Wadsley

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Wadsley
Wadsley shown within Sheffield
Population	5,631[1]
OS grid reference	SK321905
Metropolitan borough	Sheffield
Metropolitan county	South Yorkshire
Region	Yorkshire and the Humber
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	SHEFFIELD
Postcode district	S6
Dialling code	0114
Police	South Yorkshire
Fire	South Yorkshire
Ambulance	Yorkshire
European Parliament	Yorkshire and the Humber
UK Parliament	Sheffield Hillsborough
List of places: UK • England • Yorkshire

Coordinates: 53°25′N 1°31′W / 53.41, -1.52

Wadsley is a suburb of the City of Sheffield in South Yorkshire England. It stands five km NW of the city centre at an approximate grid reference of SK321905. Wadsley was formerly a rural village which was engulfed by the expansion of Sheffield in the early part of the 20th century.

[edit] History

The origin of the name Wadsley is thought to come from a personal or mythological name, possibly Wad, Wadde, Wade or Wada, in conjunction with the Old English word “leah” which means an open space or glade in a wood. A feudal manorial system existed in Wadsley in the Early Middle Ages under the control of Aldene. The Anglo-Saxon estate of Wadesleah is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 in it’s genitive form of Wadesleia. After the Norman conquest of England Waltheof, the last of the Saxon lords retained Hallamshire of which Wadsley was a part, however he was beheaded in 1076 for rebellion against William the Conqueror and his lands passed to his wife Judith of Lens, with Roger de Busli, first Lord of Hallamshire, holding power.

Wadsley eventually became a manor under the control of the De Wadsley family, they were a knightly family of some power in southern Yorkshire. The family had manorial rights and built a manor hall, a deer park and chapel within the parish of Ecclesfield. Their surname was first recorded in 1227, however by the end of the 15th century the family had become extinct because of the failure of the male line. The ownership of the manor of Wadsley changed many times over the following centuries. Eventually all indications of the former medieval way of life was slowly eradicated, the deer were removed from the park in 1621, Wadsley Hall was rebuilt in 1722 and the chapel was replaced by Wadsley Parish Church in 1834. The original manor house stood on Laird Road and was demolished in the early 1980s to make way for a new housing development called Wade Meadow.

Wadsley House is now a social club.

From the 16th century up to the 1920s Wadsley’s main industry was cutlery manufacturing, at the end of the 19th century there were over 100 cutlers shops in the village. The industry declined as the small workshops of Wadsley lost business to the large cutlery works of Sheffield. In 1901 Sheffield extended its boundaries and part of Wadsley became within of the city, a further expansion in 1923 brought the rest of the village inside the city boundary. The recent history of Wadsley has been its development as a residential suburb with many houses built in the area between Wadsley Lane and Langsett Avenue in the 1930s.^[2][3]

[edit] Historical Buildings and eminent residents

Due to its former rural setting Wadsley has several country houses which are still standing within the now built up suburb.

[edit] Wadsley House

Wadsley House (SK325906) is a grade two listed building which stands on a Cul-de-sac called The Drive. The eminent Doctor of Medicine G.C. Holland lived in the house in the mid 19th century, his writings include “Philosophy of Animated Nature” and “Vital Statistics of Sheffield”. George Miller, a railway contractor who was involved in building the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway bought the house in 1851 and lived their till his death in 1884 The house is now a social club with a bowling green attached.^[4]

Wadsley Hall.

[edit] Wadsley Hall

Wadsley Hall (SK327904) which stands in Far Lane, is also a grade two listed building and a structure of some antiquity, it was probably built in the 1400s although it was substantially modernised in 1722 by George Bamforth, the then lord of the manor. Sir Robert Wadsley, Lord of the Manor, built a chapel onto the east end of the hall in the 15th century, this was partly destroyed in the reign of Elizabeth I although not completly demolished until 1813.^[5] From 1812 it was the home of the Fowlers, one of Wadley’s most famous families. Sir John Fowler (1817-1898) was a famous railway engineer who co-constructed the Forth Bridge and completed many other railway projects around the World. William Fowler established the Sheepbridge coal and iron works near Chesterfield while Robert Fowler had a large solicitors practice in Westminster. There is also some speculation that the artist Thomas Creswick (1811-1869) was born at Wadsley Hall, although two other Sheffield locations are claimed as his birthplace.^[6] After World War I the estate was broken up with much of the surrounding land sold off for new housing.

