A walk of approximately
2 miles starting at the English Institute of Sport (S9 5DA) and ending at the
Carbrook Hall pub (S9 2FJ). This tour will explore the history of the area, and
look at some of the unnerving parts of its past. Find out how fact and fiction
can blend into one when looking at the supernatural side of Sheffield.
Brompton Road
Attercliffe
697 Attercliffe Road
732 Attercliffe Road
Station Hotel
Nidd Road Darnall
Fitzmaurice Road Darnall
Cocked Hat Public House - The Pickard Family
Spence Broughton
The robbery took place
on 29 January or 9 February 1791 (sources differ[4][5]) at Ickles, on the
Rotherham edge of Attercliffe Common. Broughton and his accomplice John Oxley stayed
in Sheffield the night before the robbery and then walked out of the town on
the Rotherham road where they met the mail coming towards Sheffield. However,
they intended to rob it on its way back to Rotherham so they lay in wait for it
to arrive. George Leasley, the boy driving the mail cart described that he was
led into a field, blindfolded with a handkerchief, and his hands tied behind
his back and fixed to a hedge. After about an hour he freed himself and found
his horse, but the Rotherham post bag was gone. Broughton and Oxley escaped
towards Mansfield. On their way they went through the contents of the post bag
and found that the only item of value was a French bill of
exchange worth £123, they disposed of the rest of the contents in a brook, and
parted; Oxley proceeding to London to cash the bill.
Broughton and Oxley
were arrested, along with John Shaw, in London in October 1791 following
further robberies at Cambridge and Aylesbury. Broughton was sent to Newgate
Prison, and Oxley to Clerkenwell Prison. Though it has since been alleged that
Shaw was the instigator of the crimes, at trial Shaw gave evidence that
Broughton was the ring-leader—Oxley alleged that he did this because he and
Broughton shared an interest in the same woman. Oxley himself escaped from
Clerkenwell on 31 October, 1791 leaving Broughton to stand
trial alone.
The trial took place in
York on 24 March 1792. Shaw testified that Broughton and Oxley had come to him
after robbing the Rotherham mail to ask him where they could cash the £123
bill. Next to testify was John Close, who said that he had met Broughton in
London looking for Oxley, and Broughton had complained to him that Oxley had
not given him his share of the proceeds from the robbery. John Townsend, the
arresting officer, described the events on the day of the arrest, after which
the jury found Broughton guilty and the judge, Mr. Justice Buller, sentenced
him to death by hanging "and afterwards to be hung in chains on the
Common, within three miles of Sheffield, where the robbery was committed."
The trial took only 90 minutes.
Spence Broughton was
executed at Tyburn near York on 14 April 1792. In the days before his execution
Broughton is purported to have shown great remorse, writing: Surely I have greatly transgressed the laws
both of God and man! In what manner shall a sinful wretch, like me, presume to
approach the throne of mercy? Alas! My repeated provocations do now wound me to
the very soul.
At his execution he is
reported to have professed his innocence, "saying that he was a murdered
man; that, though he came down with the intent to rob the mail, he was six
miles from the place at the time of the robbery", though he admitted
receiving part of the proceeds.
On 16 April Broughton's
body was taken to Attercliffe Common to be hung in a gibbet. George Drabble,
the keeper of a pub called the Arrow that was located near the site, reported
that crowds started to gather on the common the day before.
The gibbet is reported to have attracted 40,000 visitors to the Common on the first
day alone Broughton's body remained hanging in the gibbet on Attercliffe Common
for nearly 36 years. It was finally removed in 1827 when Henry Sorby, who had
bought the land it stood on, had it cut down because he had
grown tired of trespassers on his land. The remains of the gibbet post were claimed
to have been rediscovered in 1867 when a solid oak post was found embedded in a
framework in the ground during excavations for the cellars of some new houses
in Clifton Street, Attercliffe Common. The discovery once again
drew large crowds to Attercliffe Common.
The length of time that
the rotting body of Spence Broughton hung on Attercliffe Common and the great interest
that it attracted led to Broughton becoming a hero of local folklore. One story
was that a group of drunken potters from
the Don Pottery, passing the site of the gibbet, threw stones at the skeleton
and managed to dislodge two fingers. Taking these as trophies they were
calcined and incorporated into the body of a jug
Carbrook Hall
is in the Attercliffe
district of the city, the original building was owned by the Blunt family from
1176. This was rebuilt in 1462, and was bought by Thomas Bright (Lord of the
manor of Ecclesall) in the late 16th century. His descendant, John Bright, was
an active Parliamentarian during
the English Civil War, and the building was used as a Roundhead meeting place
during the siege of Sheffield Castle. Most of the building was demolished in
the 19th century, what survives is a Grade II listed stone wing that was added
c1620. It is now used as a public house that claims to be "Sheffield's
most haunted public house".
- Puritan/Roundhead - John Bright?
- Old lady in a mob cap (earlyC20th)
- 1980 Old man with a flat cap
- 1982 monk like figure with a hood
- Movements of inanimate objects - changes in air temprature - apparitions
The Ghosthunters Guide to Sheffield by Valerie Salim - 2 volumes
Wikipedia
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