It's reproduced as I got it and there are a few areas that need correcting and tidying up.
in my remembrance wrote in the year 1832 at the time the Cholera was raging in Sheffield.
BY
JOSEPH WOOLHOUSE.
FORE WORD
BY
MR. HENRY RICHARDSON.
The year 1832, when Joseph Woolhouse wrote his interesting paper on "Old Sheffield as I knew it," was a year of great importance. It saw the commencement of the Dispensary (now Royal Hospital), the destruction of the old Cutlers' Hall, and the erection of the present building in Church Street, the first e!ection of Parliamentary representa- tion for the town, the enfranchisement of three thousand five hundred voters, and the visitation of "the Cholera," which played great havoc in the town.
Whilst Woolhouse was writing in his spare moments, as time- keeper at Sheaf Works, the hundreds of pages in manuscript, which I possess, he took great pains to closely watch the developments of the town.
It was early in the year 1832 when a proposal was made at the Meeting of Governors connected with the General Infirmary (now Royal Infirmary) to establish for the use of the town a Dispensary connected with the lnstitution. The proposal was negatived by a large majority, the minority, under the leadership of several prominent medical men, including Dr. Arnold Knight, immediately called a meeting and decided to step forward in the dispensing of medicines for the poor and needy. At the meeting called by the minority it was decided to go forward with the movement, when Rules were adopted, and Dr. C. F. Favell, M.D., was elected Hon. Sec., premises were acquired in Tudor Place, and this useful work proceeded.
Simultaneously with the opening of the Dispensary the town was visited with an outbreak of the Asiatic Cholera, not unexpected, as many writers have asserted. Preparations were already in hand, it having already appeared in other parts of the country. In the November previous a communication on this subject, from Dr. G. Calvert Holland, who had journeyed to Sunderland to investigate this awful disease, then raging in the country, had recently been elected Physician to the Infirmary. The Board of Health was formed to deal with the epidemic, on which Board James Montgomery was a distinct figure. It also included other prominent public men, including John Blake, Master Cutler, who fell a victim to the disease. The medical faculty was fully represented. A full and complete history of the epidemic is to be found in Dr. John Stokes' "History of the Cholera Epidemic," published in 1921, and is in the Reference Department of our Free Library. "Woolhouse" also mentions cases in which he refers "to the extreme careful skill of the medical profession."
During the time "Woolhouse" was writing his interesting memoirs, the contractors were puling down the old Cutlers' Hall, and in June, 1832, the corner stone of the new Cutlers' Hall was laid by John Blake, a filemaker of Upperthorpe, who died of Cholera, and was interred at Clay Wood. Underneath the corner stone of the Cutlers' Hall was placed a number of coins, specimens of cutlery, newspaper records, &c.
"Woolhouse" in Gleanings, Vol. III, page 60, refers to the illuminating of St. Paul's Church Clock and the consternation it created. Of the local conditions we are assured of the liberality of the overseers, who "anounce that the allowance made to landlords paying poor rates on cottage property, shall be reduced from 50°/0 to 33~, trade being very depressed, with little prospect of improvement, the poor rate costing 83;,~ per week as against 41;~ per week in 1831."
The Debtors Gaol in Scotland Street was kept busy, whilst Little Sheffield Gaol (Ecclesall) was so full that ~personal execution was stayed. The Government of the town was represented by a selected body known as the Police Commissioners, under an Act passed in 1818. Close upon 100 persons formed this body politic, who elected a Treasurer, a Clerk, a Surveyor, a Collector, 50 watchmen and other officers, and were restricted to spend not more than 113 in the ~. The annual rentals in 1832 amounted to .,£5,073 7s. 6d.; and in that year they appointed " street keepers. "
The Post Office was in Norfolk Street. in the shop at the corner of Arundel Street. Mr. Wreaks was Postmaster, and the postal work of the town was carried out by five letter carriers. The coaches went to and fro from the Tontine, King's Head, Angel, Commercial Hotels, whilst the carriers were mostly from stores and warehouses in Arundel Street.
At this period in the valleys were forty Grinding Wheels (water), sixteen in Rivelin Valley, eight on the Loxley, and the remainder on the Rivers Don, Sheaf and Porter.
It is now twenty years since I acquired a series of manuscripts written by Joseph Woolhouse between the years 1821 and 1842. They are in five sections, written upon foolscap paper and enclosed within wrappers or coverings of brown paper. A distant relative of the author informed me that they were written when Woolhouse was in reduced circumstances and that he lent them for a small charge to those interested, or read them aloud in various public houses in the town. Their thumbmarked condition is evidence of frequent use.
Since the late Mr. R. E. Leader wrote the notes upon Woolhouse's "description" I have traced the following information concerning him. Woolhouse was born in 1778 and was the son of Joseph Woolhouse, cutler, to whom ~he was apprenticed. He obtained his freedom as a cutler in 1804, and in 1821, when living at 2 Newhall Street, was described as a Table Knife Cutler. About 1833 he found employment as timekeeper at Sheaf Works, and in his various writings he mentions certain events concerning these works. His connection with Sheaf Works has been traced to 1849, when he was 71 years of age, but no later information about him has been found.
Woolhouse was present at the opening of the Cutlers' Hall in 1833, and also at the dinner given by the Master Cutler to the Freemen of the Company in celebration of that event. He left an interesting account of these gatherings in which he says that the Freemen were received by the Master and Mistress Cutler and on entering the Hall were regaled with "a bun and a glass of ale." At the dinner, he states, the Master Cutler had the oldest Freeman of the Company seated on his right. This was George Beardshaw of Wincobank, a relative of Woolhouse's, who was 93 years of age and who was brought to the dinner in the carriage of Mr. Thomas Dunn, the ex-Master Cutler. Amongst the toasts at the dinner he records the following: "May Yorkshire wives be like Sheffield knives, highly polished and well tempered," and "Eternal destruction to false marks on all Sheffield made goods."
Apart from the "description" printed above this "true old Sheffield Blade" left many interesting jottings upon the old town. Amongst these is a list of the "wells" which supplied the populace with water, and a description of Sheffield streets and alleys in 1732, gleaned from various sources.
Mr. Leader's annotations have added very materially to the value of Woolhouse's "description." In his last letter to me Mr. Leader asked what had been done with the MS., and when it would be published; my great regret is that it was not possible to issue it during Mr. Leader's lifetime. The fact that it is now printed in the Trans- actions of the Hunter Archeological Society, would, I am sure, have afforded pleasure to Mr. Leader, for he took an intense interest in all the Society's work.
