. It could be hot, cold, warm or tepid bathing.  Or, indeed, cold water injections (i.e. enemas).  There was also steam bathing, spray bathing, bandage bathing and mud bathing.  And it could be shower bathing or seated bathing or, as one prescription is described, ‘Cold Bath of Pails of Water thrown upon me from Head to foot’

Uniquely, it is possible to access the treatments that Buchan prescribed for his patients online.    at http://www.cullenproject.ac.uk/(link is external))

The spas were still popular in the late 18^th century.  Buxton had remained unchanged till the 18^th century when the 5^th Duke of Devonshire started spending money on it, beginning with the building of the crescent which included the grand ballroom and assembly room. Building was completed in 1788. 

With the growth in size and wealth of Sheffield , in 1789 subscriptions amounting to £15,000 were collected  to build an infirmary for Sheffield and hospital was opened on the 4^th  October 1797. The main entrance featured two niched statues of ‘Hope’ and ‘Charity’  A biblical inscription above the door read; ” I was sick and ye visited me, verily in as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of my brethren, ye have done it unto me” ³³

With accommodation for around 100 in-patients, its senior staff comprised three physicians, three surgeons, and a Matron.  Medical provision was becoming a reality for many not just the wealthy. 

“Of all the virtues which form our national character, that of mercy and compassion may be justly esteemed the highest ornament.” Dr. William Younge 1789 Sheffield. 

  At the time of the foundation of the hospital, medical education was largely based on apprenticeships. The apothecaries, who then did much of the family practice in the country, were required to serve for five years as indentured trained as apprentices and also surgeon’s “mates” in the army.  Physicians too, frequently had short periods of apprenticeship, but to them it was of much less importance than the other two branches. The would-be physician had first to graduate in the arts and become proficient enough in classical scholarship to read Galen and write a commentary in Latin as a thesis for his medical degree. It is true that the regulations of the ancient universities called for something more than this. In one a candidate was required to attend the lectures of a regius professor of medicine during three terms, to witness two dissections of the human body, and to “keep an act” – that is, to make a dissertation before his teachers and defend it. But early in the nineteenth century official inquiry established that, though many doctorates of medicine had been conferred on members of this university, no regius professor had lectured for more than a hundred years. ³⁴

 The first incidence of cholera in England occurred in Sunderland in October 1831 when a ship, carrying sailors who had the disease, docked at the port.  The ship was allowed to dock because the port authorities objected to, and therefore ignored, instructions from the government to quarantine all ships coming from the Baltic states. From Sunderland, the disease soon spread.

From its point of origin in Bengal it took five years to cross Europe, so that by the time it reached the UK, doctors were well aware of what cholera did but they neither knew how to prevent the or spread of cholera or how to treat cholera patients. There were two medical theories related to the spread of disease in the 1830s. One was that disease was transmitted by touch (contagion) so doctors wanted to isolate patients. The other theory was the miasmic theory, which taught that disease was spread by bad smells, bad air or ‘poisonous miasma’. There were plenty of bad smells in Sheffield. In November 1831 cholera broke out in Sheffield with the death of a woman and a middle-aged man. ³⁵

  Orders were issued for the lime-washing of houses to try to clean them up. Barrels of tar and vinegar were burned in the streets to try to remove the bad smells. None of these efforts had any effect whatsoever. Many authorities, since the disease hit the poor first and hardest due to their cramped lifestyle, blamed the poor for their sinful lifestyle, such as drinking, families sharing beds and other immoral “habits”   

As soon as it was obvious that cholera had struck Sheffield, the police, in what is now the old Town hall, were mobilised to supervise the quarantine of patients, the removal and burial of bodies to be buried at night and as the disease progressed the closure of all graveyards to burial of the cholera Victims and instead bury them all together rich or poor in Park Woods where the Cholera Monument still stands.  402 people had died in that first outbreak. There were to be 3 further outbreaks in 1848-49, 1853-54, and 1865-66. At the end of the Cholera outbreaks 1,345 people had died from the disease. 

The first epidemic killed over four hundred people, mainly in the slum districts on the banks of the rivers Don and Sheaf. The local authorities attempted to thwart the disease by hastily implementing sanitary and medical preventive measures. As was the case elsewhere, these measures were resented by the poor. 

The first public baths in the city were opened in 1836 in Glossop Road, following the cholera epidemic of 1832.  At the time the theory was that the disease was spread through the poor’s lack of hygiene. The problem with that was when the next outbreak of cholera hit the well-meaning health committee actually spread the cholera by using the contaminated river water to clean areas. 37

The erection of baths and wash-houses was aided by the Public Baths and Wash houses Acts of 1846 and 1847.  These acts enabled parishes and town councils to build public facilities, meeting the construction cost out of the Poor Rates, and repaying this within a fixed term. The 1846 Bill was introduced by Sir George Grey, but the main case for the Bill was made in the House of Lords by the Bishop of London.  He made several statements about cleanliness, arguing that the ‘subject nearly concerned the moral as well as physical welfare of the humbler classes of population’, and suggesting ‘that overcrowding and want of cleanliness caused an aggravation of the general type of disease in the metropolis’ He also presented petitions, from the Committee for Promoting the Establishment of Baths and Wash-houses for the Labouring Classes ³⁶

Sheffield Town Council had already appointed a Health Committee in 1846, and passed a bye law in 1847 to tighten public health regulations and in 1848 commissioned its own sanitary survey of the town.  

Cholera is a bacterial infection caused by contaminated water or food. In London in 1854 Dr. John Snow conducted pioneering investigations in Soho looking at the spread of the disease there and managed to isolate the cause to one street water pump which he proved was true by simply taking away access to the water from the pump by removing the handle. Snow had suspected this for some time before he managed to prove it. Even a hundred years earier, Short had written that not all water was safe.

 “That water we generally repute best for drinking or dressing Victuals, which is clear, light, insipid: The lighter it is so much less Salts or mineral particles are in it; therefore Rain Water having few eft of these should be wholesomest ; but being full of volatile Particles , it presently stinks and becomes nauseous ; therefore that is to be preferred which comes through Chalk or Limestone , light Gravel , or fine Sand . River Water is next, but liable to the fame Inconveniencies of Repletion with earthy vegetable or mineral Salts, which it washes in its Course. Well – Water is bad, but Pond Water worst of all, being only Rain Water, stuffed with hurtful Parts, taken from that Earth where it stands, without Motion, and is very apt to purify.” ³⁰

In 1841 A.B. Granville published The Spas of England. This fashionable London physician mentioned 70 resorts including sea-bathing places. This figure indicates the decline of inland spas when compared to the 228 springs mentioned by Thomas Short a century earlier, while it shows at the same time the growing importance of seaside towns, soon to be increased with the development of the railways. ³⁸

John Smedley was a local hosiery manufacturer who made a recovery from typhus at the age of forty-three at the newly-opened Ben Rhydding Hydro near Ilkley.  He felt he owed his life to an innovative form of water-cure, hydropathy, a system of baths, compresses and treatments in mineral-free water to expel morbid impurities from the body through “putrescent excrescences”. ³⁹

In 1853 he bought a small private medical establishment serving six patients and developed it into the huge Smedley’s Hydro on Matlock Bank.  it was Smedley whose conviction and enterprise established Hydrotherapy firmly in Matlock, and for a century made it one of the most celebrated centres of the “water cure”. 

“I took a few men, upon whom to try the Hydropathic remedies, which proved successful; and many more making application, I made a place for the free board, lodging and baths to a certain number of males and females: and hundreds since have found restoration to health and body, and peace of mind, through the renewal of the Spirit … we made our house a free hospital, until we found we could not afford room enough. I then bought a small house at Matlock Bank for six patients, board, lodgings and treatments at 3s. per day. Soon again we had to refuse applicants”.

                                                   The People’s Spa

Birley Spa was actually in Derbyshire till 1967 but its links to nearby Sheffield were always strong long before the border was changed. The early history of Birley Spa at present has no clear documentary evidence before the 18^th century though many people maintained it had been used for centuries and although the present Bath House was built in 1843 there are accounts of bathing before that date at least back to 1700s. One of the problems with Birley is that the records of the area are scattered amongst several archives but also that the spelling varies and the address changes to as to whether linked to Beighton or Hackenthorpe, Derbyshire or Sheffield.

 Platts ⁴⁰ mentions in his publication on Birley Spa that a headstone was found in the grounds bearing a date of 1701. A report claims that it was built by a Quaker man named either Robert or William Sutcliffe and there is evidence of a Robert Sutcliffe living in 1786. The same report states the building was made of stone and was almost square. The interior of the building featured a bath filled with very cold, clear water fed by an underground natural spring. There were rings around the sides of the bath so that people could take hold, and an area for people to dress and undress. Although at first permission was required to bathe, in later years anyone could attend. A bolt was fixed to the inside of the door so that intruders could not enter when occupied. This earlier iteration of the bath was in order in 1793 and later a large hollow filled with large stones was all that remained of this site.

In 1841 Mr James Newton and Mrs Smilter-Lowe returned from the Isle of Man. They had been there for health reasons but felt no better. A physician suggested to them that the waters of Birley Spa could help. However, when they went to the spa it was in ruins. They set about collecting public donations to restore the spa, and employing people to rebuild the walls and make the basin water-tight. It turned out to be more expensive than they had thought and several years on, one of the workers took them to court for non-payment. ⁴¹ However, the spa itself was attracting interest now it was back in use. 

