Ye Olde Fir Vale

[Greybeard]

Algy, - thanks for that reminder about Fir Vale House. Sadly I lost all my maps and notes on the local history of the area when we moved out here (or rather the removal men lost them), so I can only offer what little I can now remember.

 

The derivation of place names has always been a fascination for me, and interestingly 'Firs Hill' seems to have nothing to do with 'Fir' trees but comes to us from the OE name for gorse which was 'furze'; and it's easy to imagine that the bright yellow flowers of gorse would provide a landmark for the population in times past. So whoever named that house as Fir Vale was on completely the wrong track.

[Greybeard]

Abdul, - many thanks for the pointer to that map !

 

You can see the Skinnerthorpe farm buildings and those of Hagg farm quite clearly defined. Also the buildings of Page Hall farm which are immediately above the 'er' in the name Skinnerthorpe. That lane from Bolsover Hill to Hinde Common Lane is a little obscured by the marking for the Ward boundary, - it did have a name on one of the maps I had but I can't remember now what is was. BTW Bolsover Hill was the house that [Thomas - William ?] Bolsover the inventor of Sheffield Plate built for himself.

 

Goddard Hall might still be standing...it was used as a nurses home for many years and then converted to offices I think.

[algy]

The change from Furze to Fir could have been a slip by the early map-makers. They often spelled things the way locals pronounced them but spelled them the way they thought. On the other hand, names sometimes got changed by people who didn't appreciate the origin. Psalter Lane is a classic example. The old name was Salter Lane, as it was part of the old salt route from Cheshire, but when it came to making it official, someone must have thought the connection was with Beauchief Abbey, which isn't far away, so it officially became Psalter Lane. Also Bower Hill at the top of the Porter Valley appears on the 1st ed OS 1" map as Boar Hill, and you can just hear the local saying the name and the map-maker repeating it in a different accent! Isn't local history fascinating!

[Don_Kiddick]

there's some pics n info here too

 

http://www.workhouses.org.uk/index.html?Sheffield/Sheffield.shtml

[Texas]

By the grace of God.

[DavidRa]

Does anybody have any old pics of Fir Vale? would love to see how the area in which I've grown up has changed over the years.

Hello young owl grew up nearby please do not repond on the love site with Canadablade.

[DavidRa]

Not entirley. Barnsley Road was a turnpike road driven through around 1790 so was there long before the church The church was built on the site of Skinnerthorpe farm and the old gateposts of the farm entrance can still be seen in the wall of the church on Firth Park Road - now used for a much smaller gate.

 

I don't think there is any record of the name 'Fir Vale' before the area was built up; it was previously a tiny hamlet known as Skinnerthorpe. At that time there were very few buildings - Skinnerthorpe farm, a couple of cottages on the opposite side of Owler Lane [about where Socket's shop is], Cannon Hall and Cannon Hall cottages. The first serious building work was the Union Workhouse which eventually became NG Hospital. This was built in lands belonging to a farm known as The Hagg and the house etc. stood just inside the old gates on the left.

 

Skinnerthorpe Road was built in what was the gardens of Cannon Hall. There were fewer roads of course...Herries Road was called Smilter Lane and crossed Barnsley Road onto Owler Lane which wound down to Grimesthorpe [Rushby Street is new]. Off Owler lane on the left was Hinde House Lane [called then Hinde Common Lane I think] which ran all the way up to Pismire Hill on Bellhouse Road via Windmill Lane. Bolsover Road follows the line of an old lane that led from Barnsley Road down past the Page Hall stable block and cottages to join Hinde Common Lane opposite the entrance to Page Hall farm. [There were some old gateposts here too]

 

AS PT says the whole area was transformed in a few years between 1885 and 1910. The two new main roads were Firth Park Road and Page Hall Road...these and all the houses and side atreets around them were built on what was mostly farmland and woodland.

If one looks at population statistics Sheffield's population doubled between 1850 & 1900 the biggest building period appears th have been around the period 1900-1910 when the vast majority of the terraced houses appear to have been built.