In conclusion may I place on record my thanks for the valuable help Mr. Leader always gave to me in my researches into the history of "Old Sheffield." His help was given unsparingly, and not to me alone, but to all those who delved into the past of our old town. In offering and publishing this interesting brochure, I am urged to do so by many friends who, having read its publication in the Transactions of the Hunter Archaeological Society, suggested its publicity in book form and at a reasonable price, that the artisans of his important city may glean something of the city in its early days.
The reader may note that "Woolhouse" in his Description deals with the streets and with buildings he remembers; with the industrial conditions of the period he says little, still he gives a vivid impression of the streets and walks that existed in our great-grandfathers days.
It is my intention shortly to publish the list of wells which supplied the town with water, and his quaint statements concerning them.
The paper was written when horse-less buses were unknown, when cabs were used, and which have since disappeared; when "hansom cabs," with the perched driver at the rear, with the "enquiry hole at the top" were unknown, and have since gone into oblivion. In the eighteenth century the "Sedan chair" was popular, and rows of them stood for hire in Norfolk Street, when the ladies of Sheffield held their Assemblies in the old building still existing.
Much more may ~be written in this strain, but the progress and advancement of this city during my lifetime has been remarkable, and I dedicate this humble reproduction to one of Sheffield's leading citizens, who, having watched the progress and given untold ability to this advancement, I commend as an example to future generations.
Fulwood, 1926.
in my remembrance wrote in the year 1832 at the time the Cholera was raging in Sheffield.
BY
JOSEPH WOOLHOUSE.
First-HAND recollections of the former state of Sheffield which go back to the eighteenth century, are so rare that it may be reckoned a piece of good fortune that the following description "wrote in the year 1832" has come into the hands of Mr. Henry Richardson, the Treasurer of the Hunter Archaeological Society.
In 1798 Joseph Hunter, then a boy of 15, began a series of "Perambulations" but he did not carry them far‹at least, as printed, they are only a fragment. Besides these, there have been published from time to time in the newspapers, the memories of venerable citizens, and these, up to the date of that book, have been embodied by me in Rem~rziscences of Old Sheffield. But few of them reached back, in actual personal knowledge, beyond the earlier years of the nineteenth century. And the value of the present jottings lies more in telling what the writer had himself actually seen, than in what reached him through hearsay. Reference to various authorities shews him to be singularly accurate as to the former. As regards the latter‹ well, he reflects inbred popular myths. He confirms much already on record, and adds new items.
There is not much known about him. His age when he wrote has not been ascertained, but there is internal evidence that points to about 1775 as the time of his birth. Thus he faintly remembered the old barns removed to build the Tontine Inn some time before it was opened in 1785, and he had been in the wooden Shambles replaced about the same time. He was a school-boy when Church Street was widened in 1785, and as a young man he served in the Sheffield Independent Volunteers during six of lts eight years existence‹1794 to 1802. He saw the fire at the Cotton Mill in 1792. So that he would be somewhere near fifty-seven years of age in 1832. That he had a true Sheffielder's affection for the town is evident, and that he had historic instincts is shewn by the fact, of which Mr. Richardson informs me, that he left behind him the MS. of "The History of Sheffield in the County of York, " in six parts, written between the years 1826-1842. This he was accustomed to lend out to readers, for a small payment. But judging from the first part, which alone I have seen, it has none of the personal interests of! the "Description," being almost entirely copied from well-known publications.
I have had some difficulty in restraining a pen trained in journalistic traditions, from interference with many sentences which might have been more~ clearly expressed. But in the main, and with some amendments of punctuation, it has seemed better to retain quaint language reflecting the manner in which those of the author's class would talk. That is to say, would talk on Sundays, not in the workshop, for while it is charged with Sheffield phrases, there is, unfortunately, a scarcity of dialectic words. Occasionally we get these‹as in the story of the lame man who was "frighted by the barghast," and whose escape was hindered because his wife had "the door made. " It will be noted, too, that people took "kits" and "flaskets" to the wells, for water. The constant use of "was" where grammar requires "were, " is, of course, characteristic of a period when people were accustomed to say "you was, " but the epithet "elegant" has an American flavour. It is rather surprising to find an old Sheffielder speaking, Yankee fashion, of "a very elegant bowling green"; "an elegant country house"; "a very elegant town pump," and so forth.
I trust that my annotation may serve to remove certain obscurities and enable the reader to sift fiction from fact.
R. E. LEADER.
From the Church to Shales Moor coming from the Church, the first place of note was the old Town Hall, built in the year 1700. It stood at the South East Corner of the Church Yard. It was built of Stone for the use of the Town. The Sessions was held here, and the Magistrates used to do all their business in it. There was Steps went up on each Side the door on the North Side into the Hall, also a flight of Steps facing up Church Lane for the Magistrates and other Officers to go into the Hall.
The prisons was underneath the Hall. The door was on the South Side and faced nearly up Fargate, so that when any person was Confined you had an opportunity of seeing them. I have peeped many a time when a boy thro' the small round hole to see persons whom perhaps I knew. Their friends had an opportunity of giving them Vituals, but people often gave them Liquors. I have heard many a drunken prisoner bawl there. There was 3 Prisons, 2 for men and 1 for women. There was a dwelling over the woman's prison; some one lived there to keep the hall clean etc. The Stocks was in front of the Building, facing down High Street. Lionel ~Smilter the Town Crier, lived in a dwelling under the Hall.
There was some large Gates at the East Corner of the Hall and went in a slanting direction across to the corner of the house once occupied by Mr. Watkin [Walker] Confectioner. The Church yard was enclosed by a low Stone wall only on the North and South sides. There was a few old houses on the West side, built with no regularity. The road to the Church was on the South, fronting Cutlers' Hall and [the other, already mentioned] South East by the Town Hall. On the North Side, from the top of Paradise square was up a flight of perhaps 12 or 14 Steps out of Campo Lane opposite that Grocer's Shop‹it was a Grocer's shop at that time. These steps had a l ail in the middle. There was only one door on the North Side the Church, the same as now. These steps used to lead direct to that door‹no St. James Street nor St. James Church. St. James row and the East Parade is took from part of the Church yard.{1} Where the News Rooms are, used to be some very old buildings belonging to the Church where they once cast a Sett of Bells for the Church. All mason work belonging to the Church was done here. {2}
Church Lane was made wider in the year [1785)] by taking a part of the Church yard. When a boy going to School and passing by the Church yard at the time when they was widening this street I have seen them dig up dead bodies very often, there was a deal of noise in the Town at that time about it.
