Record of FULWOOD HISTORY GROUP MEETING 17^th July 2025

Present: D.A., J.B., G.C., M.L., C.M., D.M., K.P., J.P.

This was our second summer meeting on the top field at Forge Dam

1. History & background of G.C.’s house on School Green Lane and how it had been developed
2. Recent arson at Fulwood House which has caused significant damage to the building
3. DM told us about a folder of information collected over the years by owners of former Hammer & Pincers pub on Old Fulwood Road
4. KP led us on a walk around Brookhouse Hill and lower Chorley Road
5. Next meeting tbc

Record of FULWOOD HISTORY GROUP MEETING 19^th June 2025

Present: D.A., J.B., A.C., G.C., S.C., R.F., A.H., C.M., K.P., J.P.

We met on the top field at Forge Dam

• History & background of land relating to Forge Dam field and lower Brookhouse Hill
  • Whitelely Lane, known as Chapel Lane, had been widened in the length fronting the chapel and graves were removed from this space – when was this?
  • A quarry had occupied space we were seated on – late 19^th and early 20^th centuries – the entrance had been somewhere just below Brook House
  • The Hancock family of builders had a plan for substantial area housing in this space; Hancock went bust in early 30s J.G. Graves Trust bought the land, so it was protected from development
  • See Pitchforth From Village to Suburb photo ‘Looking up Brookhouse Hill about 1920’, p.125, ‘School Green Lane and Whiteley Lane’ p149, ‘Continuous Change’, p.157
  • AC had discovered a Sale notice: MINATURE GOLF COURSE AND TENNIS COURTS at FULWOOD and WHITELEY, SHEFFIELD: which covered an area bordered by Whiteley Lane, Quiet Lane and Brookhouse Hill. It refers to ‘the WHITELEY WOOD MINATURE GOLF COURSE and 2 HARD TENNIS COURTS and small Hut’ and that it ‘forms an excellent site for a public institution, or the erection of Villa Residences’
    • There had been tennis courts in the 1930s on the raised section of the field, but they could have belonged to the houses built there – not public
    • Mini golf may have taken place on the lower area of field next to lower Brookhouse Hill (Lea Lane)
  • Was the field used for allotments during WWII?
  • There had been an orchard in the area where Muriel Hall’s bungalow was  built; MH’s bungalow has been extensively redeveloped

1850s Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

1938/47 Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

• JB shared information from an enquiry sparked by a postcard from July 1908 sent by Florence Wilson nee Dixon of Stumperlowe Hall and then Tapton Hall; Florence addressed the card ‘Fulwood House’ – where her brother James was living at the time; it was sent to a what seems to have been a friend, (Ada Nicholson), who lived in Manchester; see KP’s post about Fulwood Hall on this website
• GC shared childhood memories of Tapton Hall, particularly its water feature, (fed by the Oak Brook) and the substantial trout it contained
• AC’s Substack piece on Brook House is available here: https://alancrutch.substack.com/p/brookhouse-brook-house
• AC then led us on an exploration of the cluster of buildings where Brookhouse Hill meets Whiteley Lane which include Brookhouse Farm, Brook House, Brook Lea, Brook Lodge and the former coffee house (Brook Cottage?). He told us about the people who lived in this area known as ‘Brook House’, (recorded in the late 1700s ‘Brook Hause’) or ‘Brook House Green’. ‘Brook House’ did not refer to one building, as it does now, but to a whole area or hamlet. Crimicar Lane was recorded as Brook House Green in the 1850s.
• KP’s post about 127 Brookhouse Hill explores the upper end of this road
• We walked up to the Ale Club, noting the ‘DANCE’ inscription
• See also: https://alancrutch.substack.com/p/dry-fulwood which includes history of the Fulwood shops area.

• Next meeting tbc

Record of FULWOOD HISTORY GROUP MEETING 29^th MAY 2025

Present: J.B., A.H., M.L., C.M., D.M.