 Charles Herbert, second Earl Manvers, who owned the land, and who also had the undeveloped Orston Spa on his Nottinghamshire estate  and the Kingston Rooms at Bath, assembled for Birley a committee of four, including Thomas Staniforth, the largest manufacturer of sickles, reaping-hooks, and scythes in the country, and empowered them in 1842 to build a large establishment with seven baths Prior to construction in 1842, Lord Manvers had plans drawn up for a bath house, combined with a hotel, the grounds were to feature seven grottos and two bridges would cross over the stream which flowed down through the valley. A description from the Gazetteer and Country Directory states ‘…respectable and commodious establishment with seven baths of various dimensions. Situated in a sylvan and rural glen entirely surrounded by romantic hills, tastefully laid out’

No grottos have been found and only one bath remains.  Nor does there seem to be any sign of a hotel, merely the Bath House. Some confusion has arisen with some historians, because later on the Bath House was renamed as an hotel, but there is no evidence of any accommodation being available in the early years.  Did they fail to get the investment they needed?    

Three things are said to be necessary for a successful spa: a history of the spring’s medicinal qualities, which it certainly had; accessibility which was also easy, especially with the introduction of the railway; but the third was the quality of accommodation available to visitors on a par with the hotels at Matlock, which Birley Spa did not have. 

Thomas Staniforth, was chosen to manage the committee by Lord Manvers. Thomas was appointed with the task of forming the committee himself and chose his son-in-law George Cox, who was a local farmer, schoolmaster John Tillotson and farmer Edward Hobson.

An advertisement was placed in The Sheffield & Rotherham Independent on the 25th March 1843 which requested applications for a couple ‘of good character and without family’ to take on the management of the hotel. George Eadon was chosen out of the eleven replies, he was a married man who was paid a salary of £20 annually, with free rent and coal. ⁴²

Birley Spa

We believe that the credit is due to the Mercury of having roused attention to this once celebrated spot-on account of the virtue of its waters, and the benefits which invalids would derive if they are made available. We were gratified in visiting the place in the course of the week to find out that out of the ruins of the former bath, a new one had been erected with convenient dressing rooms, a hot slipper bath, and two basins to cover the other springs which bubble out of the same spot. From what has been already done, and the design for laying out the adjacent ground in walks and a promenade, the health and comfort of the future visitors appears to have been studied, and if one half of the miraculous cures ascribed to the waters by the neighbouring country people be correct, Birley Spa will not be behind the most renowned of our watering places in its healing properties. The large bath is commodious, with water as pure as crystal, while immediately behind it is a chalybeate spring, judging from its ochre deposit, and another charged with saline ingredients. We understand that Lord Manvers, the proprietor, has erected the building at his own cost, and that some private gentlemen have guaranteed him against loss in the speculation, and we have no doubt that when its virtues become known, its proximity to Sheffield, with the advantage of good roads, will soon make it resorted to by those in search of health who cannot spare the time or the money to go to more distant places. The bath house is delightfully situated, and from whatever side it is approached the scenery is of the most beautiful character, and will repay the rambler and admirer of nature for his walk. We expect soon to be able to furnish our readers with an analysis of the different springs, and point out the cases in which the waters are likely to be beneficial.   ⁴³  

The spa was well publicised and soon had a prestigious visitor, The Duke of Portland, a neighbour of Manvers, who no doubt came at the urging of Manvers and because the duke who was also almost a recluse, the quiet solitude of the spa was probably an attractive feature, but after a few visits he was never seen again at the spa.  

The local estate agents obviously had high hopes that the spa would lead to popularity of the area as it had so many years ago in Matlock.

TO BE LET

A Farm about Fifty-four Acres of Arable Land, within a Ring Fence, together with large Garden, Orchard, and Convenient House and Outbuildings, situate at Hackenthorpe, Four Miles and Three-quarters from Sheffield, seven from Rotherham, and nine from Chesterfield. The whole of the land is well supported with good Water for Cattle. Hackenthorpe is a very healthy Village, the Neighbourhood of which is now famed for the celebrated Birley Spa, likely to become a popular Watering Place.  ⁴⁴

  The baths were off to a great start.  Thomas Staniforth kept up with his duties keeping accounts. Initially ticket sales were encouraging with family and friends of the workers being amongst the first visitors to attend. Thomas’ s sister Sarah Ward came along as did his cousin James Staniforth from The New Inn with his wife Martha (nee Green). Another cousin of Thomas’ s, Ralph Haigh also attended as did his son Thomas Staniforth IV. The local schoolmaster Mr. Tillotson promoted the baths, buying tickets for a number of people including John Jubb of Drake House, and the Reverend Thomas Mountain, rector of St. Mary’s Beighton. Dr. Flory from a nearby boarding school also brought along a group of children.

Looking at what was happening at the time of the spa re-opening the timing could not have been worse. Banks and finances were collapsing due to lack of trade caused by unrest in Europe and the Corn Law sanctions on imported grain making trade with America also difficult. The high cost of food due to artificially high prices and the added Cholera pandemic outbreaks created an impoverished Sheffield not able to spend time and money at the reopened spa

There was a lot of initial excitement and possibly the locals dreamed of becoming a new Matlock bath with hotels springing up and a rise in tourism, but as coal mining grew increased and the spa lacked facilities for big parties of the wealthier clients, who in any case were following the new treatments such as hydrotherapy or following the fashionable to sea bathe, it was unlikely to be anything but a place for local working people. The new bathing facilities provided in the city may also had to have an impact.

There were, of course, a number of expenses, advertisements had to be paid for, as did the printing of the tickets, alcohol, bills from the Sheffield Coal Company and so on.  Not to mention George Eadon’s salary.  In May and June 1844 payments were made for meat and beer ‘at rearing’ which was a term used when a building was ‘topped off’. This shows evidence that the spa was still being extended at this time. Other expenses George Cox was paid £10 for furniture and in August 1845 he is paid £21 ‘1 year of interest’ which shows he must have lent money to the spa, and at the time, this was a substantial amount.  

By May 1847 George Eadon was sole proprietor and announced refurbishment to the tepid baths and a price list. Season tickets (without the marble bath) for families £1 5s 0d, two in same family £1, One-person 12s., Single Baths Marble hot Bath, 2s., Hot Bath 1s 3d., Shower 9d., Tepid swimming 9d. Cold Swimming 6d. The price range suggests several baths in use and two big enough to swim in. Eadon is also offering alcoholic refreshments and cigars. ⁴⁵ Eadon’s proprietorship did not last long because by March 1848 the Spa was vacant and advertised to Let. ⁴⁶  By April 27^th 1848 the Spa was back up and running though the proprietor is unknown. ⁴⁷

In 1851 one problem that became visible was in a report about the Guardians of the Sheffield Workhouse where a Mr. Le Tall, a doctor who attended the poor from the workhouse in Sheffield sent to Birley Spa, complained that he had not been paid for 2 years. The poor were housed in rented cottage accommodation and possibly the spa was left with paying the rental of the cottage. ⁴⁸

In 1852 yet another proprietor announced his presence with the spa now titled Spa and Tea gardens. The gardens being laid out, Mr. William Budd claimed, in a style adapted alike for the invalid and the pleasure seeker. He also gives a detailed description of the mineral content of the waters as well as a glowing account of the spa’s facilities.

‘The rooms for the accommodation of Bathers are convenient: there are Marble, Copper, Shower, Tepid, and large plunging baths, with Dressing Rooms attached. The House is a neat fabric, and suited to every sort of company.’ ⁴⁹

A short advertisement in 1855 advertises furnished rooms in addition to spas facilities ⁵⁰, but in 1855 William Budd was also selling the household contents.  ⁵¹

Household furniture and other effects included French and four poster beds and hangings, two goose feather beds, bolsters, and pillows; twenty yards of crimson Brussels stair carpeting, tapestry floor carpeting, Scotch floor and bedside carpets, hearth rugs and wool rugs, cane seated bedroom chairs, set of drawers, mattresses, wash and dressing tables, hair seated chairs, mahogany card and other tables, eight days clock in oak case; piano forte, weather glass, bronze tea urn, handsome silver-plated tea and coffee pots, cake basket cruets and salver,  twelve ivory hafted knives forks tea and table spoons, table lamp, floor and passage oil cloth, oil paintings and engravings, mahogany writing desk, set of handsome trays, patent mangle, chimney and dressing mirrors, set of china, bronze fenders and fire irons, flour bins, two large brewing tubs, copper kettles, brass pans, brass roasting jack, chimney ornaments, books, and maps.

The auction list gives a snap shot of what the fully furnished Bath House looked like. Yet although the list was comprehensive William Budd is still in charge in 1860.⁵² By 1863 the proprietor was a James Plant and was prosecuted for giving short measures. ⁵³ In 1866 proprietor Alfred Lee was announcing their annual festival at the beginning of the season and the opening of the Spa bathing facilities. ⁵⁴ This was not to last as once again Birley Spa was up again for rent but with the emphasis on market gardening. The description although still mentioning the bathing facilities, mentioned a vinery and greenhouses in good order. ‘ A first-rate opportunity for a Market Gardener!’ ⁵⁵

In 1868 the Sheffield Workhouse cancelled their agreement with Birley Spa on the grounds that it was not well used and Buxton was offering a cheaper deal. ⁵⁶

In 1869 the proprietor, Mr John Bradley advertised the festival at the opening of the Spa’s bathing facilities including amusements and a donkey race.  ⁵⁷

The hotel closed in 1878 and was converted to two cottages some time later, the heated pool had been removed by 1895.  But it would appear that the proprietor George Platt had begun developing part of the area as a pleasure ground. As in 1912 George Platt sold up some of the contents prior to Earl Manvers sale of the property. Interesting items were swing boats, pleasure horses and gondolas.   ⁵⁹

In 1912 the 4th earl, Charles Pierrepoint put the bath house up for sale.  In 1912 it was purchased,   together with two cottages for £630, by a cab owner George Moulson. ⁶⁰ Moulson  possibly also bought the swings and so on from George Platt. Moulson and his partner William Smith developed the Childrens Pleasure grounds. It is suggested they dug out around the stream to make a pond that was used as a boating lake, above it was a paddling pool. In the garden was a wishing well, there were swings at the other side of the building and a sandpit. There was also a Wonder Tree, a gnarly and twisted old oak where, it was claimed, you could make out pictures of animals in its branches. Entrance to the pleasure grounds was through a turnstile and tea and hot water were available. Although this is not shown on the original plans, there is evidence that tennis courts and a pavilion were added at a later date.