{2} From 1722 the Capital Burgesses rented a "laith," or barn, on the property of the Heatons, for the accommodation of workmen during church repairs. In 174445, departing from the usual custom of obtaining bells from distant foundries a peal of eight was here cast, or recast, by one Daniel Hedderley, the metal being also locally supplied. The barn is always spoken of as "in the churchyard" until 1809 when, East Parade having been made, it "adjoined" the Churchyard, and having been used by the masons during recent rebuilding, its tenancy was then given up. It is possible that the Award relative to an alleged encroachment in 1636 quoted in H.A.S. Transactions, i. p. 74, related to this site. For the position of the East Parade News Room see H.A-S- Transactions. i. p 156-
The Town Hall was pulled down in the year 17‹-[1808] and the street made wider and in its present form. The High Street was composed of very low old-built houses, a many pulled down and others new fronted. I believe there was once, a little above the middle of this street, stood a Priory, and I believe that yard leading from Gales' Shop to High Street was once called Prior Row; and this Street, High Street, was then called Fryars Gate.{3} Where the present Shambles are built once stood the old Shambles built of wood and very dirty.
I only remember seeing these old Wooden Shambles and being in them some several times.{4} I here was a cross (the same was removed into Paradise Square) stood at the top of Pudding Lane (now King Street). A little lower down the Street stood the old Angel Inn, The most noted inn between London and Edinburg, kept then. by Mr. Samuel Peech, a very wicked but honest man. A little lower, opposite the Sign of the Castle, once stood a Cross, (but before my time).{5}
There was no Bank Street, nor do I believe that Street took its name from the Bank. But there was where the Bank now is, some very old houses stood as tho' they was upon a piece of rock or high bank, say 2 or 3 yards higher than the Street or road. As the Street was very imperfect at that time and a considerable deal higher than now, with a number of old houses all the way down Snig hill. West Barr was in the same direction as now, only some new houses have been built and a number of old ones new-fronted.{6}
{4} "Shambles" has become so generally regarded as a synonym for slaughter- houses as to make it necessary to remember that Sheffield clung tenaciously to its primary, and etymological meaning‹a bench or stall, on which goods, and especially meat, were exposed for sale. When, in 1786, the butchers were relegated from the open street to better, but duller habitations within four walls, and with them the vendors of butter, eggs and poultry, the name was transferred with them‹it remained the Shambles, not the Market. Fruiterers and others continued outside until the demolition of the Debtors' Gaol in King Street, in 1818 (on the site now occupied by the Norris Deakin Buildings) made a void which they filled‹to the great relief of the congested streets but with some loss of picturesque but slovenly litter. (For Killing Shambles see Note {3}). {5} The Irish Cross. The Castle Inn stood at the corner of Water Lane, facing Angel Street.
{6} This somewhat confused paragraph seems to suggest that Bank Street took its name from the rather abrupt descent of the ground towards Snig Hill and the commencement of West Bar-‹apparent enough farther on, in Scargill Croft and New Street. But there is nothing more certain in Sheffield nomenclature than the fact that Bank Street, made in 1791, was run through "the orchard or garden " of the bankers, Shores, and took its name from their bank‹the structure of which is still seen behind and above the shop at the corner of Angel Street and Bank Street. It was originally intended to call the latter Shore Street. By 1793 it had become known as Bank Street.
There was an old Workhouse at the end of West Barr, at the Bottom of Workhouse Croft. This Workhouse was considerably enlarged in my time and was entirely pulled down in the year 18‹ [1829]. At the North side of this Workhouse stood a Quantity of old houses, upon West barr green. They was pulled down to make the large opening Street at the west end of West Barr green. These houses proceeded nearly to the bottom of Lambert Croft. At the bottom corner of Lambert Croft stood a Public house kept by Charles Kelk.{7} It stood within the Street and was pulled down to make the Street uniform at the bottom. Gibraltar Street was a deal narrower in places than now, and there was a long walk on the right hand going on, and all was fields and Gardens to the Cotton Mill, a Mill which stood upon the ground where the Workhouse now stands.
The Lancasterian School was then a Rolling Mill belonging to one Parkin. The Public house opposite the Lancasterian School, (Sign of the Greyhound) was kept by John Hinchcliffe, one of the acting Constables of Sheffield. T his was the last house in Sheffield that way; beyond the Lancasterian School was all fields and gardens. On the right hand side and near to where Ebenezer Chapel now stands was a bowling Green, a very elegant one kept by John Hinchcliffe.{8} My father used to frequent this Green often and I have been many a time to accompany him home when a boy from this Green. The Shales Moor commenced here. It was a piece of Waste ground reaching from the bottom of Trinity Street to where the Roscoe Factory is built. It was there where the Farmers used to deposit the manure which they brought out of the Town. There was some Steps to go over into a Field called the Coach gate, this is now Hoyle Street, which led up to Mr. Hoyle's house. There was a Carriage road through this field up to Mr. Hoyle's House and a small brook of water run through it and from here this water was conducted underground into the river.{9} It goes just under the doors and windows of those houses in Cornish Street, thro' Green Lane into the river. It was what used to overflow at Crookes Moor dams. Proceeding on, now Cornish Street, was a very large and neat Bowling Green belonging to the Cleekham public house. Afterwards a large Steam grinding wheel was built and the green destroyed; then the wheel was destroyed, and Mr. Dixon's white metal manufactory built upon the ruins.{10} The main Turnpike road went on this way at that time
{8} Hence Bowling Green Street.
{9} Hence Watery Street.
{10} Cornish Place.
