A Walk in Crookes Sheffield - Sunday 14th December 2014

Sunday 14th December 2014, 1.30 to 3.30pm.  Meet Chris Hobbs outside the Grindstone Pub (3 Crookes, S10 1UA).  This 2.5 mile tour explores the less-well known aspects of Crookes past and its people.

These are my notes from the walk

Hallamgate House was built for Francis Hoole and family and was occupied by him in 1790, if not earlier. The house stood out in its locality in terms of scale and had an ornamental garden

 Later occupants were:

Peter Frith, optician, from 1839 - 1844;

Charles Hoole, grocer & tea dealer, 1846 - 1879;

Arthur Wightman, solicitor, Justice of the Peace for the City of Sheffield, Town Trustee, Trustee Birley’s Charity, Governor of the Sheffield Royal Grammar School, member of the Council of the University of Sheffield, from 1879-1924;

G.Graves Ltd, wireless manufacturer from 1929-1948, who turned the house into the ‘Hallamgate Works’ and sold it to Plessey Ltd. The site was acquired by the University in 1963 and demolished to make way for the (now empty) student halls of residence.

Demolition underway December 2014 - private executive housing

Pisgah Dam and Dam Cottage

School Road – Sewage Destructor Lamp

Blakeney Road Corner Shop - 2011

Spring House  - Warrington Slater of Slater Bros

Spring House

He had a very simple system, he used to build a row of houses and then mortgage them for as much as he could get, and with the money (and other money that he put to it) he'd build another row of houses and so on and so forth, so that eventually he finished up with a tremendous lot of houses and also a tremendous lot of mortgages, and finally, of course, this led to his downfall because when the South African war started the mortgagees got in a panic, money was very, very tight, they all called the mortgages in and nobody else would take them up and so the old chap was ruined, bankrupt.....

He also bought a mansion in School road, it was called Spring House, a big old-fashioned stone-built house situated facing the top of Conduit Road and on the corner of Western Road and School Road, and it composed the whole of the land where there are very many houses built on now. It had a high wall, it must have been at least ten feet or probably more, round, and a sort of wicket gate let into it to get into the garden. It had large rooms and upstairs was more like a rabbit warren as regards cupboards and room and lofts and all manner of things and we, as children, we used to have a terrific time playing hide and seek etc. Round about it, it had a lovely garden, they used to grow figs, grapes and all manner of things in the greenhouses. They had a gardener, and it was a real nice job....

Western Road

The Laurels -  Spring Villa Jewitts Bakery - Commonside

Hallamshire Proprietary Bowling Club - Steel Bank

October 2010

74 Townend Street James William Edington - Edington was born in Dowlaw Berwickshire, and studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, where after a distinguished career as a student, he graduated M.B., ChB.,with honours in 1913 and gained his M.D. with honours in 1920. Soon after qualification he served in the was as a captain in the R.A.M.C., being awarded the Croix de Guerre for his services in Salonika. From there he was invalided home and became attached to the Cantebury District Laboratory and later took charge of the Shorncliffe District Laboratory. In 1919, after demobilisation, he went to Bradford as an assistant bacteriologist, and from there he came to Sheffield in 1921 to take charge of the University Public Health Laboratory under the direction of the late Professor J. S. C. Douglas. In the course of a few years the service grew to very large proportions and Edington worked increasingly in organising his  department so that it could deal with the ever-increasing volume of work coming from the Sheffield City hospitals and from the hospitals of the surrounding districts. In 1931 a Chair of Bacteriology was created in the University of Sheffield, and Edington was the natural choice for this appointment; he was also appointed honorary bacteriologist to the Royal Infirmary, Royal Hospital, the Jessop Hospital for Women, and the Children's Hospital

Killed in a road accident 1939

Princess Royal

St Timothy’s Church

Bolehills - Harry Wragg – Bolehill Lane

CrookesPicture Palace  

The Crookes Picture Palace opened its doors on 2nd December 1912. The building was primarily a brick building with a cement frontage. Above the entrance to the cinema were some embossed decorations and the name "Crookes Picture Palace". The front of the building was flush with the adjoining shops and a blind alley ran down one side of the building to accommodate the queues waiting to see the films. From the small foyer a door on the right gave access to the stalls whilst a series of steps lead up to the rear of the auditorium. The auditorium was a single floor with the audience only sitting in front of the stage. A heavy red curtain covered the screen when not in use.  A raised section at the rear had a steeper rake than the rake in the stalls. The overall capacity of the cinema was 660.

The proprietors of The Picture Palace were Hallamshire Cinemas Ltd. In 1931 a Western Electric Sound System was installed. The cinema remained open until 2nd April 1960 when it shut its doors for the final time. The last film to be shown was the Brigitte Bardot classic "Babette Goes To War" and "Senior Prom" with Jill Corey.

129 Crookes

Wesley Hall - Crookes

St Thomas Church Crookes

Appeal 1837

"The district of Crookes, including Tapton,Steven Hills,Crookes Moor Side etc.at this time contains a population (which is rapidly increasing) of 1500 souls, nearly destitute of Pastoral superintendence and instruction. To provide for this lamentable destitution, a few friends of religion and The Established Church commenced a subscription for building a Small Church..."