The pleasure grounds appear to have been the most successful era for the Spa, for working class families, Sunday school trips etc., it catered to a huge audience and had many returning visitors. In 1929 with the death of George Moulson the Spa and grounds once again came up for sale and appear to have been bought by his partner William Smith. ^{61 62}

At the outbreak of WWII, a law was passed prohibiting people congregating in groups, due to the threat of air raids, this forced the closure of the grounds in 1939, never to reopen. In the 1950s the site came into the possession of the Sheffield Housing Department. There is evidence that in 1958 Sheffield Corporation staff society had formed an angling club and stocked Birley Spa Pond with fish and had sole use of the pond. ⁶³

 In 1960 the council proposed to demolish the Bath House. The City Architect, Lewis Wormesley, presented an alternative scheme to retain the buildings as a community hall and this was partially completed in 1966. On the 28th June 1973 the building was awarded Grade II listed status.

Although some essential maintenance was carried out in 1986, the site suffered increasingly from neglect and vandalism until in 1988 the City’s Countryside Management Unit began a programme of conservation, interpretation and restoration, involving local schools, community groups and the frogmen from South Yorkshire Police. The initial aim was to recreate the spa as a local amenity, as it was at two distinct periods in its history, initially by encouraging its use as a pleasure ground, and later by restoring the bath to use and perhaps marketing the mineral water.  Birley Spa for a while was used as a venue for wedding receptions due to refurbishment funded by National Lottery funding. However, vandalism and problems for groups getting access to the building led Sheffield Council to decide sale of the building was the only option. This has caused huge outcry by the local population, who formed the Friend of Birley Spa with over 2,000 supporters, and are now trying to take back the Bath house and grounds as a community asset, and bring it back into use as a place to educate on and encourage a healthy lifestyle in an area that at present is one of the unhealthiest places in the UK. ⁶⁴

Some of the old wells and springs remain in the area, and hints of others, not confirmed, but who knows they may yet be found. But of the two other spas mentioned, Fulwood Spa and the spa at Owlerton only some conjecture and vague hints remain.  

Sources Spa

1. Birley Spa, Sheffield Daily Telegraph, Thursday, November 13^th 1919
2. Brigantia said to be the goddess of springs streams and rivers.  https://ericwedwards.wordpress.com/2015/03/12/brigantia-goddess-of-the-brigantes/
3. http://www.antipope.org/feorag/wells/perth-talk.html
4. Springs and Holy Wells Sheffield area https://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=46610  
5. https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/Geoscientist/Archive/September-2016/Wonder-working-waters  
6. Addy Sidney Oldall, (1888) A glossary of words used in the neighbourhood of Sheffield
7. https://goodspaguide.co.uk/features/spa-through-the-ages
8. https://www.medievalists.net/2013/04/did-people-in-the-middle-ages-take-baths/
9. https://dronfieldhallbarn.org/partners/local-history/
10. https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/Geoscientist/Archive/September-2016/Wonder-working-waters
11. https://www.foreo.com/mysa/the-criminal-history-of-the-modern-day-spa/
12. https://navigator.health.org.uk/theme/hospital-closures-following-dissolution-monastries
13. http://www.sheffieldchurchburgesses.org.uk/history-of-sheffield-church-burgesses-trust.htm
14. https://historicengland.org.uk/research/inclusive-heritage/disability-history/1485-1660/hospitals-and-almshouses/
15. Ghazvinian, J. (2003). A certain tickling humour : English travellers, 1560-1660 [PhD thesis]. University of Oxford.
16. https://www.genealogieonline.nl/en/fox-anderson-and-taylor-families/I6207.php John Blythe Regius professor
17. Court of Chancery Six Clerks Office: Early Proceedings C1/1105/36 John Blythe of Cambridge, late archdeacon of Stafford v. John Oteley gentleman, administrator of the goods of Jeffrey Blyth, bishop of Chester, deceased: Loan by the said bishop to enable complainant to study at Padua. (National Archives)
18. https://dayofdifference.org.au/e-medical/english-medical-regulatory-history.html
19. https://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/tudor-england/tudor-medicine/
20. Cawthorne Nigel  2005 The Curious Cures of Old England, Piatkus Books Ltd, 5 Windmill Street, London WIT 2JA
21. Bathing by Prescription: A brief history of treatment by water. Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. https://www.rcpe.ac.uk/college
22. William Turner, A Booke of the Nature and Properties as well as of the Bathes in England and of other in Germany and Italy, very necessary for all sick Persons that cannot be healed without the help of natural Bathe, 1562.
23. Higginbottom Mike Taking the Waters: the history of spas & hydros. The Legacy Chesterfield Hotel, Malkin Street, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, S41 7UA
24. Hunter Joseph, Hallamshire. 1819, The History and Topography of the Parish of Sheffield in the county of York
25. Gatty Ivor, The Site of Fulwood Spa, Friends of Manor Lodge.
26. Diary of Samuel Pepys  https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1665/10/16/  
27.  Hembry Phyllis, 1990, The English Spa 1560-1815, A Social History, the Athlone Press, 1 Park Drive, London NW11 75G
28.   https://www.andrewsgen.com/matlock/matbath_intro.htm History of Matlock Bath
29. Short Thomas, 1733, The Natural, Experimental, and Medicinal history of mineral waters of Derbyshire Lincolnshire and Yorkshire
30.  https://goodspaguide.co.uk/features/spa-through-the-ages  
31. Short Thomas, 1725, A Rational Discourse of the Inward uses of water  
32. Short Thomas, 1750, New Observations natural moral civil political on city town and country bills of Mortality
33.  Buchan William, 1769, Domestic Medicine or a valuable treatise on the prevention and cure of diseases by Regimen and Simple Medicines.    
34.  https://www.routeyou.com/en-gb/location/view/48027279/sheffield-royal-infirmary   
35. Thomson Arthur 1960, History and Development of Teaching Hospitals in England, The British Medical Journal Vol 2 No.5201 (Sept 10, 1960) pp 749-751  
36. Stokes John, 1921, The History of the Cholera Epidemic of 1832 in Epidemic, Sheffield.   
37.  Sheard Sally, 2000, Profit is a Dirty Word: The Development of Public Baths and Wash-houses in Britain 1847-1915 The Society for the Social History of Medicine.  
38. Sigsworth Michael, Cholera in the large towns of the West and East Ridings, 1848-1893, thesis Hallam University Research Archives
39. Granville AB, 1841, The Spas of England and Principal Sea-Bathing Places, London H. Coburn
40. andrewsgen.com/matlock/pix/e_smedley2_startingout.htm  
41. Platts TL, 1976, A Spa in Sheffield: The History of Birley Spa.  Hibberd v Newton and Another.
42. (Claim for repair to Spa in 1841) Sheffield and Rotherham Independent, February 10^th, 1843
43. Tender for Birley Spa, The Sheffield Iris, page 1, November 25^th, 1843  
44. History Gazetteer and Directory of the County of Derby 1857 Francis White & Co. Broomhall Terrace, Ecclesall New Road, Sheffield
45. Birley Spa (grand opening) The Sheffield Iris, No. 2928 Vol. 56. Saturday, April 29,1843
46. Farm to be Let, The Sheffield and Rotherham Independent, Vol XXIV- No. 1229. Saturday, September 2^nd, 1843
47. Birley Spa (Ad placed by Eadon) The Sheffield and Rotherham Independent, Vol XXVIII – No. 1421 Saturday May 1^st 1847
48. Birley Spa to let. Derbyshire Courier, Vol XXI- No. 1,061, Saturday March 11^th 1848
49. Birley Spa, Sheffield and Rotherham Independent, April 29^th 1848
50. Sheffield Guardian’s Meeting. The Sheffield and Rotherham Independent, March 22^nd 1851
51. Birley Spa, Baths and Tea Gardens, The Derbyshire Courier, Saturday, September 25^th 1852  
52.  Birley Spa, near Sheffield, The Sheffield Daily Telegraph, June 8^th, 1855  
53.  Birley Spa, Baths and Tea Gardens, The Sheffield and Rotherham Independent, Vol XLI – No. 2119 Saturday, June 2^nd1860
54. Unjust Measures-James Plant, Sheffield and Rotherham Independent, Saturday, January 31^st 1863
55.   Birley Spa, The Sheffield Daily Telegraph, No. 4001 Tuesday, May 1, 1866  
56. To be Let, the Bath Inn, Birley Spa, The Sheffield Daily Telegraph, Saturday, March 16th, 1867
57.  Sheffield Poor Law Guardians, Weekly Supplement to the Sheffield Daily Telegraph, Saturday, February 1^st, 1868
58.  Birley Spa Mr John Bradley, Sheffield and Rotherham Independent, Saturday, March 27^th 1869
59.  Birley Spa, Hackenthorpe. The Derbyshire Times, Saturday May 11^th, 1912
60. Sale of Earl Manvers estates Yorkshire Telegraph and Star, Thursday Evening, October 24^th, 1912
61. Sale by Private Treaty, Sheffield Daily Telegraph, Saturday, June 29^th 1929
62. Birley Spa, Connisboro’ Man’s purchase, The Express, Saturday, August 24^th 1929  
63. Birley Spa Pond, South Yorkshire Times and Express, February 22^nd 1958
64. Friends of Birley Spa https://www.friendsofbirleyspa.org/

Claywood

In medieval times Claywood was part of the Great park¹    Sheffield had one of the largest medieval deer parks in the country which spanned a circumference of eight miles in total, walled and fenced. The Sheffield Deer Park would have been quadruple the size of an average large deer park of its time, containing at the park’s zenith approx. 3,000 deer (mainly fallow) and some of the largest oak trees ever recorded in England.