up past Morton Wheel which is now Vulcan Works,{11} and a foot-road used to strike into the fields a little above Cleekham Inn on the left hand and come out again near the bottom of Pack Horse Lane (now the Lane leading up to the Barracks).{12}
My GrandFather kept a public house in Green Lane and this Cleekham Inn was also one at that time. The large house (I don't know who dwells there now), with the Pallasades and Trees before it, was built upon the place where my GrandFather kept ale. I can remember the same workshops my grandFather had; they was standing but not the house. The foot road at that time came up close by my GrandFather's house and kept up by the water side to the front of the Cleekham Inn. There was a long walk fenced on each side with a Stone wall, came from the end of Spring Street (or Spring Croft called at that time) up Long Croft to Green Lane, and not one house built between Spring Croft and Green Lane. My mother saw them building the first Silk Mill. The Contractor or overlooker for the building boarded at their house in Green Lane while the Mill was building. This Mill was burnt down several times, I saw it myself each time. The present Workhouse stands upon the same ground as the Mill used to do. Kelham Wheel was part belonging to the Mill. {13}
We will now return to Gibraltar Street. On the left hand side as you proceed to Cupalo Street, there used to be a Cupalo at the Top~ This Street is much as it were; same by Copper Street, and Trinity Street and Snow Lane. Smith Field has had a many houses built in it. Mr. Morton, Silversmith (Mr. Thomas Dunn, Table Knife Manufacturer, married his Daughter). I knew this Mr. Morton very well and he told me himself that he dug the first sod up in Smith Field to build his house upon, and he built the first house in
{12} The old Barracks at Philadelphia. When the Langsett Road was widened it went through these. The present Barrack Lane indicates approximately their position. The last part of this sentence is rather obscure, but it probably means that the writer having followed the turnpike to Morton Wheel, returns to Cleckham Inn (Cornish Place), and decribes a footpath leading thence on his left in the direction of the present Infirmary Road once rural Whitehouse Lane; whence Causey Lane led to Upperthorpe and Daniel Hill. Now it is interesting to find Mr. Woolhouse speaking of Pack Horse Lane hereabouts, because it suggests (and additionally in conjunction with "Causey Lane"), a connection with that Racker Way which Mr. T. Walter Hall traced from Walkley Hall to Stannington. H.A.S. Transections, i. p. 63. Nor is the interest removed if this interpretation be wrong, and the writer meant that Pack Horse Lane led to the old Barracks. Because there is thence also an approach to Daniel Hill, but from the other side, by what is now called Woollen Lane. Further, what has become Infirmary Road is marked, on early nineteenth century maps "Walkley Road."
{13} The silk mill, built in 1758, became a cotton mill. It was burnt down in 179?, and again in 1810.
Smith Field. What is now Allen Street was a very deep narrow Lane. My mother used to come from Green Lane to Sheffield to School sometimes up this lane. It was then called Cuckoo Allen Lane because they generally heard the Cuckoo sing first in this lane as they went to School. The House now occupied by Mr. Hoyle was my GrandFather's nearest neighbour, as Green Lane was all Tanyards belonging to Mr. Aldam of Upperthorpe‹no house between this house (now Mr. Hoyle's) and Green Lane. This Elegant Country house as it was then, belonged to a very eminent Lawyer, called Redfern (oftener by the name of Devil Redfern). These Hoyles is descended from him. This House in my Time was situated in the midst of Fields, Gardens, and pleasure grounds. There was a row of Aspen trees from Allen Lane to Burnwell as high as most houses, used to shade the road as you approached to the house, also very elegant privet hedges, and a very large Rookery, a large Dove Cote, etc. etc., Stables, out-buildings, etc. etc. etc.{14}
There was no road any higher than the passage from top of this Allen Lane into Scotland Street on the left hand; going up on the right hand was this walk over-shadowed by these fine trees I have just mentioned. Our servant girl used to fetch water from the Burnt Tree from Lambert Croft. In Summer time there was branches of water, only one in some streets, and a person (they used~ to call him Water John) used to come twice a week and blow a Horn at the lop of Lambert Street as there was one [branch] fixed there and you used to take your Kit or Flasket. He would have filled it twice for a penny. But then in Summer this water used to run short and you was compell'd to fetch it where it was most to be had. This Burnt Tree water was plentiful. I have gone with the servant girls on a Summers evening and I believe you would have met above 20 upon the same errand. The lasses used to be very fond of going there for water.
I have mentioned what an old, low, dirty Street Church Lane was. Proceeding up, there was Brinsworth Orchards {15} on your left (this Street was not all built at that time). On your right is now
{15} Brinsworth's (or more probably Brelsforth's, for the name is found in all manner of spellings Orchards became Orchard Street
Vicar Lane but there was no St. James Street, no Vicar Lane, no St. James Church. These places was the Vicarage Crofts. The next Street up Church Lane was Solomon's Row (now Smith Street). This Street used to be called Bloody Row. The following circumstance gave it that name. One Solomon Smith and his son going to Chesterfield Races, a Gentleman's carriage happened to be coming from Chesterfield to the Race Common, a little on this side of Stone Gravels (my Father has shewn me the place very often). The son, then a boy, threw a Stone and frightened the Gentleman's horses. The Gentleman ordered his Footman to horsewhip the boy for so doing. The boy got over a wall and run across the fields, the Footman in pursuit after him. There happened to be in one of the fields some old Coal Pits. The Footman overtaking him began of horsewhipping him and drove him into one of these old Coal pits, so that the boy was killed upon the place. The Father had the case investigated into; The Footman was committed to prison to take his trial. The Gentle- man bargained with this Solomon Smith for so much money not to appear against the man at the Assizes, so by that means the man was acquitted.
With this money he (Solomon Smith) sold his son's life, for he built Solomon 's Row or Bloody Row, as it was once called (it is now Smith Street). {16} When I was a Boy it was reported that this Street was haunted. My aunt used to live in it for a number of years, and I have heard her and the rest of the family say that they have heard dreadfull noises in the Street at midnight many a time. Past this street you proceeded (inclining rather to your right) on Pinfold Street (now Bow Street),{17} Pinfold Lane, very old low houses; the Pinfold same as now. On your left was Blind Lane, a very narrow old Street; the houses was unregular built, no West Street. All at the back of Blind Lane on your right hand was fields and Gardens. This Blind Lane continued a very narrow .street untill it came to the top of Coal Pitt Lane. The Balm Green, on your left hand; this Balm green was composed of very old houses, but no regular Street. At the entrance of Blind Lane on your right hand was a foot road (in
{17} Bow Street was never Pinfold Lane or Pinfold Street. It was made in connection with Glossop Road in 1821, through old tenements and cutting across a narrow "jennel" called Sands Paviours, which ran from Orchard Lane to Pinfold Lane between Smith Street and Blind lane (Holly Street)
being now) at the back of the Brown Cow. {18} This footpath led into the fields to go to Broom Hall and Broomhall Spring and Crookes Moor that way. No Carver Street, where Carver Street Chapel now Stands was fields. I have exercised with the Regiment of Loyal Independent Sheffield Volunteers under Colonel Athorpe, in which Regiment I served for 6 years, upon the same place where the Chapel now Stands, very often.{19} From this Chapel to Sheffield Moor was all Fields. Proceeding on Trippett Lane, this was a narrow Street, nearly same as now. Bailey Field (now Street) was not complete. This was the last street on the right hand. Going forward, on your left hand was, (and is yet) a narrow passage which used to lead from Trippett Lane into the Fields, and a foot path leading from here over the fields into Back Fields. From the bottom of this narrow passage was a lane leading into the fields out of Trippet Lane to go to Broomhall Spring.{20} Forward on, Trippett Lane was a very deep narrow lane and rose up to a high hill at Portobello. No Bailey Lane; from where Bailey Lane now is to Crookes Moor, was all Fields and Gardens. Where St. George's Church now stands was a particular high hill, it was Gardens and supposed to be the pleasantest Gardens about Sheffield. Turning down Broad Lane on your right hand was all Cornfields as far as Bailey Field; on your left hand was houses but unregular built. No Red Hill Street.