This month’s meeting took the form of a walk to explore ideas for September’s Heritage Open Days theme of architecture. This is the route we took:

1. Old Fulwood Road: former Hammer and Pincers/smithy c. late 18^th century cottage?
2. Woofindin Road: comparison with modernist building[1] and attitudes towards ‘old’/’modern’ architecture (p. 63 Pitchforth 2024[2]), urban exploration and its contribution to heritage, former NHS building fire 23^rd May
3. Across road to Slayleigh Lane:
   • wooden supports under eaves of houses lining Fulwood Road (modillions?)
   • Newfield Court (date?) on site of former parsonage
4. Stumperlowe Mansions (late 1930s) modernism e.g. clean lines, use of steel & brick (from local brickworks?), symmetry, verandas with S decoration, design of entrance and windows; concierge and vicarage wall/remains of garden (pp 168-9 Pitchforth 2024[3])
5. Continuing along Slayleigh Lane up to Stumperlowe Lane: houses in very similar style to Stumperlowe Mansions scattered around this area – built at same time/same architect?
6. Moving up Stumplerlowe Lane into area of former farmland, farms and cottages
7. Stumperlowe Grange – view of long driveway; Broom Lawn built on its land
8. Onto Stumperlowe Hall Road with an entrance to Stumperlowe Hall – design carved into gateposts based on castle arrow slits; differences in brickwork suggesting changes to entrance; guardstones
9. Side of Stumperlowe Grange with stained glass and date of 1863; its outbuildings e.g. Appleby House
10. Across road and complex of buildings which were part of Stumperlowe Hall estate: Stumper Lea, cottages – one with cruck, gateposts
11. Noted frequency of buildings in area names referencing trees
12. Tall chimney of Deepdene
13. Demolition and rebuild of houses in area
14. Pause at junction of Stumperlowe Crescent Road: view of range of architectural styles – Arts and Crafts; original distinctive style of trellis
15. House set back in trees near crest of hill: similar style to Stumperlowe Mansions; view of Ranmoor spire somewhere here?
16. Following Stumperlowe Hall Road round with Griffin Sick over wall in grounds of Stumperlowe View Farm
17. Range of architectural styles visible from this junction of Stumperlowe Hall Road and Chorley Road, incl. contemporary, 2-year-old house which follows earlier styles – details of brickwork
18. Following Stumperlowe Hall Road a little further up to catch site of Stumperlowe View Farm and gennel which follows old footpath which leads into Upper Ranmoor
19. Back down to dip of road junctions and then follow ascent of Chorley Road with new builds
20. Great Gilling with its stone face; Highlow; Stone Delf referencing former quarry
21. Towards junction with Slayleigh Lane and on Slayleigh Lane itself: houses reminiscent of Metroland style with their arched doorways
22. Down Slayleigh Lane with Fulwood Sports Club and Bowling Club Pavilions c.1911
23. House with raised roof
24. Meeting junction with Stumperlowe Hall Road and view of Stumperlowe Hall main entrance – note avenue of trees leading up to entrance,
25. Down Stumperlowe Hall Road towards Fulwood Road: herringbone brickwork, former Bowling Green House at number 97
26. Windy Corner/Arthwadson House which was showhouse for 1930s Arthwadson estate (pp 166-8 Pitchforth 2024[4])
27. Good view of Guild Hall and Storth Cottage from this finishing point

Architectural info: terrace, cottage, villa, semi-detached, detached, Tudorbethan – beginning in the Edwardian era, continuing through the 1920s and 1930s, ‘debilitated Queen Anne style’[5], Illustrated Glossary of Architectural Terms, Glossary of Architectural terms,

Next month’s meeting 19^th June at Broomhill Library tbc.

[1] For information about Sheffield’s modernist buildings: https://modernmooch.com/

[2] Pitchforth, K. (2024). From Village to Suburb. A History of Fulwood between 1880 and 1940. Arc Publishing

[3] ibid

[4] ibid

[5] Page 21, Edwards, A. 1981. The Design of Suburbia. Pembridge Press

Record of FULWOOD HISTORY GROUP MEETING 17th April 2025 

Present: D.A., J.B., M.G., M.L., C.M., D.M., K.P. 

This month’s meeting took the form of a dry run for JB’s forthcoming ‘walking talk’ –  

‘A pie and a pint with the residents of Ranmoor Market Place 1880-1919′ as part of the Scissors, Paper, Stone community project.  

We explored the length of Fulwood Road from the Bull’s Head to the Ranmoor Inn. This included: 

• The gennel running on the west side of the Bull’s Head 

• The Bull’s Head  

• Marr Terrace 

• The shops either side of Deakin’s Walk 

• Ranmoor Terrace 

• Ranmoor Inn 

Next month’s meeting 15th May at Broomhill Library 

Record of FULWOOD HISTORY GROUP MEETING 27^th March 2025

Present: D.A., J.B., A.C., M.L., C.M., J.P., K.P.