If you want to work out the boundary of the Park.   Starting at Sheaf Bridge it went along to the Sheaf’s junction with the Don, following that river for a short distance then roughly followed the Sheffield Parkway till it reached the Carr Brook, then turned up and followed the Manor Estate, to the Manor Top and along Hurlfield Road. Just passed Paddock Crescent it turned back towards Sheffield town, followed the top side of Buck Wood. It kept to the topside of Gleadless Road crossed over the Sheaf around Myrtle Road Bridge and then followed Bramall Lane to roughly Saint Mary’s Road, where it then took a sharp turn back to the Sheaf, and followed it back to the Sheaf Bridge start.

Claywood was listed as a spring wood². Trees were cut down to ground level so that they would regenerate and ‘’spring’’ into regrowth. This was known as coppicing and was carried out to supply wood for charcoal. You can still find evidence of former coppicing in many of the old woodlands in Sheffield.

 In 1446 there is mention of a payment to Geoffrey Botery^{, 3}  the Parker or Park keeper, for using his wagon to carry charcoal from the park to the castle. The charcoal was possibly for the armourer or   blacksmiths. Claywood would seem to have been the nearest spring wood to the castle.

 In 1637 John Harrison⁴surveyed the Manor of Sheffield for the Duke of Norfolk. It is the first written record indicating the size of the Sheffield deer park. Harrison also referred to ‘coales and ironstone in abundance’. 

By the 1700s the deer park had been dissolved and divided into small farms and wooded areas. The name of the woodland changed in 1700 when Robert Clay took out a lease.³  Robert Clay⁵ was a Derbyshire lead merchant who also sold charcoal, wood and coal and in 1707 he took out leases on several pits in Sheffield Park including in Claywood. He was born in Chesterfield and is listed in various documents as a yeoman, a gentleman, a lead merchant and a tallow merchant. He married the daughter of a prominent magistrate in the town but the marriage was short lived as his wife died soon after the birth of a son. Sometime in the late 17^th century he married Joanna Rawson of Walkley Hall⁶. They had several children, but only Joseph survived into adulthood.    Robert owned shares in several lead mines in Derbyshire and in 1718 leased the upper smelting mill in Dore⁷ Robert died in 1747 and Joseph stayed in Bridgehouses and carried on with selling lead, wood, and coal. In 1759 a field sketch shows the areas of damaged ground caused by the Claywood colliery, and in 1763 records there is a note of payment for mending a sough, a channel for draining water out of the mine. Both mention Clay’s name. 

As well as coal mining in Coal Aston, Joseph Clay joined in a partnership to take over a colliery in Darnall.  By 1762, competition from this colliery had become sufficiently acute in Sheffield for the Duke of Norfolk to take legal advice as to whether, as Lord of the Manor of Attercliffe⁸, he could prevent traffic crossing the common: from the colliery to the town.  Ten years later, Darnall was supplying half the house coal used in Sheffield, as it had the advantage of good road communication with Sheffield, whereas the Norfolk pits had to bear the cost of heavy repairs on what were then private roads through the park.

 Joseph died in 1797.  It says a lot about the importance of the family that the name stuck long after they stopped using the wood.  But Claywood itself was almost a derelict wasteland. 

The poet John Holland who had lived all his life in Sheffield Park lamented the loss of trees and the littering of broken coke ovens from the coke processing plant at the bottom of Claywood..

 In his poem⁹ “Sheffield Park”: “… a hill with scarce a verdant tree, where flaming ovens burn along its base.” These were furnaces preparing coke, which some years ago gave such a fiery aspect to the east bank of the Sheaf at the foot of Claywood.    

 In 1827 new almshouses ¹⁰were erected at the top of Claywood. “which are not surpassed for neatness, comfort, and general good management, have a verdant area in front, tastefully planted with ornamental shrubs.”  A record was found of quarrying¹¹in 1858 in Claywood  of Bluestone which was used to build the Shrewsbury hospital or  Alms-houses nearby, as well as other houses and kerb stones. Bluestone was a type of sandstone also favoured by scythe makers as sharpening stones.

 In November 1831 Cholera¹² Broke out in Sheffield with the deaths of a woman and a middle-aged man. 

From its point of origin in Bengal it took five years for Cholera to cross Europe, so that by the time it reached the UK, doctors were well aware of what cholera did but they neither knew how to prevent the or spread of cholera or how to treat cholera patients. There were two medical theories related to the spread of disease in the 1830s. One was that disease was transmitted by touch (contagion) so doctors wanted to isolate patients. The other theory was the miasmic theory, which taught that disease was spread by bad smells, bad air or ‘poisonous miasma’. There were plenty of bad smells in Sheffield.

Consequently, orders were issued for the lime-washing of houses to try to clean them up. Barrels of tar and vinegar were burned in the streets to try to remove the bad smells. None of these efforts had any effect whatsoever. Many authorities, since the disease hit the poor first and hardest due to their cramped lifestyle, blamed the poor for their sinful lifestyle, such as drinking, families sharing beds and other immoral “habits”   

As soon as it was obvious that Cholera had struck Sheffield, the police in the Old Town hall were mobilised to supervise the quarantine of patients, the removal and burial of bodies to be buried at night and as the disease progressed, the closure of all graveyards to burial of the Cholera Victims. It made sense instead to bury them all together and quickly in a mass grave and the Duke of Norfolk offered a piece of land in Claywood for that purpose. 

 In 1834 it was decided to erect a monument to those who died, from money set aside by the Health Board, and 22-year-old architect was chosen by Duke of Norfolk to design it, Matthew Ellison Hadfield. Matthew who had worked for the Duke of Norfolk prior to his training as an architect and was to become a popular architect with the duke, his most important commission for the duke being the Catholic Cathedral in Sheffield, Saint Marie’s. 

It was not to be the last outbreak of Cholera however as poor understanding of how the disease was spread and reluctance to take measures that would shut down works led to more deaths, but future cholera victims were not buried in Claywood but in the newly opened General Cemetery. 

In the 1850s the Duke of Norfolk laid out pleasure gardens around the monument. This would seem to amount to planting trees, including an avenue of Lime trees and laying paths. The gardens were open to the public but quarry was still operating on the west side.

But the adjoining steep quarry sides were not without their dangers and in 1853¹³ a young man fell to his death while running away from pursuers.

 Quarrying was not without its dangers either as the land was unstable. In 1861¹⁴ a quarry Labourer, William Barnes digging out earth to reach the stone had earth fall on him and knock him to the ground fracturing his leg causing internal injuries. He died two days later from his injuries.  

  In 1873¹⁵it was rumoured that there was a ghost sprung up from the Cholera mass grave, and it was suggested several people go on a ghost hunt and wait for the ghost to appear. This became a custom or as the locals would have probably said a nuisance. Large numbers of people   met in the Claywood quarry, and lit several fires there, then separated to search for the ghost but having found nothing returned to the quarry and pulled off bits from the trees to feed the fires till one evening, the paper reported, two thousand people turned up, mainly youths and young men, in the quarry, to be met by police. The ghost hunters retaliated and pelted the police with stones, till the police charged with batons, and the crowd dispersed. 

In 1883¹⁶ the problems of safety in the Monument gardens came to a head. A letter to the paper outlined concerns for the user’s safety.

“About half the side of the Claywood quarry is quite open. There is a steep descent from part of it to the quarry below; from the remainder there is a perpendicular wall of rock, in one place some 20 yards high or thereabouts, rising from the quarry bed. The extreme danger is obvious to all, and they are many, who know the spot, and scarcely needs detailing. The gates to the grounds are open all day, and one seldom, if ever, sees any official in charge or about the place. Children and young people have or make free run over all parts, and no warning or protection to keep them from the open side. The ground is quite level and grass grown to the edge, one step over which, on a loosening and slipping of the overhanging turf, and some playful, careless child, or venturesome juvenile might be hurled onto the rocks below, meeting almost certain death.” 

As the Cholera grounds and Claywood quarry belonged to the Duke of Norfolk the town’s council approached him asking him to build a fence. They were told it was not convenient.

The Aldermen at the time¹⁷ said surely since the Duke accrued £178,000 a year (around £10million in today’s money) from Sheffield it would be a small thing to erect a fence to protect people of Sheffield.

 “-at any rate an enormous amount of wealth-the treatment they received when anything of the kind came up was contemptible in the extreme. He would like the people of Sheffield to understand that was one of the penalties they had to pay for the luxury of having a Duke.”  

The Duke locked the gates of the gardens and they were to remain closed till 1900.

Falling into quarries was actually such a serious problem across the country that a law was introduced in parliament in 1888¹⁸to enable local authorities to prosecute quarry owners who did not fence off their quarries.

 In 1899¹⁹ the Council approached the then Duke to see if there was some way of re-opening the gardens, and eventually the Duke came up with a 21 year lease agreement at rental of 2s a year on condition the Council paid for the fence and maintained the ground. The Parks Committee obtained a grant of £550, with which they “beautified” the grounds and spread the paths with gravel, and repaired the monument which had twice been hit by lightning.