Proceeding down Broad Lane at the bottom on the left hand is Garden Street, this was not a Street at that time but partly Gardens, no road through into Red hill.{21} Going up Townhead Street this was once the principal head of the Town. The Town at one time ranged very little higher than this Street. It was a deal more hilly than at present and a considerable deal narrower. There was formerly some very good public wells in this Street. On the left is Rotten Row. I believe this Street retains more of its ancientness than any
{19} The Loyal Independent Volunteers were in being from 179? to 1802. Carver Street Chapel was built in 1805.
{20} This description of the footpath is not clear. No doubt there were several up the slope of the hill, leading towards the lane which became Broomhall Street and, on the right, towards Convent Walk. Back Fields, or Back Lands, often written Black Lands, was the whole region extending north to south from West Street to Sheffield Moor, east to west from Coal Pit Lane to Broomhall Street and Fitzwilliam Street. Coal Pit Lane marks the division between the Town- ships of Sheffield and Ecclesall, and along the Back Lands Division Street was run, across it Carver Street, Rockingham Street and Eldon Street. The populace converted Back Lands Lane (Broomhall Street) into Black Lambs Lane.
{21} Garden Street Chapel was built in 1780, and there were not A few residents in Garden Walk, as it was usually called, by 1787-Although there was no street at Red Hill there was access over its Waste to the Brocco.
other Street in Sheffield. The water course still continues to run in the middle of the Street, as most streets did 50 years ago. This was once a very populace street leading to the Town Head Cross, etc., it is not a very popular street at this time.{22}
At the top of Town Head Street stood the old Grammar School, the road in front of this School was raised so as to be even with the roof. A little below in the yard was the old Writing School, John Eadon, Master.{23}. I learnt at this school under Mr. John Eadon. The Grammar School is now removed into Charlotte Street at the top of Broad Lane. The first public Brewery was first estabished at the top of Townhead Street, the proprietor was Mr John Taylor 1756.{24} Going along Campo Lane is Holy Croft, {25} there is very little alterations in this Street except at the bottom which used to be very narrow and a good Stone house built in this Street. This large house (it was all in one) was untenanted a many years when I was a boy because say'd report in those days it was haunted and no one durst live in it
{23} John Eadon was Master of the Free Writing School from 1760 to his death in 1810. For many years he was also writing master at the Grammar School. Mr. Woolhouse's caligraphy is one of many proofs that penmanship was not the neglected art it seems to be in the schools of to-day, but Mr. Eadon does not appear to have had a great success in teaching him grammar. Eadon's Arithmetical and Mathematical Repository survives as testimony to the author's skill in figures. Like many other schoolmasters of his period he did some land-surveying. Sims Croft, now abolished, was made through land on which the two schools had stood.
{24} The statement that John Taylor established in 1756 the first public brewery in the town, where afterwards was The Warm Hearthstone, is manifestly culled from 7 he Sheffield Local Register. But there was an earlier one in Scargill Croft, for in the Leeds Mercury for May 17th, 174g, Thomas Elliott vaunted the products of the "Sheffield Brew-house" there situate.
{25} Sheffield could never make up its mind whether to call this Holy Croft, or Hawley Croft which is not, perhaps, surprising, since the earlier generations of the Holys wrote themselves Awley and Hawley. The old house referred to is apparently one described in Sheffield in the Eighteenth Century, p. 176, as bearing the date 1721, though there was another in the same street dated 172?. The former is believed to have been the residence of John Smith, Master Cutler in 1722. After that it became the Ball Inn, kept by Jonathan Beardshaw, following whom was Thomas, or as he was usually called, Squire, Bright. As he was one of the twelve persons designated in the directory of 1787 as "Gentleman," it is possible that he was a descendant of one of the Bright families of Whirlow, etc., although here he was a rate-collector. The initials on the 172? house were those of Jonathan Moor, Master Cutler in 1723.
(what a dark age). Proceeding on Campo Lane there is a few old houses pulled down and new ones built, but it is yet a very narrow Street. There is a remnant of a part of an ancient wall still standing on your right hand. I have no doubt but ere long this street will be made considerable wider to the top of Paradise Square. This square in my Parent's time was a Cornfield called Hicks Stile field. My mother has seen Corn grow in this Square. I will relate one circum- stances to show what the 17 Century was. My GrandFather as I have said in the former part of this work, lived at Green Lane and kept a public house. He likewise carried on the Trade of Pocket Knives. One of his men was lame and compell 'd to have Crutches to assist him to travel for a number of Years. His residence was in Gregory Row. My mother has mentioned his name often. This person was out late one evening and had to come on Campo Lane, he saw (or fancied he saw) the Bargast (as it has been frequent]y called) coming towards him on Campo Lane.{26} At that time the Paradise Square was a field and a Stile at the top to go over. When he first saw this goblin he thought within himself " If I can but get over this stile into the field I can go down the hill merrily. " Gregory Row was a very narrow Row or Street at the bottom of Paradise Square. This was a very high hill at that time. The bottom of the present Street has been raised 3 or 4 feet in my time. He managed over this Stile, but the fiend gained ground of him. Faster he went and faster it followed, he ran with his Crutches till his fears came thicker and faster, and this demon still getting nearer, when, being about the middle of this field (the Square) seeing this goblin close at his heels, he there dropt his Crutches and away went he without them, and never stopt or look'd behind him until he got home (he lived in Gregory Row, a very narrow thoroughfare out of West Bar Green and came out at the bottom of Silver Street at the back of the now Sign of the Little Tankard). The wife had the door made, but him being in such a fright had not patience to wait until she opened the door but burst it open. He told the wife what was at the door, but she was the worse frightened at him coming without his Crutches than at the Bargast. However they were a little reconciled and went to bed. He could not rest from fright etc., got up at daylight the next morning to go in quest of his Crutches; he found them in exactly the same place where he dropt them. He went to his work the next morning and his Shopmen
was nearly as frightened to see him come trotting to the shop without his crutches as he was when he saw the Bargast. However he was so overjoyed that he gave his Shopmen a treat of some ale, and they spent the day Cheerfully; and he for his own part never used Crutches again while he lived, and he lived a many years after this. So much for this Bargast.
