Category Archives: Uncategorized

Gilcrest Wood

Posted on by
1

This area of local green space has had a number of names over the centuries: maps from the 1700s indicate it was known as Goulhirst or Gallhirst, (perhaps linking to Goole/Gold as in Goole Green). More recently, the area was named by local people as  Bluebell Wood, The Meadow and simply The Field. Its official name, according to the local authority, is Crimicar Lane Open Space. In 2013, a local group formed to take care of this precious area and, in keeping with historical records, have adopted the name Gilcrest Wood and Meadow. For more information, here’s a link to their website: https://www.fogwam.org/

 

Record of FHG Meeting 21/3/24

Posted on by
1

Record of FULWOOD HISTORY GROUP MEETING 22nd March 2024

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

  1. General discussion around trails, tracks, holloways, desire paths with reference to recent talk given on Packhorse Routes of the Rivelin Area by Melanie Fitzgerald of Heritage Highways; also discussed current measures taken to manage water around Hallamshire, Chorley Roads and Slayleigh area; local brickworks and quarries – see Ranmoor Historical Society notes for August 2022
  2. AC shared Upper Hallam sections of Scurlfield’s 1986 reconstructed map of John Harrison’s 1637 An Exact and Perfect Survey of the Manor of Sheffield; many interesting features were pored over, e.g., Burnt Stones – theories around name relate to William the Conqueror and (more likely), that iron smelting took place in the area and Hell Hole – see page 54 of Hall’s More of the Mayfield Valley (1974); Link to Scurfield’s full article in the Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, vol 58, pp147-173
  3. AC shared Ronksley’s 1908 transcription of Harrison’s 1637 survey
  4. JB asked group to add to FHG website post about Stumperlowe Mansions visit on 10th March
  5. AC shared map from early 19th century(?) showing area around Ringinglow Road which fell into Derbyshire at that time
  6. Brooklands Tennis Club – formerly at numbers 45/47 Brooklands Avenue; KP exploring history of site; led to discussion of newspapers/journalism, focus of articles and how this evolved over turn of 19th/20th centuries
  7. CM shared article he’s written about Fulwood Skiing Club: he will send it to ML for publication on FHG website
  8. HoD – sport and recreation in Fulwood 
      1. Hallam Grange Tennis Club
      2. Fulwood Sports Club
      3. Brooklands Tennis Club
      4. Dixons’ and Rogers’ sports grounds opposite the Guild Hall
      5. Bowling Green House
      6. Old Fulwood Road – tennis courts and sports associated with Hammer & Pincers
      7. Forge Dam – skating, swimming and diving
      8. Wire Mill Dam – model boat racing; concrete blocks which were used to support staging for this are still in situ
      9. See Ranmoor Historical Society notes August 2022 for article on this subject

9. DM shared the collection of Fulwood Society documents he introduced in last month’s meeting; JB and AC borrowing them until next meeting

10. KP asked about stone markers he’d come across on a footbath leading between Cottage Lane and Ringinglow Road inscribed with letters SEO and EH; referred to as boundary markers on p. 99 of JB’s Dog Walks book – perhaps connected with nearby reservoirs; also curious markers embedded in field adjoining ‘Waggy’s Field’ on Whiteley Woods Road: https://www.sheffieldhistory.co.uk/forums/topic/17938-anyone-know-what-this-is/?do=findComment&comment=155394 Any info on the purposes of these would be great

Next meeting: 18th April 2024

Record of FHG meeting 15/2/24

Posted on by
Reply

Record of FULWOOD HISTORY GROUP MEETING 15th February 2024

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

  • KP shared George Cunningham painting depicting Brookhouse Hill1920; discussion of its houses, shops and cottages
  • DM shared selection of documents from the Fulwood Society which have come into his possession; included minutes of meetings, map, writing of Muriel Hall; decision made that after FHG members have had opportunity to look through the papers, they will be passed on to Sheffield City Archives as a revokable loan
  • KP shared 1908 map of Nether Green shops area; sparked DM memory of Woodward’s Electrical shop from 1940s/50s
  • Forge Dam boating lake rescue: photo shared by DA and people involved remembered by DM
  • Stumperlowe Mansions – see December meeting notes – ML organising visit for 10th March
  • Heritage Open Days September 2024: theme is Routes, Networks, Connections e.g. transport routes, communication networks, trade unions and social clubs; agreed FHG theme of Fulwood’s sports clubs, beginning at Hallam Grange Sports Club, and finishing at Old Fulwood Road
  • Mi Amigo Flypast 22nd February; discussion of the memorial
  • ML told us about U3A archaeology group he is organising; led to JP telling us about Broomhill Library’s Percy Caine garden and Uni of Sheffield’s Roots and Futures project
  • KP suggested coffee mornings which could be way of reaching out to community
  • Next meeting: 21st February 2024