In 1905²⁰ it was reported that although the Cholera Monument was a conspicuous landmark the grounds around it were not popular. “They have been delightfully laid out as a miniature park, but somehow they fail to draw.”

In 1930²²the new Duke of Norfolk, when he became of age at 21, gave the Monument gardens to the City. It turned out to be immediately costly for the Council as in a few months they discovered the monument was listing and in 1932²³remedial work had to be done.

“Part of the ground has been made into a small bowling green; in another spot is an old cab shelter, now used as a meeting place for the old men of the district, who may be seen enjoying a game of dominoes or indulging in a weighty argument there; another attraction is an arch consisting of the jaw bones of a whale; and inviting seats are arranged along the walks.  It is a place of rest and recreation”²⁴

  Following the building of Claywood Flats adjacent to the site in the late 1960s and the acquisition of Clay Wood by the city council, some alterations were made to Monument Grounds including boundary changes, the widening of the main axial walk, and new tree and shrub planting. The top part of the Monument collapsed during severe gales in 1990 and had to be repaired. In 2003 the Claywood flats were demolished.

The Monument Grounds remain under the management of Sheffield City. 

                                      References  

1.  https://www.fosml.org.uk/2020/05/10/the-great-sheffield-deer-park/ 
2. Sheffield’s Woodland Heritage fourth edition by Mel Jones and illustrated by Bob Warburton, 2009, Wildtrack Publishing, Venture House, 105 Arundel Street, Sheffield, S1 2NT
3.  Some historical notes on mineral working at Clay Wood, compiled by John  Hunter (Sheffield Area Geology Trust, Nov 2021)
4. https://sites.google.com/site/clayofengland/clay-of-yorkshire
5. https://www.sheffieldhistory.co.uk/forums/topic/8924-walkley-hall/
6. Hopkinson Geoffrey Gill, M.A. The Development of lead mining and of the coal and iron industries in North Derbyshire and South Yorkshire 1700 – 1850. Phd Thesis
7. Medicott Ian Raoll, (1982) The Landed Interest and the Development of the South Yorkshire Coalfield 1750 to 1830. MPhil thesis The Open University.
8. Holland John, (1820) Sheffield Park, a descriptive poem printed by James Montgomery, Iris Office, Sheffield.
9. Kennet Peter (2015) Shrewsbury Almshouses Norfolk Road S6, VI June 2015 Sheffield Area Geological Trust.
10. Stokes John, MA, MD, LLB, Bsc (1921) The History of the Cholera Epidemic of 1832 in Sheffield, : J. W. Northend Ltd. Printers West Street. Sheffield
11. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1000284?section=official-list-entry
12.  https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/parks-sport-recreation/cholera-monument-clay-wood
13. Horrible death by falling down a quarry, the Morning Post, Tuesday, October 18^th 1853 
14. Fatal accident in a quarry, Sheffield and Rotherham Independent, February 2, 1861  
15. The Park Ghost Again, Sheffield and Rotherham Independent Saturday May 24^th 1873
16. The Park Ward and its dangers. A stitch in time. The Sheffield Daily Telegraph Saturday, June 2, 1883
17. The Closure of the Cholera Monument Ground. The Sheffield Daily Telegraph Thursday, July 12^th, 1883
18. New Year’s Law The Sheffield Evening Telegraph Tues January 3^rd 1888
19. Another Park for the Park Opening of the Cholera Park Grounds, The Sheffield Daily Telegraph, Thursday, August 2^nd 1900 
20. Sheffield Jottings, Yorkshire Telegraph And Star, Tues Evening, August 25^th 1905 
21. . Monument Put Straight. The Sheffield Daily Independent Thursday 10^th March 1932
22. Cholera Centenary Sheffield Daily Telegraph Thursday March 10^th 1932

               

2021 and beyond

                                                       

 From a point of view for heritage in Sheffield this year was a mix of heart breaking and exciting

There was the launch of the heritage strategy by Joined up Heritage. The re-union of the Museum Trusts.  Funding for Castlegate. Funding for a Sheffield list has meant that people can now list the historic places that are important to them.  Protestors successfully fought off the high-density housing plan for the old brick works and surrounding ancient woodlands. Bishops House found a long-lost fireplace and it is now back where it belongs. The National Videogame Museum received funding for an outreach education programme amongst schools. The National Emergency Services Museum used the shutdown to bring in a lift and new exciting displays. Membership for friends’ groups in heritage shot up. Some new groups formed. Hillsborough Stables has now been restored and is to be a café.  AQUA GCSE study of a historic environment has named Manor Lodge as one of two options nationally for pupils to visit.  

But many planning decisions went badly. In Cambridge Street having already lost the preservation of the hotel with early football associations, plans to façade an old historic pub was accepted on the grounds of cost. Planning inspector turned over decision not to build on Owlthorpe Fields. Permission has been given to demolish the historic Plough Inn.  And the Old Town Hall is now back on the market with very little remedial work done and once again an uncertain future. And to add to all that Sheffield University is closing its world-class Archaeology department.  

What we need is to build is a green resilient city, that provides for its citizens and can take economic and climatic shocks. We cannot do that without considering our historic buildings parks and woodlands. We know that we need to cut our carbon footprint and reduce waste and create a cleaner city. Knocking down our historic buildings with the argument that we can only afford a façade is a bogus argument that makes no sense. By knocking them down we are increasing all the things we need to cut. Even if the new façaded building was energy efficient to a high level the damage done to the environment is already immense and more carbon we use now the closer to the tipping point we get and the worse the weather and higher the summer temperatures get.

Historic buildings are good for the local economy. The majority of commercial users of listed buildings in the city are local businesses that contribute directly to the local economy. Heritage buildings support start-ups and small businesses. As large chain stores choose to go online and close their shops, then maybe it is time to look at encouraging small businesses and the historic buildings they use? For Sheffield to be more resilient there has to be more emphasis on High Street as being a holistic experience and a place for all kinds of social activity. Heritage creates the unique atmosphere and a familiarity that is reassuring to current shoppers. It is also about creating a sense of place and community for the thousands of residents that live in the city centre. Too often regeneration planning seems to forget that the urban environment is a human environment and poor design and loss of character from an area can be bad for people’s health and wellbeing.

Support for local heritage, along with increased engagement with that heritage, brings broader cultural and community benefits. Building on existing local relationships with place, focusing on its distinctiveness and the sense of identity people draw from it, supports the development of a more positive relationship between people and place. This has a positive impact on people’s mental and physical health.

Using public owned heritage buildings as community hubs can bring in grants for restoration and training, as well as making them centres for health and wellbeing.  Lonely older people are 1.8 times more likely to visit their GP, 1.6 times more likely to visit A&E and 3.5 times more likely to enter local authority-funded residential care. Lonely young people are more likely to suffer serious mental health problems and also be involved in crime.

A strong network of community hubs could cut the need for social services and health interventions and provide support in low-income areas where even buying a coffee at a café is beyond their means We need to give communities back their heart, their identity, their self-esteem. That comes with using heritage as focal points and community hubs.  But it would mean the council being prepared to give control to the community.

97% of the community organisations Liberty surveyed said that the community asset transfer had strengthened their relationship with the local community. 52%also highlighted a strengthened relationship with other public agencies as a key benefit. 58% of community organisations we surveyed reported that their relationship with the local authority had been strengthened by the process of community ownership. 70% of local authorities either agreed or strongly agreed that the process had enhanced partnership working with local voluntary and community sector groups. 75% reported an increase in more effective community engagement.

Our green spaces can also save money and improve life chances by helping both educationally and mentally. Children who spend some time outside the school environment and outdoors have a better spatial awareness and are better at social interaction. Children who have been outside with the school often push parents to go back with them at weekends. Time spent in nature is known to boost wellbeing, with woodland walks estimated to save the UK at least £185m a year in mental health costs, for example. With Sheffield’s vast number of woodlands, we could be creating a well sign posted network together with riverside walks that would make life pleasanter for the pedestrians in our city, which frankly have been ignored for decades.

 Putting heritage centrally when thinking about commercial and social aspects could boost health and education and save £millions re social services and crime prevention as well as boost the local economy. Using available resources such as Meersbrook Hall, Birley Spa, if given over to community control will cost the council nothing but save £millions.  

We could be boosting our economy, creating a healthier and greener city using the wealth of resources we have in our city both human and heritage.  To not do so is to waste £millions trying to repair the damage rather than preventing the damage occurring.  The recent referendum has shown that many voters want a more community focused responsive council and an opportunity to have their opinions heard. If many of those opinions had had a voice in the past then perhaps many £millions would not have been lost in funding for our heritage and historic buildings would not be demolished because its “cheaper.”    

South Sheffield Woodland Walk

  Cholera Monument, Sheaf Valley Park 

This is a new kind of endeavour for the Sheffield Timewalk Project. Having walked the Sheffield Round Walk a few times as a youngster and noticing on the map that there were many more woodlands than those on the Round Walk route I started to think that it would be interesting to string some of them together. Since those days, areas such as Sheaf Valley Park, Gleadless Woodlands and Gillfield Wood have attracted some very dedicated and active friends groups and, during the lockdowns, I started to explore how a route could be pieced together from Sheffield Station to Baslow Road at the top of Gillfield Wood. I have since found out that there is a good amount of ancient woodland along the route.  

Jervis Lum, Norfolk Park 

Some parts are easy – the Round Walk route is one of the best known walks in the city: signposts can be followed from Gleadless Woodlands to Twentywell Lane and is moslty through woodland. Gillfield Wood follows the Totley Brook and is a well defined path through woodland. 