This Street, Campo Lane, is supposed to take its name from a camp being there in the time of the Romans. At the end of this Street once stood the old Boys' Charity School, an Ancient looking building. The back yard went into York Street.{27} This street (York Street) is much as when I first knew it. At the end of Campo Lane on your left is Figtree Lane, a very ancient Street; also New Street, this was a very narrow, hilly Street and a public well at the bottom. It is supposed that the Vicarage was once in Figtree Lane; the dwelling is now a Currier's Shop. {28} The narrow passage from the end of Campo Lane into New Sreet (called Figtree Lane) all around here was orchards only a little before my time. Where Queen Street Chapel is built was figtree Orchard or Wade's Orchard.
Bridge Street used to be called Under water on account of it being so low as it was under the level of the river. Then they ascended into by 3 steps from the Isle. To go over the Ladies Bridge you had to ascend a flight of Steps, and Wagons carts etc used to go
{28} The delusion, shared by many, that the Vicarage was once in Figtree Lane, is a misunderstanding of the fact that here were the houses of two of the Assistant Ministers, bequeathed by Robert Rollinson. The Vicarage was always where Messrs. Eadon's Auction Mart stands, at the corner of St. James Street and St. James Row. For an account of the Currier s Shop of Joseph Smith, and his sons, afterwards librarians at the Mechanics' Library, see Reminiscences of Old Sheffield, p. 23. "The shop was a stone building, apparently two centuries old, with small leaded window panes. " As Mr. Woolhouse says nothing of the large figtree or figtrees, which once grew here, and gave the street its name, I suppose they had vanished when he wrote.
{29} By Hollis Street is meant the street in front of Hollis's Hospital. That institution was removed to Whirlow in 1903, just two hundred years after its foundation. I put in this note to prevent confusion with Hollis Croft, which was made on land called "Brocho Hill" purchased by Thomas Hollis in 1727, and vested by him in the Trustees of the Hospital. The Three Travellers, a noted carrier's inn, stood in the now open space at the bottom of Snig Hill
Thro' the river. {30} The House (now next to Mr. Rawson's Brewery gate is now a Cooper's Shop) had 4 or 5 Steps to go into the House, the Chamber of which is now the Cooper's Shop. The Water Lane was a very hilly street leading into Millsands. Very few houses in Millsands. The Town Mill for grinding the Town's Corn, as was the ancient custom, was here. I judge the same Mill occupied by Mr. Vickers, as he has upon his Cart Tickets "Town Mill. " There was formerly from the top of Millsands Stones set up in the river for people to pass over to Bridge Houses. My father has seen them and gone over them.{31}
The High Street I have mentioned, when you arrive at Change Alley no alteration here only old houses (new fronted). Passing these on t!he right hand was [on the top] some low old houses which they pulled down to make the new Market. There was no Market Street. A little below the (now) Market Street was a low public house Sign of the Star, where Mr. Roger a publican now dwells, a very noted public house, (one Mr. Littlewood kept it; he is now living). Where the Commercial Inn now stands was a Hair dresser's-Shop and house, one of the first in the Town, as it was a very good and genteel trade at that time. T his hair dresser the Landlord wanted from off the Pre- mises, to pull them down to make the Commercial Inn, so they unroofed the house before they could compell the tenant (the Hair dresser) to leave. This house fronted Jehu Lane as well as down the Bull Stake. {32}
{31} See Note 42.
{32} The above passage needs some elucidation to make it intelligible to the modern reader, especially now that the fussy meddlesomeness of our municipal ~vise- acres has flouted immemorial usage by merging what was the Fruit Market in High Street. If, in the year 1784, you had stood near the bottom of Pudding Lane (King Street) with your back to the Bull Stake (Old Haymarket), .and had looked southwards, you would have seen on your left, on the line of the properties on the lower side of Fitzalan Square, the narrow Jehu Lane, leading to Baker's Hill; at its western corner the barber's shop of Peter Jeeves or Jervis. To its right, other tenements and then, projecting somewhat, the house spoken of above as, later, the Star Inn. Beside and behind this were the Slaughter-houses, and facing it, an open space used as a Swine Market. Before 1797, Swine Market and Slaughter-houses had both been removed, the New Markets supplanting the former and Market Street being run through the site of the latter. And in a few more years, the order was (left to right) Jehu Lane, the Commercial Inn, Theaker's Coffee-house, the Star Inn, Market Street.
Jehu Lane was always a very narrow, dirty street. The reason as I have read of the name of Jehu being given to this lane was when Mary Queen of Scots (who was a prisoner nearly 16 years at the Castle and Manor House in the Park under the guardianship of the Earl of Shrewsbury) was going from the Castle to the Manor House through this lane was then the road. The Coachman in driving thro' this lane used to make use of this expression to his horses "Jehu," which from that circumstance derived the name of Jehu Lane, and continues so to be called to this Day.{33} From here going down Bull Stake on the right hand was all very low ancient houses with most of them courts before them and steps to descend from the Street into them, as far as Dixon Lane. Lower down stood the Castle Laiths. These they pull'd down to build the Tontine Inn. I can only just remember these.{34}
Where the Town Hall stands was some old Houses, built with no regularity, from this corner to the corner of Castle Green. Castle Street was called True Love Gutter, but from what I can't tell.{35} Down Wain gate was a very hilly Street and a many old houses irregularly built, no Killing Shambles, we cross over the Bridge into the Wicker. There was very few houses on the left hand side from the Bridge to Bridgehouses; on the right hand was all Gardens. The houses on the right hand going down the Wicker was in no form; an old house or two stood in the middle of the now Turnpike road, the Sign of the Cock, which was a calling-house for all the Grimesthorpe people. It was then a very narrow road to Handly Hill. Handley Hill was a deal higher than now-.{36}
The Turnpike road went under this hill and came with a bow to the Sign of the 12 o'Clock. The road came in just at this side of the 12 o'Clock. The present Turnpike road was all Gardens and the foot road was close by the houses, on the right hand going on this road was called the Pickle. {37} the Turnpike road from top of Handley Hill to Grimesthorpe was a very narrow deep lane and the foot road was along the fields on the right hand side until you came to the narrow
{34} As the Tontine was opened in 1785, we get here a guide to the limit of Mr. Woolhouse's personal reminiscences and thus distinguish them from hearsay.
{35} Truelove's Gutter took its name from a resident family named Truelove.