Record of FHG meeting 18/1/24

Posted on by
Reply

 FULWOOD HISTORY GROUP MEETING 19th January 2024

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

  1. Website payment settled with thanks to AC
  2. Sheffield Heritage Fair 2025: KP suggested combined stall with Ranmoor Society
  3. Heritage Open Days September 2024: theme is Routes, Networks, Connections e.g. transport routes, communication networks, trade unions and social clubs; initial ideas shared e.g.
    • guided walk with suitability for groups of people
    • based around shops
    • Forge Dam
    • Woofindin area
    • A walk round the block with FHG
    • Where roads/lanes meet (e.g. Fulwood Road, Brookhouse Hill area)
    • Fulwood’s lost greens
    • Fulwood’s sports clubs

4.  A.C. shared c1935 map of area which sparked discussion around:

  • development of northern suburbs of Fulwood
  • Lodge Moor Hall
  • the Black Brook and Elliot stone
  • the Oak Brook
  • Crimicar Lane Hospital
  • sewage/waterworks across the area

5. KP. shared information about Gilcrest wood – building on last month’s discussion:

  • plans relating to land purchases around 1900s with view to building development which wasn’t realised
  • Castlewood Drive area development in 1930s
  • variations in naming for this area – 1700s Goulhirst, Gallhirst and Gilcrest and links to Goole/Gold
  • air raid shelter built into the slope of the land which was lost beneath 1980s housing on Canterbury Crescent

6. Involvement of Rotherham-based solicitors in land transactions noted

7. JB. shared extract from Reminiscences of Henry Coward (1919) which recalls performance for Plimsoll at Whiteley Woods Hall, probably around 1866

8. A.C. shared photos showing Fulwood area in past times

9. Everyone agreed wording to accompany AC’s article in Fulwood Messenger; led to discussion of Fulwood Chapel and when it was a boarding school run by the Misses Rhodes around 1880s

10. Website development

11. Everyone encouraged to contribute articles etc. to website

12. Reviewing chapters of KP’s book

13. Next meeting: 15th February 2024

A bit of local history from the 1960s

Posted on by
Reply
Life is full of surprises! Yesterday, this  message popped into my Scout Group eMail from Rob Bishop who grew up in Fulwood. I wonder who else remembers the Jumble Sales, apart from Rob and me?
 
Hello 142nd Fulwood Scouts,
I recently stumbled across your website by reading your URL: from the front door of the Scout Hut on Google Earth. I was a member of the 142nd from 1962 to 1968 until I went off to university. I could write a book about the influence and benefits that my scouting experience had on my life.
My father, Arthur Bishop, was an architect and it was he who designed the new Scout Hut that you mention moving into in 1968 in your “History.” When he passed away in 2006, I remember finding a set of the plans he had prepared amongst his effects.
This new hut was the result of a very long fund-raising campaign. Every year at Easter or “half-term,” we held a Jumble Sale in the Guild Hall. For the week ahead, we scouts would go out every day canvassing for donations from households in roughly your current “catchment area.” It was organized with military precision to make sure we covered every street. Some donations we brought back immediately on a hand cart. Larger items were collected by parents in the evening. On the Friday evening, the items were sorted and laid out on tables or hung on racks in the Hall. They filled the main floor, the stage and the basement and usually overflowed into the old Nissan Hut that stood on the site of the eventual new Scout Hut. It was a well-known annual event in Sheffield at the time and on the day of the sale (Saturday), people started lining up at 7am to wait for the doors to open. Many of them were second hand dealers and when the doors opened, they would run to the tables containing their specialty items to get first pick. Scouts and parents would oversee the tables and haggle with the customers from 9am to mid-afternoon and then a scrap merchant would come in and buy everything remaining. If memory serves, by 1966/7 we had reached a certain target and were able to get some type of grant to top up the funds to the amount needed to build the hut.
Ironically, I headed to university in 1968 and only visited the new hut a few times before I emigrated to Canada in 1971. It’s good to see it still exists although in a modified format. I was also very surprised to read that the Guild Hall had been turned into a private residence. Lots of fond memories of that place including almost getting annihilated playing British Bulldogs at my first Scout meeting! All the best, Rob Bishop.