So I focussed most of my investigations on the link through Totley Rise from Twentywell Lane to Gillfield Wood – there are a couple of routes through plentiful woodland there – and the city centre to Gleadless Valley section. This is how I found Jervis Lum, a wonderful strip of ancient woodland tacked onto Norfolk Park. So the tricky part of the route was now reduced to the Norfolk Park to Gleadless Valley section. 

Wooded Brook in the Gleadless Valley 

The route which seems to make the most sense to me goes up through Arbourthorne Playing Fields and past Arbourthorne Pond – something else I wasn’t aware of before the lockdowns. It’s got its own friends group, and is a popular fishing spot. A boggy field next to it (maybe tree planting would improve this?) leads to East Bank Road, from which small roads and a gennel lead to an entrance to Buck Wood, Gleadless Valley. There are various routes through the wood, leading down through a narrow waist of built up area to Bankwood School and an extensive area of urban woodland beyond, which links to the Round Walk Route. 

Dramatic sky at Graves Park 

With a bit of TLC in some of the more neglected areas, a few signposts, some path improvements in Buck Wood and maybe some tree planting in Arbourthorne, we could have a fairly low-cost asset for the city, and one which connects some of its wealthiest and poorest areas, ticking all sorts of boxes on the way: green spaces, encouraging exercise, publicising ancient woodlands and, hopefully, community engagement – there are a couple of dozen groups along the way from friends groups to schools who I’m hoping will get involved. Labour, Green and Lib Dem councillors have expressed interest already, so hopefully the South Sheffield Woodland Walk – whatever it eventually becomes known as – will be a reality one day. 

Chris Bullivant 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/303109837952309/about

The Man who made Sheffield

The 18^th century was a century for innovation, and invention throughout the world, but in Sheffield lift off in the local economy seemed to take off from two people really in the middle of the century.  

In 1742 Benjamin Huntsman invented Crucible steel or Cast steel which created a  better quality steel which was more uniform in composition and freer from impurities than any steel previously produced though it   wasn’t till 1751 he set up manufacturing in large quantities.

In 1743 Thomas Boulsover discovered that he could fuse silver to copper and roll it out into sheets which created silver plate. Looking at many history books that would seem like all he did. Indeed looking at his monument in Tudor Square that would seem to be his only achievement, but Boulsovers ingenuity and impact on Sheffield goes much further than that and is entwined with Huntsman.  So who was Boulsover?  

 Thomas was baptised at Ecclesfield Church on the 18th October 1705. He was born in Longley in Bolsover Cottages, to Samuel and  Margaret Boulsover and the third generation to live there since George Boulsover moved there in 1665 from Upperthorpe to farm the  land.  The cottages are still shown on a map in the 1900s next to the workhouses, now the Northern General. The cottages would appear to be where Hucklow Primary school is now.  

 Thomas’s father was both a farmer and a cutler having been apprenticed to William Smith, a cutler in Bellhouses (where Firth Park Library is now) Having a subsidiary occupation as a cutler or smith as well as farming was not unusual.  It must have been pretty cramped as it is known there were 9 children and 2 apprentices and 5 adults living there. Thomas in 1718 at the age of 12 was apprenticed to a friend of Samuels old master, Joseph Fletcher. At the age of 21 Thomas completed his apprenticeship and signed the register at the Cutlers Guild and was given his own mark. Two years later he married and set up his business. They were to go on and have 10 children but only two girls survived into adulthood.

In 1740s Thomas Boulsover moved into new premises on Sycamore Hill now Tudor Square around the area the monument stands. Its hard to imagine what it was like for him then as the area has changed so many times since he lived and worked there. 

Legend has it that Thomas was mending a knife which had silver on it and in order to clamp the knife in tight to the vice he wedged in a copper coin. The silver of the knife being heated ready to be soldered ran onto the copper coin. copper put the coin through a roller and confirmed that it was possible to roll out the copper and silver into a thin plate. Thomas had discovered a new way of coating copper in silver that stayed permanently fused and therefore could produce items that looked like silver but only used a tiny amount of actual silver.  That’s where a lot of the history books stop but the development of the idea into functional silver plate that could be stamped out by steel dies into silver plated buttons and snuff boxes took more work and experimentation till he had a reliable process. As did Huntsman’s and his production of cast steel. 

Boulsover needed cast steel.  Without the application of Huntsman’s innovation it would have been almost impossible to roll fused plate to the requisite standard for larger wares. The technique of rolling was to make the minimum number of passes needed to achieve the thinness of sheet appropriate for cutting, stamping and handicrafting.  Successive passes, although appearing to give greater control in reduction, work-hardened the plate and led to cracking.   Power needed for such heavy rolling could only be provided by horse- or water-driven machinery. Rolling sheet metal was a problem for both Boulsover and Huntsman. Huntsman was finding it difficult to meet demand as well as keep quality up. Boulsover likewise was having trouble meeting demands for larger silver plate articles which needed larger plates and larger more complex dies.  

 In 1757 Thomas bought the Whiteley Wood Hall estate from Strelley  Pegge comprising of the hall  and some 100 acres for £1,360 cash. So was Thomas planning on retirement? He had already lived longer than either his father or grandfather had lived. Thomas had other ideas.  

 The new method of silver plating was beginning to attract attention and investment in the city. However, to make bigger and more elaborate silver plate wear it was obvious that silver smiths from across the country were needed especially from London. One such silversmith was Henry Tudor, a young Welshman trained in London but brought to Sheffield by an Investor. Henry married a relative of Thomas’s wife, a sister. In 1760 Tudor built the first purpose built silver plate works in the area which is now Tudor Square.

 Not all incoming silver smiths were welcomed into Sheffield. The silversmiths were aware that they were in short supply and therefore they demanded higher wages, and even paid holidays.  ” He remembers two braziers who kept hunters, whilst their employers had to depend upon their own feet; and several had the hairdresser to attend them with powder at their respective manufactories in working hours.”      

 Sheffield Plate became famous and fashionable. Benjamin Franklyn on his visit to the area bought a jug which he seems to have been especially fond of, and the prime minister writes of visiting Sheffield and buying two sweet candle sticks. This meant that a lot of investment was coming into Sheffield and also that the term made in Sheffield became a byword for quality, when before cutlers had been eclipsed by London cutlers and silversmiths.

 Sheffield was expanding rapidly financially, and with the newly opened Don Navigation was finding it easier to export its now fashionable cutlery and silver plate  Banks were opened in the town, and Sheffield opened up one of the first assay offices outside London.

 Boulsover, though, had a new idea that would add to Sheffield’s new found status and that involved Whiteley Woods. He devised a new way to set the teeth in a saw which meant that sawmakers no longer had to hammer out the steel so it was at different thicknesses but could be one thickness overall. He combined that with building the first steel rolling mill, and new found skill making crucible steel, and built the world’s first saw factory. Hard to comprehend that this is only briefly mentioned in the history books. Before Boulsover’s innovations Sheffield Saws were made for the local market. With the change in manufacturing creating better quality and cheaper, Sheffield rose in a matter of decades to the principle saw manufacturers in the UK. The innovation of rolling steel using water power probably adapted from Wortley Lower Forge who had invented an iron rolling mill, was to inspire others to follow suit as well as the first  silver rolling mills in Wardsend to roll out silver plate. Boulsover however left silver plating behind and trade indexes give no mention of silverplating. By the mid 1760s he was listed as  one of three major manufacturers of crucible steel, making steel fenders, saws, and spades.  

In 1772 Hannah Boulsover, Thomas’s wife died and was buried in the churchyard of St Paul’s Church on 9 July. The couple had been married for almost 44 years.

 Strangely Boulsover never had any great honour placed upon him. He was never Master Cutler.  Thomas Boulsover died in 1788 at the age of 88 in his Whiteley Wood Home and was buried beside his beloved wife Hannah in St Paul’s Churchyard. His Obituary was short and failed to mention his contributions to Sheffield except his discovery of silver fusing to copper. They didn’t even spell his name correctly.  In 1938 St Pauls Church was demolished.  All burials were removed and placed in a mass grave in Abbey Lane Cemetery. No mention of Thomas Boulsover is on the cross memorial that marks the St Paul’s burials.

 In 1927 there was a move to commemorate Thomas Boulsover in Whiteley woods and a monument was made from some of the stones left from a long demolished works building. It stands there still but strangely Boulsover’s contribution to steel manufacturing and the saw industry is not mentioned.

 Boulsover’s innovations in saw making and steel rolling moved Sheffield from being a town that made a small number of saws to being the top manufacturing town for saws in the UK and Europe. His method of rolling silver plate was to influence John Brown’s armour plate making.

 Let me finish with a quote from Frederick Bradbury who said in 1912

“Perhaps, after all, there was a certain combination of intelligent search, good luck, and what in homely phrase, is called the power to put two and two together. Other businesses that he founded in after life, such as the establishment of rolling mills, manufacture of saws (by the new process of rolling), spades, shovels, etc., should, one would have thought, have handed his memory down to us today as one of the great pioneers of the 18th century commercial industries.”