{36} By Handley Hill, Spital Hill is meant. The house of the Handley family, Hall Carr, was near where the Victoria Corn Mills now stand in Carlisle Street.
{37} The Twelve o'clock Public House and tollgate stood where Savile Street and the Attercliffe Road diverge. The Pickle was on the right hand side of the latter.
lane going down to Hall Car Wood, then you cross'd the turnpike and the road went along the fields on that side and thro' that little wood nearly at Grimesthorpe. The Lane was so deep that I have seen a Cart laden with hay in the turnpike and I could have strode on the top of it from the field. {38}
We will now return to the Bottom of Snig Hill to go to Bridge Houses.
The Street called Goulston Street going past the sign of the Punch Bowl, leaving Spring Croft on your left. Spring Croft from here was partly field on the right hand side and when you was going along this Street, on your right you could see across the fields into the Bridgehouses. At the far end of this .street turning up Bower Spring was a large Garden belonging to the Workhouse. At the bottom, on your right hand Corner going up, a little above, is yet Bower Spring, a running water which has supplied this end of the Town with good water before I was born. I have fetch'd many a hundred Gallons from it myself, to the top of Lambert Street. It was dry in the year 18‹, but Mr. Benj, Beet, a particular friend of mine, lived at Sign of the Shakespear and many of the water troughs is in his backyard under ground. He applied to the Town Trustees concerning this and they order'd him to make such search for this water as in his Judgment was best. After much labour and expense they found it again to the joy of the whole neighbourhood. It was above 3 months quite dry (this he told me himself) and it now runs as plentiful as ever. It was never known to fail before that time. {39}
Now return to the Sign of the Punch Bowl Corner of Spring Street for the Bridgehouses.
Proceeding down this narrow Street towards the Bridge Houses there was no street on your right hand leading to Ladies Bridge.{40}
{39} The reference here to Bower Spring throws light on certain minutes in Records of the Burgesses. The first (p. 440), 6th Oct. 1824, directs the Clerk "to enquire into the title of the Town Trustees to sower Spring and the ground immediately around it; and to ascertain by what authority the same has been lately obstructed and encroached upon; and to take such measure for the removal of the present obstructions and encroachments, and for returning the premises to their former state, as may be found advisable.~ Then five years later, 11th November, 1829 (p. 452), " Mr. Ellison undertook that the premises at sower Spring, held of the Duke of Norfolk by one Beet a publican, shall be restored to their former state, and thrown open to the public as heretofore. " Next, 7th Sept. 1835, inquiry is again to be made into the right of the Trustees to Bower Spring, and how far they can comply with Messrs. Warburton & Co.'s (brewers) application lo take in and enclose the same.
{40} There was a thoroughfare for foot passengers long before, known as "Under the Water,~ and it had been made available for vehicles under the name of Bridge Street, earlier than 1808. But in this, and what follows, the writer is speaking of the state of things in his early life, or even before his own recollections. Compare my account of Coulson Crofts in the H.A.S. Translations, i. pp. 365~.
There is now a Malt Kiln at the bottom of this Street on your left hand. From here to the Bridgehouses was all fields and a very large Orchard. [on] The Orchard and fields from here to Bower Spring nothing was built. The road from this Malt Kiln I have before described was very narrow and the fields on your left hand was called Norris Fields, belonging to Mr. Norris in West Barr, a very opulent Razor Manu- facturer, who lived in West Barr (once Master Cutler), but the French War so reduced his circumstances that he was an inmate at the Duke of Norfolk's Hospital and Died there. Proceeding past these fields was a large Orchard belonging to Mr. Burgin, Gardener, West Barr Green. This road continued till you came to a Small wooden bridge [over the goyt]. On the right side of this lane, for Street it was not then, lived one William Potts, [who; kept a public house (now Mr. Smith's). {41} He was Drum Major in the Loyal Independent Sheffield Volunteers, this was a low old house. When the river Dunn use~ to swell I have seen it rise 3 Feet high in this house, there was a small Garden before the house. Proceeding forwards was a high wall. To the far end of the lane (now Street) only a few Garden Houses and 2 or 3 small Baths was built and young men and young women used to frequent them very much in Summer time to bathe. When you got to this Small bridge you continued on your left hand, same as now, only where the houses now is was a Orchard which you went round. The Kelham Wheel, on your right hand same as now to Bower Spring it was a small wheel at that time and called Kelham Wheel. This small bridge at the end of Bridge Street is now made of bricks and one arch leading to the Bridge Houses. There was 2 large fields between this small river and the River Dunn, but nothing built upon them (the cast metal bridge not built). Before this cast metal bridge was a wooden one over the same p]ace and before this wooden one was Stones set up about 21 a yard higher than the water for people to pass over. My Father has passed over these stones many a time in coming that way from Grimesthorpe and he lived there with his Parents until he was at age. Then he came and resided in Sheffield. {42}
{42} As the wooden bridge was erected about 1726, it is evident from this that the stepping stones remained and were even used, at least by boys, after the bridge was built The iron bridge replaced wood in 1795. It is interesting to note that the writer's father, h1 coming from Grimesthorpe to Sheffield, chose the way of Tom Cross Lane and Bridgehouses, thus unconsciously adhering to ancient tradition by taking what, in a recent lecture, I maintained to be the line by which the Romans reached Sheffield.
One of these Baths I have been speaking of was kept by a person of the name of Brocksop. He was a tall man and he and Mr. John Crome, printer, was the only 2 persons in Sheffield who wore Cock'd Hats as these hats was going out of Fashion when I was a boy. These 2 persons wore them some years after I was a man, say till I was upwards of Forty.
In going up Fargate there was houses built on both sides. The Lords House stood a little on the North side of the present Norfolk Row. A very elegant old House, it was inclosed by a Wall in a half Circle and Palisaded. The present Duke of Norfolk was born in this house. This I expect is the reason why it was called the Lord's house, he being Iord of the Manor.