Discussion included:

1. A walk C.M. had undertaken with G. Hague around the loop of the Clarendon Road in the area formerly known as the Machon House/Fulwood Estate which was developed over the 1920s-30s (see pages 128-132 of KP’s From Village to Suburb: A History of Fulwood between 1880 and 1940); varied designs of houses remarked upon
2. James Hayton Stainton, reporter, writer, local historian and artist whose book Past Chapters in Sheffield History was published in 1918
3. Cabin on Canterbury Crescent: originally a shed for tram drivers after tram extended to Canterbury Crescent in 1921, later a sweetshop/newsagent; is it listed? Should it be?
4. ML’s involvement with archaeology and forthcoming event – Redmires POW Camp: Excavating History
5. Edward Carpenter and his connection to Freeman College and Orwell’s comments
6. Local gardeners theme from last month’s meeting:

• Stocks family of horticulturalists who were gardeners to Henry Dixon of Stumperlowe Hall; buried in Fulwood churchyard
• Link between private/jobbing gardeners and growth of suburban housing with its gardens and acceptability/prestige associated with well-tended lawns and beds (similar to prestige attached to having a domestic servant); previously, gardeners would have been attached to substantial villas and mansions

7. Forthcoming 80^th anniversary of VE Day: DA recording his mother’s memories; could be a wider project after this
8. AC’s communication with J. Hancock via the FHG website in response to his article
9. KP suggestion of FHG book collaboration: Aspects of Sheffield?
10. Role of firms in controlling their workers e.g. through sport, developing reliance on the firm, temperance, church, social events, arts in order to avoid political unrest and comply with middle class values – see Reid, C. (1976). Middle Class Values and Working Class Culture in Nineteenth Century Sheffield – The Pursuit of Respectability.
11. Report shared by ML relating to Roman and Medieval archaeology in the area around School Green Lane; written by R.D.Y. Perrett, the report dates from 1960; the material would be a good candidate for further investigation in the form of a walk in the months ahead; linked to ley-lines and thoughts about these     
12. The wall running along Oakbrook Road
13. Lower Chorley Road – the location of picture on page 65 of KP’s book cited above.
14. CM’s query about Chorley Road entrance to Fulwood churchyard – stonework, bay and large gateposts suggest it was wider and more significant in the past, perhaps for carriages to pull in; led to discussion of the graveyard and how it was extended in the 1880s with its retaining wall and also DA’s childhood recollections of seeing graves being dug and of vaults. 1903
15. Carvings/inscriptions on walls such as DANCE at two sites in Fulwood, (appeared after the 1990s?), and RAIN at Black Swan Walk in city centre       

Next meeting at Ranmoor Market/Ranmoor Inn 17th April

Record of FULWOOD HISTORY GROUP MEETING 20^th February 2025

Present: D.A., J.B., A.C., M.G., M.L., C.M., J.P., K.P.

1. MG asked for suggestions, thoughts etc. re forthcoming Wills Workshop for the Scissors, Paper, Stone community history project; included discussion of organisation of session, gathering and using qualitative/quantitative information, processes of historical research, ethics of using historical documents

2. Linked to Scissors, Paper, Stone, KP shared findings of research into Fulwood’s Chorley Street & Ranmoor’s Marr Terrace – comparisons of residents’ occupations, builders, land owners etc.

3. Discussion of relationships between employers and domestic staff, (linked to wills above), which broadened into discussion of social class

4. JB shared print by local artist of King Edward VII sportsground at Whiteley Woods aka ‘Waggy’s Field’; the images below are from John Cornwell’s 2005 book King Ted’s A Biography of King Edward VII School Sheffield 1905-2005

5. CM asked about the roller near Whiteley Green used as a step: see pages 53-4 of Porter Valley Landscape History and Archaeology; Final Report. April 2004

6. KP shared information about the Stocks family of gardeners and horticulturalists

7. JB shared information about the National Centre for English Cultural Tradition (NATCECT) – its archives are held at Sheffield University Library and are accessible to the public via appointment

8. Next meeting March 20^th at Broomhill Library

Record of FULWOOD HISTORY GROUP MEETING 16^th January 2025

Present: D.A., J.B., A.C., G.C., A.H., M.G., M.L., C.M., D.M., J.P., K.P.