[edit] Loxley House

Despite its name, Loxley House (SK315903) is within the Wadsley area, it is also grade two listed and was originally built in 1795 by Thomas Holliday. The house was completely rebuilt it in 1826 on a much grander scale as a three storied stone building with Venetian Windows. Subsequent owners included Henry Payne, Thomas Phillips and Sir William Clegg, Lord Mayor of Sheffield in 1898. After the First World War it was a convalescent home and then the headquarters of the Sheffield Sea Cadets before it was sold off for private housing development in 1996.^[7][8]

[edit] Wadsley Grove

Wadsley Grove (SK317910) stands just off Worrall Road in a secluded situation being well screened by trees. It was the home of John Livesey who was vicar of St. Philip's Church, Shalesmoor in Sheffield between 1831 and 1870.^[9]

The medieval stocks still stand outside the Wadsley Jack pub, they are a grade two listed monument.

The Horse and Jockey pub stands at the junction of Wadsley Lane, Laird Road, Dykes Hall Road and Worrall Road. The centre of medieval Wadsley

One of Wadsley’s more famous modern residents was the politician Roy Hattersley who spent his youth living on Wadsley Lane and then Airedale Road, this early part of his life is covered in the book, “A Yorkshire Boyhood”. His mother Enid was Lord Mayor of Sheffield in 1981. Professional cyclist and Commonwealth Games double gold medallist Malcolm Elliott was brought up in Prescott Road, Wadsley.

[edit] Amenities

Wadsley has two schools, Marlcliffe Community Primary School on Marlcliffe Road is for pupils aged between 4 and 11. Wisewood Comprehensive School is on Rural Lane and is for pupils between 11 and 16. Because of decreasing pupil numbers there are plans to close Wisewood school and merge it with Myers Grove school at Malin Bridge. There are four public houses in the area, The Wadsley Jack (formerly called The Star) which has the original village stocks outside, The Rose And Crown (often referred to as The Top House) is 150 years old and was extended in the 1960s by knocking through into adjoining cottages^[10]. The Horse and Jockey stands where the original medieval village green was at the top of Wadsley Lane. The Sportsman is on Worrall Road near the church. The few shops in Wadsley are of the smaller variety with the nearest main shopping area being in nearby Hillsborough.

[edit] Wadsley Common

Wadsley Common (SK312906) is a piece of land owned and held in trust by Sheffield City Council which is a public open space used as an area of recreation and exercise by the general public. Combined with the adjoining Loxley Common it covers 100 acres and is an area of heather, oak, silver birch bracken and grassland which was declared a local nature reserve in 1999. The Wadsley section of the common is designated as access land under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. Formerly there were four football pitches which belonged to Wadsley church on a section of the common but these are unused at present. To the north of the common is Hillsborough golf club laid out in 1920.

For a period of 130 years from 1784 the common was in private hands and was an area of mining and quarrying, with coal and ganister being mined and sandstone quarried for building. There were two drift mines on the common, the Bower mine and the Top mine. The Bower mine was owned by the Oughtibridge Silica Firebrick Company and operated between 1890 and 1940 while the Top mine probably ceased production in 1943.^[11]

In 1913 the common was given to the council by the descendents of the Payne family, who gave "seventy five acres of land at Loxley Common and Wadsley Common to be used by the public for the purpose of exercise and recreation, and to be known as Loxley Chase". The Common is managed by The Parks, Woodlands and Ranger Service who work for Sheffield City Council. The management plan was drawn up in consultation with local land owners, members of the public, representatives from the Wadsley and Loxley Commoners and local ecologists. The overall broad aim of the plan is: "To maintain and enhance the Commons as a wildlife, landscape, historical and recreational resource for the enjoyment of the local community and visitors alike."^[12][13]

[edit] References