Where Norfolk Row is was a narrow foot passage into Norfolk St. From the Lord's house backwards was a large yard from the house to Norfolk Street called Stewards Croft where the Regiment of Loyal Independent Sheffield Volunteers used to parade. I belonged to this Regiment myself and has paraded in this Croft for a number of years. Above the present Norfolk Row on your left is Peper Alley leading to the Unitarian Chapel. This Chapel I believe to be the oldest Chapel in the T own built in the year 1700. The first brick house built in Sheffield was built in Pepper Alley and pulled down in 1837. Some thousands of persons went to view it. It was supposed to be built of such perishable material that it would soon yield to destruction, but it is yet standing and is likely to continue so to do. On your left is Pinstone Lane. No alteration much in this Street. The former name was Pinching Croft from, it is believed, this reason. In former times it was the sport of Shrove Tuesday to throw at Cocks in this Croft in this manner. A person, a man, would introduce a Cock alive and any person who would pay a penny or twopence for each throw with a Stick at Certain paces from the Cock, if he knoct the Cock down with the Stick, the Cock was his. Persons who had Cocks used to get a good deal of money out of apprentice boys etc. every Shrove Tuesday in this manner.{43} On your right hand is Brins- worth's Orchards (now Orchard Street). These before my time was
Orchards belonging to a person of the name of John Brinsworth This street was only partly built in my time. At that end next Far Gate used to be a large sewer discharging itself just at the end of this Orchard Street. It was then called Sow Mouth. Proceeding forward was a many very low old houses on both sides the street At nearly the top on the right hand stood Barker Pool a large square of water enclosed by a stone wall. I have seen it full of water many a time. It was built in the year l~ and destroyed in the year 17‹{44}. This Pool was made by one Mr. Barker living at Balm House, a large Farm house supposed to be situated in Coal Pitt Lane, as there was Orchards etc. where now Back Fields is, and went in a range to Balm Green. This Pool continued until it became a public nuisance as Dogs, Cats etc. used to be drowned in it. This Pool was first made to be used in Case of Fire in the Town. The Town at that time was so small that when they discharged this water out from this Pool, it run down every street in the Town. From this Pool to the top of Coal Pitt Lane was very narrow. Two carts was scarcely able to pass in this Street. The water road (or sink) used to run down the middle of nearly every Street in the Town. I think the only one is Ratten Row at present which runs in this way. When they pulled the old houses down from this Pool to the top of Coal Pitt Lane they found an excellent well in one of the Kitchens belonging to these old houses and has now erected a very elegant Town Pump upon the same place. The Houses where the Well Run Dimple Public House now stands is upon the exact piece of ground where Barker Pool formerly stood.
Going down Coal Pitt Lane, this street used to be a very narrow low lane. There has been buried many a Hundred good Self-Tip handles and good bone nogs in this Street. I lived in this Street 26 years and it has been twice dug up and set again while I lived in it. At each of these times I have seen the men dig up barrows full of good Self Tip handles, when they was thrown away they no doubt did not know the way to straighten them as they appear'd all to be Crook'd, and I have seen the men dig up many a wheelbarrow full of bone nogs, but not fit for use, but they have sold them to Mr. Saml. Pass who lived opposite the Well Yard and used to buy bone dust. He told me himself that: he has paid the men 2 Pounds in one week for these
nogs as bone dust. The men had this for their allowance for Drink. Nearly at the top of the street is a large dwelling (now turned into two) house which has a Court before it. Mr. Linley, Shear Smith, lives in part of it now. This is said was once the old Cutlers' Hall.{45} A little below on the right hand upon the hill is a range of houses above the Chapel. These was once all in one and is supposed was Balm House, as there used to be a large open yard and a deal of Stabling in my time, and behind this house was Orchards, gardens, etc. up to Balm Green. This Balm Green was the green belonging to this Balm Hall. Next to these houses is a Chapel built in the year [1774]. It has belonged to a many different Sects to my remembrance.{46} They are at present Methodists. A little below this used to be a Green and a number of good wells and troughs for water. There was one good well in my time as I lived upon the Well Yard; I have seen and got water from it hundreds of times. I saw this well made up as it had become a public nuisance for they used to drown dogs etc. in it I remember a Certain time when a person who lived a little above this well at the house where the Pallisades is and a drain came from out of his Celler into this well. The person had a Rum Cask burst in his Cellar and the Contents drained into this well. The first person who came to the well for water in the morning was very much surprised at the singular taste and Colour of the water. The news soon spread in the street and a merry Jovial day it was to many, for it was many a time emptied of its Contents that Day. This Street has been considerably raised at the bottom and settled at the top end. The last time it was repaired they took some (I believe many hundreds) loads of earth etc from this street, and raised Sheffield Moor (now South Street). I have no doubt but Sheffield Moor was raised 4 feet in the middle from rubbish from Coal Pitt Lane. At the bottom of this street stood a sugar manufactory pulled down in 1834 or 5.
My wife's Father (Abraham Moore) went to London for the model and he built it. It is now in a very ruined state (as the proprietors has built another near the Wicker) and is expected to be soon pulled
{46} The first Chapel in Coal Pit Lane was built by Edward Bennet, an Independent, who himself discharged the functions of Minister. In 1790 Howard Street Chapel was founded, largely through a bequest he left for the purpose. It was his father who, earlier, had been mainly instrumental in providing the early Methodists with their first two Meeting~houses. The Coal Pit Lane Chapel gave place in 1835 to one erected for the Primitive Methodists.
down.{47} What is now South Street was then Sheffield Moor. There was only a few straggling houses from the Sign of the Parrot, bottom of Coal Pitt Lane to the bridge at the bottom of the Moor. I have called this a bridge, but it does not deserve that name, as it was only a single plank or two laid to cross the river. ~arts etc. used to go through the river. From the bottom of Coal Pitt Lane to the bottom of the Moor, Cows, Horses, Asses, etc. used to be grazing all the day through. I have seen numbers of the.m in the daytime. Mr. Holy'.s house and the Workshops (then a Button Manufactory) now Mr. Abraham's School. I his house etc. stood by itself, and the footroad used to go close by it. Mr. Kirkby's house a little above this last- mentioned place was then a pleasant Country house. It is yet standing.{48} I here was a few other odd houses here and there.
The Ladies' Walk was where now Porter Street is. This was a most pleasant rural walk from the top to the bottom of the Moor to the bridge. l his bridge was rather better than the last I have described, but this was made of wood flat and only one person at a time could pass over. I have waited many a time for my turn to go over. l he Cart.s and Horses etc used to go through the river. l his walk was shaded from top to bottom with elegant trees.and ma(le entire by wooden railing. This used to be a particular walk for the Females on a summer's evening. From the Top of the Moor (now Porter Street), coming down Norfolk Street there was no house on your right hand until you came to the Assemby Room, all was fields down to Pond Lane, called Al.sop Fields. There was a narrow walk from (now about Surrey Street) used to go direct into Pond Lane.
{48} Mr. Holy's House, afterwards J. H. Abraham's (or rather, Miss Abraham's, for he taught chiefly in Milk Street) School, faced South Street at the southern corner of Eldon Street. I think it is now occupied by a club, and stands behind a line of shops. Kirkby's house was in Button Lane, where Eldon Street crosses it.
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