 My references

The Oldest Sheffield Plater by John and Julia Hatfield (1974) printed by The Advertiser Press Ltd. Premier Works, Paddock Head, Huddersfield

History of Old Sheffield Plate by Frederick Bradbury  (1912) republished (1968) by J.W.  Northend limited, West Street, Sheffield

‘One Great Workshop’: The Buildings of the Sheffield Metal Trades English Heritage 2001

Sheffield and Rotherham Independent June 17^th 1875 “Notes”

Supplement to Sheffield and  Rotherham Independent, Saturday, December 31^st, 1864 (The Invention of Cast Steel, letter by Samuel Mitchell, grandson of Thomas Boulsover)  

Supplement to Sheffield and Rotherham Independent, Saturday, August 21^st 1878 ( Letter complaining about demolition work and neglect of the Whiteley Wood Works)

Supplement to Sheffield and Rotherham Independent, Saturday May 10^th 1879, Notes and Queries  (Firmly stating Hancock was not the inventor or first manufacturer of Silver Plate)

Sheffield Daily Telegraph, Wednesday, Sept 21^st 1927 (Pioneers Memory, Boulsover’s workshops in Whiteley Wood)

The Freedom of Election, The Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire and the Growth of Radicalism in Sheffield, 1784 – 1792 by Julia McDonald,   Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of History, The University of Sheffield August, 2005

Sheffield in the 18^th Century by Robert Eadon Leader, BA., 1901, The Sheffield Independent Press, limited, Fargate. Pawson and Brailsford, Church gates, Sheffield.

Water Power on the Sheffield Rivers (2006) Second revised edition edited by Christine ball, Davis Crossley and Neville Flavell, South Yorkshire Industrial Society.

An enlightenment in Steel? Innovation in the Steel Trades of Eighteenth- Century Britain CHRIS EVANS and ALUN WITHEY  Technology and Culture Vol 53, No3. (July 2012) pp. 533-560 (28 pages) Published By: The Johns Hopkins University Press

A New Year, time for change

“Recovery starts with communities -influencing locally and nationally to make sure that these voices and experiences are heard in every forum and that our plans for recovery and rebuilding learn these lessons”.   (Sheffield City Partnership 2020)

This year has both been one that has been frightening but also inspiring.  From my point of view I have missed my friends and some family members, but I have learned to embrace online meetings, conferences, workshops and history “Webinars.” I have been able to attend conferences that normally I would never have been able to afford to attend and talked to people from all over the world on heritage, disabled access to open spaces, environment, regenerating the high street, and urban planning. One topic keeps coming to the fore and that is the need to support communities.

Throughout the UK community groups have worked hard to see people are being supported. New community groups have formed too as a response in areas where there was no support, or support went when social workers etc were withdrawn or became limited due to the lockdown, or to make PPE, or supply food to those people unable to go shopping or afford food online. Here in Sheffield the Voluntary Sector was up and running in advance of any local authority or national government assistance.

Although it might seem like things have ground to a halt the heritage sector in Sheffield has had many exciting things happening.  The publication of the Castle dig, the report on the Arts and Heritage commissioned by Jarvis, as mayor. The birth of Friends of Darnall Cemetery with over 400 members.  (Friends of many parks have seen a surge in membership.) The completion of Joined up Heritage’s heritage strategy. The reuniting of Museums Sheffield and Sheffield Industrial Museums as one trust again.  Sheffield Heritage Open Days went online with a host of interesting short films, from Wincobank to Underbank, to the General Cemetery and beyond. So many interesting films and Zoom talks have reached a worldwide audience. Many organisations have used great ingenuity in how they have kept in touch and kept up interaction using online quizzes, competitions, pumpkin   carving and trails, fairy doors on trees, painted stones to find and of course online meetings.

 It has also been a trying time for many organisations as the summer would have been the time for many to stage some of their biggest events which would also have brought in revenue. Although the government has given some funding to some organisations the funding is considerably lower than the tax revenue that the government took last year from Heritage and Culture organisations.  Organisations like National Trust have had to lay off considerable number of staff. Many museums like the National Emergency Services Museum and the National Videogame Museum have had to crowdfund to pay for maintenance during Lockdown and restrictions. Losing the Christmas events has been a further blow. At present it’s like hiding in the storm shelter and wondering what the damage will be when we all come out again

A recent YouGov poll revealed that only 9% of Britons want life to return to ‘normal’ after the coronavirus outbreak is over. Many organisations now locally, nationally, and worldwide are looking at ideas to not only rebuild but to make changes so our economy, health and wellbeing is sustainable and how those who live in the more deprived areas and have suffered most from Covid19 can have their environment and health and welfare improved. Many are saying communities need a bigger voice.  At the heart of what communities and economies need is Heritage.

Heritage is our city brand. It makes our city unique. It gives communities an anchor and a feeling of continuity. It serves as a rallying point for communities as illustrated very well re Birley Spa where despite Covid the community has rallied and created ingenious ways of keeping together and yet safe. 

A recent survey found People feel that despite the difficulties of recent times, our solidarity has strengthened – compared to before Covid, twice as many people now believe that as a society we look after each other (rising from 24 to 46 per cent). – Two in three people say it is important to live in an area with a strong sense of community and after months of grassroots local community connections being made, 63 per cent now feel they have the ability to change things around them – an increase of 16 percentage points since February. – Overall, two in three people now feel that we should seize the opportunity to make important changes in our society.  So is everybody ready? Lets make change happen this year.

Locally it is becoming evident in the rise in membership in local Friends of Parks and Heritage organisations. Friends of Darnall Cemetery leapt into existence during Covid lockdown & the work clearing rubbish and mending paths despite restrictions has been stunning. This underlines both the desire and the need to use heritage to create community hubs and continue the work after Covid19 of mutual support and empowerment. This is something that our council has yet to grasp.

“ If the predicted shift to home working continues then strategies that promote and capitalise on distinctive local heritage and landscapes will become paramount. There are also likely to be increased opportunities for health services to be more effectively integrated into the community hub.” Build Back Better, Grimsey 2020

Planning has been uppermost in most organisations’ thoughts whether commercial developer, heritage organisation or community organisations. The idea of demolishing old buildings and replacing them with shiny boxes in the centre makes the city more “modern” is bad environmentally, economically and for the health and wellbeing of the local community. People who have been brought up in Sheffield who now are feeling insecure due to the Pandemic will not return to a centre that is unfamiliar to them, and visitors do not visit a city to see the same bright shiny buildings they have in their own home town.  Developing housing by demolishing old buildings, and putting up new, will create a large carbon footprint that will take decades to mitigate especially as many of the new buildings aren’t energy efficient either.  Energy inefficiency in homes means in Sheffield approximately 760,000 tons of C02 a year (based on Scarlett Westbrooks estimation of C02 use in homes) and that does not include Commercial properties or the amount of C02 used to demolish, clear site, make new building materials and build new buildings. Making old buildings more energy efficient cheaply is something that cities such as Hull and Glasgow are already looking at. Planning for housing should not just be a matter of targets.   That isn’t to say there should be no changes made, just that any city plan has to put environment and people at the forefront of any decision. Having more energy efficient buildings besides being good for the planet reduces costs for those using them. Especially important if low income means high energy costs are preventing you keeping warm in the winter or cooking healthier meals.  

Economically lack of historic identity and community space can impact on those who live in the city, those who work & shop there, and those who might want to live and invest in the city and of course tourism.  It has become obvious with the rise in people living in the city centre that more has to be done to create community networks and hubs. In nearby Kelham Island because apartment blocks are designed for people without families and often for single people, it is hard to create a sustainable community as many move after a short time as personal circumstances require a family home. There is also a shortage of community space both indoors and outdoors. It is not enough to be in a historic quarter. There has to be freely available access to public spaces nearby.  

  Familiar landmarks in a city are like comfort food for the mind. An especially important point when thinking how to encourage people back after the pandemic. There are things that we have no control over such as the closure or downsizing of many of the nationally favourite brands. We are likely to lose Debenhams, Burtons, Peacocks, T J Hughes, possibly even Sainsburys and Marks and Spencers as companies due to higher costs keeping venues open on the High Streets and lower profits due to lower sales as people’s incomes have dropped over last several years when Covid19 hit their businesses were just too fragile to carry on. This is a problem for cities who have built their economic strategies round big names. Towns and cities who have a wider range of local shops are doing much better. The High Street Task Force calls for “localism on steroids” as throughout the country big shopping centres are closing down or struggling financially. It is the local and Independent shops that are most likely to survive. National surveys have found That there is still a desire to go shopping but a wider variety with fewer chain stores is preferred. They are looking for  something a bit different. 

With the change in retail and possibly office working, and the enlarged city centre population there is a push from several organisations to review and improve the city centre experience.   The High Street Task Force and other organisations talk of the need for places of interest to visit in the city both from the city dwellers point of view and the visitors. To me we have a golden opportunity to use the castle site to serve that purpose. I am not alone in that vision.  It should be at the heart of the city’s regeneration as it once was the heart of the city.

“But the heart of Castlegate, the former heart of the city, remains empty. We very much hope that the knowledge of the past, and the lessons to be learned from it, ……………… will help to fill that space with an iconic development that contributes to the future vitality and identity of the city, as the castle itself once did.” ( Sheffield Castle: Archaeology, Archives, Regeneration, 1927-2018,   by Professor John Moreland)

Mazzer Iqbal of Sheffield Council had this to say about Castlegate. (Festival of the Mind 2020)

“The challenge for both developers/owners and those responding to development proposals is to see beyond the immediate constraints and to work together proactively, using flexibility, vision and innovation to find a solution where heritage works for the owner, occupiers, community and environment at large.

When this is done, heritage can overwhelmingly be a creator of quality, differentiation, public interest and footfall – in other words demand, and demand creates value that can make the non-viable, viable and thereby help enable the realisation of some of the broader outcomes we seek to achieve.”

  Grimsey in Build Back Better (2020) talks of a need for a massive shift of power to local communities. He argues that local people must be empowered to redesign their own high streets and have a say on the businesses, services and amenities that occupy it. He states that Local leadership should be selected for having a broad range of dynamic and collaborative skills in order to get the best out of their communities. Collaboration with the council on heritage and community and arts has been sporadic to say the least .

