Bowden Housteads Woods
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Bowden Housteads Woods are situated between Darnall and Handsworth, Sheffield. the woods are encircled by Sheffield Outer Ring Road, Sheffield Parkway and Handsworth Road.
The woods are classified as ancient woodlands, having been in existence since the 1600s, the Car Brook flows through the wooded area. Spring brings a carpet of bluebells.
The 1853 Odnance Survey map of the area [1] shows a sandstone quarry within the woods. (Many of Handsworth's older buildings were constructed using the yellow sandstone from this quarry and two others in the district[2] ). A well ("Shilling Well"[2] ) is also shown on this map, close to the junction of the woods with Clifton Square and what is now Handsworth Road (originally Main Road). The 1900 map [3], however, shows neither of these features.
From the mid 19th century to the mid 20th century, part of the woods (now the site of the Asda Supermarket) was occupied by the Fisher Son and Sibray Nurseries and the land upon which the adjacent Triangle Estate now stands, was also once part on the woods, many of its streets are named after types of trees; Larch Hill, Willow Drive, Maple Grove and Chestnut Avenue.[2].
Local miners built an open air swimming pool in the woods in 1926. It was fed by waters from a natural spring and surrounded by a fence comprised of old railway sleepers. Alterations to the Sheffield Parkway, with the addition of the Mosborough link in 1990, included the construction of a new roundabout on the site of the old pool [2].
[edit] References
- ^ title=Ordnance survey of England, Sheet 20 , Sheffield |publisher=Ordnance Survey |location=Southampton
- ^ a b c d Gillot, Sandra. Images of England: Handsworth. Stroud: Tempus Publishing Ltd.
- ^ title=Ordnance Survey of England: Sheffield and the Peak |publisher=Ordnance Survey |location=Southampton
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