Our first meeting of 2025 took place upstairs and included:

1. Welcome & introductions to two new members who joined us this evening

2. AC: discussed maps and plans relating to forthcoming group visit to Fullwood Hall grounds to investigate the reason for a local belief that there was once a ‘tunnel’ between Bennet Grange and Fullwood Hall; investigation of Fullwood Hall field to be arranged for later this month (AC)

3. DA shared copies of a colleague’s photos and press clippings relating to his family who lived in Fulwood in the 20^th century; these included:

• Percy Lawson & Edith Hancock c.1930
• Golf Cottage at top of Crimicar Lane
• Ocean View Guesthouse
• Fullwood Show early 1940s

4. Maps/documents/discussion relating to development of housing on School Green Lane

5. Group split into discussions around various topics including:

• Scissors, Paper, Stone project
• Whitham Road and its development/links to Crookes Rd and Fulwood Rd
• Fulwood Spa
• Local streams, brooks and underground waterways and their impact on Fulwood’s suburban landscape – land slippage etc.

6. JB & AC’s visit to Sheffield City Archives earlier in week which included a look at:

• Plimsoll Letters Patent
• various items from the Fairbank Collection

7. KP will follow up re transfer of Fulwood Church archive to Sheffield City Archives. DM/JB to follow up re passing Fulwood Society documents to Sheffield City Archives after AC has completed cataloguing them

8. Next meeting February20^th at Broomhill Library

Record of FULWOOD HISTORY GROUP MEETING 19^th December 2024

Present: J.B., A.C., M.L., C.M., D.M., J.P., K.P.

 Our final meeting of 2024 included discussion of:

1. FHG’s social media and agreement to continue with website
2. Developing links with other local groups, how they’re organised and comparison with FHG
3. Whiteley Green area including Whiteley Woods Hall, Stanley Royle and the ‘stone-roller re-used as a gate-stoop…likely used during the Victorian Period for agricultural purposes, such as clod-crushing, compressing soils prior to sowing, and smoothing grasslands’ Pp.43-4 Porter Valley Landscape History Final Report. Ardron Unified Landscape Assessments. April 2004. https://www.fopv.org.uk/shop?Category=Reports
4. Maps of the area dating to 1960s which the National Library of Scotland has added to their database recently
5. Sheffield City Archives’ recent acquisitions: A Volume of Maps of the Township of Upper Hallam, Wm. Fairbank II, 1795 and Plans, Valuation and Descriptions of Houses, Warehouses and Workshops situate in the Township of Ecclesall Bierlow’, 1842
6. The Crookesmoor Racecourse and how it passed through the Broomhill Library site
7. D. M. shared several items he’d brought:
   1. Tradespeople in Sheffield, a directory of 1789; this sparked discussion of terms such as ‘anvilling’, hammering and smiths
   2. Walks in the Neighbourhood of Sheffield. Book published by Leader in 1830
   3. Report of the Sheffield Waterworks Failure Dale Dike or Bradfield Reservoir, May 1864; this included a record of the enquiry along with maps and diagrams

8. Next meeting January 19^th (tbc) at Broomhill Library
9. Proposed visit to Sheffield City Archive in January – tbc

Record of FULWOOD HISTORY GROUP MEETING 21^st November 2024

Present: D.A., J.B., A.C., M.G., M.L., D.M., K.P., J.P.

1. This was the first meeting to take place at Broomhill Library since the early summer and we began with a look back at events etc. over the last few months including:

• MG’s recent talk for the Ranmoor Society: Who Built St John’s Church?
• FHG stall at Fulwood shops which took place the previous Saturday 16^th
• Recent publication of KP’s book From Village to Suburb: A history of Fulwood between 1880 and 1940

2. We studied a set of BT maps of the area DM had brought dating from the 1950s/late 1960s:

3. There was discussion of the conduit, and its small stone ‘stiles’ which could have supported the waterpipes; here’s a link to Ranmoor Society notes on the conduit and Hidden Sheffield Walks may also have information
4. We talked about ethical issues associated with historical research
5. General discussion included:

• Comparisons between the trades of bricklaying and stonemasonry, from past and present perspectives
• A look at DM’s book Wall-to-Wall History: The Story of Roystone Grange. R. Hodges (1991)
• Styles of Sheffield church architecture
• Sheffield’s connection with the Titantic
• Scissors, Paper, Stone project
• Wills as historical sources

6. Next meeting December 19^th at Broomhill Library