“The lack of a Culture Arts and Heritage Strategy at SCR level was noted by some national funders who commented on ‘uncoordinated and overlapping bids’ ”  (UNLOCKING THE POTENTIAL OF CULTURE, ARTS AND HERITAGE IN SOUTH YORKSHIRE.)

We should be looking at heritage holistically.   The need for a collective identity runs deep within us all. Let’s start with Sheffield’s most important site.

“Place identity is central to many of the questions we are looking at in this report.  ………  It ignites narratives about a town becoming a ‘dumping ground’. It can lead to a siege mentality or to low trust, feeding populist rhetoric about ‘liberal elites’ who do not value ordinary places. It explains why even fairly cosmetic issues – around litter in the high street or ‘eyesore gardens’ – become totemic .  But if a place is confident in itself then it tends to be more able to welcome others and absorb change; more likely to see these things as proof of the area’s positive centre of gravity” (Britains Choice 2020)

Castlegate could be a game changer for Sheffield. Further investigation and careful development that highlights the historical significance and creates a focal point for Heritage and Culture  that would bring in visitors, boost morale, and change the area from a rundown scary place to a bustling area. The report on Culture and Arts for South Yorkshire has called for more focus. Castlegate has within that small area the story of the birth of the city. Nowhere else can do that.  It links historically to other local sites and nearby tourist sites through the history of the Talbots and Mary Queen of Scots. I know from my blog that the post that is looked at most frequently by a worldwide audience is the one on Mary Queen of Scots written by David Templeman. It is no accident that the new spa museum in Buxton has a display about Mary Queen of Scots visits to the Spa. It seems everywhere but Sheffield will mention their Mary Queen of Scots connection. 

“  If the strong attractions of the area were combined with a strong narrative and good marketing this could help grow the visitor economy as well as the CAH sector”  (UNLOCKING THE POTENTIAL OF CULTURE, ARTS AND HERITAGE IN SOUTH YORKSHIRE.)

Funding is significantly lower for Heritage and the Arts in the Sheffield Region, than other Northern areas, around £18 a head from National Lottery as opposed to £30 across the North and Arts Council funding is £15 per head as opposed to £27 per head. The low level of funding prevents Culture and Heritage from expanding as the funding is too low to enable organisations to develop the structure needed to be self-sustaining organisations. Sheffield Council’s lack of heritage strategy doesn’t help and its patriarchal response to communities wishing to take control of their local council owned heritage has lost the Sheffield quite possibly £millions over the years. It has also hampered communities responding to the pandemic.  Covid 19 has highlighted the need for strong community groups to be able to direct help where it is needed. Castlegate at present has no community hub, no public space for its residents.   

We need CAH (Culture & Heritage) to be not just a charity but a job creator. At present Culture and Heritage supplies around 3’000 jobs within the cultural sector itself and supports another 3’500 jobs and is worth around £200 million a year to the local economy. That is small compared to other city regions.

 With the new funding of £13.5million  SCC has been given to improve Fargate and the High Street, the obvious move would be to put in a bid for heritage funding to  create an attraction that complements the improvements, but also kicks starts  the promotion of Sheffield’s Heritage and Culture throughout the city and beyond.

https://www.commonplace.is/blog/the-roi-of-better-community-engagement

https://www.sheffieldcitypartnership.org/scp-reports

https://www.highstreetstaskforce.org.uk/transformation-routemap-webinars/reinventing-making-vital-and-viable-multifunctional-hubs-5-5/

https://www.britainschoice.uk/

http://www.civicvoice.org.uk/campaigns/save-our-high-streets/

https://historicengland.org.uk/research/heritage-counts/2016-heritage-and-place-branding/case-studies/

Click to access Sheffield-CR-Culture-Arts-and-Heritage-Report-final.pdf

https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/archaeology/sheffield-castle/sheffield-castle-book

Castlegate Sheffield: Excavating the Past; Building the Future – Film

Draft Heritage Strategy for Sheffield – Update

Sheffield’s Heritage. A matter of Life and Death?

Happy New Year.

To say 2020 is going to be a challenging year is probably an understatement as EU funding stops on many local projects, council funding drops still further, and our council’s relationship with National heritage funders shaky to say the least.

Communities are losing their anchorage points, the distinctive character of their area, and their safe community spaces, leaving people feeling angry, frustrated and disorientated. Often only a few buildings remain as a reminder of the origins of their neighbourhood, and most of them are in public ownership. This causes problems for the local population that seems to have been ignored by planners and local authorities. Too often those that complain about their local historic buildings being demolished are seen as Luddites with no real understanding of where priorities should lie.  But all people, whatever their income, need a central focus in their communities, a rallying point.

Nationally over 4’000 publicly owned buildings and spaces are being sold off every year.  Research indicates that the inclusion of a well used community building is important to the local population’s  health and social cohesion.  When social cohesion is poor, people reduce the time they spend in public settings and stay in their “safe houses”. Social networks weaken. Crime rises. People grow more isolated. Distrust rises and civic participation wanes.

 

Nine million people in the UK suffer from loneliness. Loneliness is linked to early deaths, an increased risk of coronary heart disease and stroke; depression, and Alzheimer’s. Lonely older people are 1.8 times more likely to visit their GP, 1.6 times more likely to visit A&E and 3.5 times more likely to enter local authority-funded residential care, costing health and social care services over £6’000 per person over 10 years.

 

The links to youth violence rests on the youth’s perception on the degree of safety, social stability and social cohesion that exists within the immediate community. In other words the young  need a strong social infrastructure yet Councils have closed more than 500 children’s centres since 2010.  The closure of youth clubs over the past few years combines with a battery of cuts to youth services that have left disadvantaged teenagers isolated as the centres lay derelict or sold off to private developers. All these cuts coupled with drop in income in already deprived areas has meant that people have no area to meet. People don’t get to know who lives in their neighbourhood. No one knocks on the door if they haven’t seen them for some time. No one offers a lonely teenager a kind word.

 

Sheffield is a tough city and has learnt to take the blows and fight back. In many old buildings the community is busy working with people on fighting knife crime, combating loneliness, being creative, educational, improving lifestyles, and just having fun. I have walked into several and the atmosphere is always magic. Its positive and its vibrant. Across the city heritage mainly Council owned have become of central importance to the community. Meersbrook Hall, Bishops House, Abbeyfield House, Birley Spa, Wardsend Cemetery and the General Cemetery.

 

Birley Spa

But they are all under threat as they have no legal standing in the buildings. Many are in effect squatting, even though they are working  in partnership with organisations such as social services, GPs and WEA. At any time the Council could close them down. This seriously limits the groups’ fundraising abilities. The refusal by the Council to allow Community asset transfer or long term leases may result in the collapse of many organisations and the social care they provide, which in a time of serious underfunding seems incomprehensible. To give control to community organisations would save the Council money on running costs and repairs. Research shows that community enterprises have a high rate of success. So have to ask why is Sheffield Council determined to sell off to private developers with no known track record and who are statistically more likely to fail than community organisations?

Sheffield’s Core Strategy states the Council’s objective of preserving and enhancing buildings and areas that are attractive, distinctive or of heritage value. But what is of heritage value? Historic England cites that for a building to be listed it has to be of a specific architectural or historic interest of national interest. Industrial Heritage and worker’s accommodation was and still is very much considered of low status when it comes to financial support. Recently the Government granted £7.6m to the Wentworth Woodhouse stately home, whereas most grants rarely reach the £1m level in South Yorkshire. National survey data for England shows that even before the main impact of austerity, community organisations in the coalfields reported that they were seriously underfunded.  There would appear to be a cultural snobbery that even local councillors are infected with, and that is that Northern working culture and heritage is not worth as much as preserving wealthy people’s homes. This lack of pride in our local distinctive culture in turn devalues the people whose history it represents.

 

One problem is there has been no clear value placed on the value of such heritage assets from a health and crime reduction point of view, so it is hard to compare the monetary value of selling off or demolishing and building on the site with the community value. The Council’s attitude to heritage would seem to be that heritage is an eyesore, and that conservation areas are a block to regeneration.

 

In last few years we have seen the Council permit the demolition of a the listed Jessop wing despite its importance to women’s history and the thousands of ordinary Sheffielders born there. Also the loss of the interior of a hotel important to world soccer’s history. Much of the waterways industrial archaeology is disappearing without comment. Several heritage buildings are in danger of being demolished, façaded or interiors gutted, so no real heritage connections are left for people to feel and respond to. This makes no sense environmentally, or economically or considers the importance people attach to heritage. Not just local people but tourists. The closure of the Tourist office speaks volumes as to how councillors see Sheffield’s tourism potential. As Sheffield’s Museums and Galleries struggle to survive financially it has to be asked how the Council foresees their survival without the increase in revenues that tourism brings.

 

The potential change of governance in Sheffield’s Council gives hope to many that the present narrow view of community involvement, regeneration and heritage caused by decision making being done by a handful of councillors, who due to staffing cuts lack expert advice. It has led to many quick fix solutions being passed in planning, and also re council owned buildings, without consideration of the long term consequences or consultation of experts within the community.  There has been a marked tendency to compartmentalise community, health and wellbeing, crime prevention, regeneration and heritage into separate boxes. That is proving disastrous for our city.

 

With the hardships our city faces we cannot afford to bulldoze the assets we have and to kill off our community projects, and along with it quite possibly our vulnerable people. We need to take a stand to protect our community resources and our city’s resources. To encourage tourism and investment from people who want to live in the city because of its communities and heritage.  We need to get together and push for change.

references

https://www.centreforwelfarereform.org/library/know-your-place.html

https://www.centreforwelfarereform.org/library/heritage-is-an-asset.html