Another Mystery from Pitsmoor - The Workhouse on Rock Street t

[Falls]

OK. - Here's another Pitsmoor mystery for you.

 

About four months ago, I was looking at old maps of Sheffield and found one dated 1823. In addition to showing Sheffield Town itself, it also showed Bridgehouses including the bottom of what we now know as Pitsmoor Road .

 

It also showed Rock Street as going up from Pitsmoor Road and then it just petering -out somewhere about the present day Andover Street. It didn't go throught to Burngreave Road because this didn't exist back then and must have been just fields at the time.

 

At the then top end of Rock Street, the map showed a workhouse. Does anybody know exactly where this work house was located?

 

I know workhouses are a very touchy subject and I don't want to trample on feelings of others but I thought someone on the forum might know.

 

As many of us know, Pitsmoor was part of the township of Brightside Bierlow, which didn't become part of Sheffield proper until the end of the nineteenth century.

 

We are not talking about the workhouse at Firvale either, which many of us have painful memories about. Firvale was built after 1840 and must have replaced the one on Rock Street.

 

We are not talking about the old Sheffield workhouse either which used to be somewhere on West Bar Green or the Ecclesall Bierlow Workhouse (also known as the Union Workhouse which eventually became Nether Edge Hospital.

 

Regards

[lisalee]

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=C8cHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA92&lpg=PA92&dq=rock+street+workhouse&source=web&ots=OcwyPlO0PP&sig=0iUw-csg5Fbz29HuVXl0O5oL0y0&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=8&ct=result

 

I found this document which mentions the workhouse, hope its useful to you

[Greybeard]

Hi Falls,

 

On the 1850s map Rock street is completed through to Burngreave road and 'Brightside Old Workhouse' is shown as being right on the bend on the east side.

 

If you look on Google maps the site is approx 53.3928°N 1.4661°W between Neville drive and Verdon street.

 

I think the Firvale workhouse replaced the old workhouses of Brightside, Attercliffe and Ecclesfield.

[HughW]

As many of us know, Pitsmoor was part of the township of Brightside Bierlow, which didn't become part of Sheffield proper until the end of the nineteenth century.

 

Not so

 

Brightside Bierlow was one of the 6 townships of the ancient parish of Sheffield. I am not sure how ancient is 'ancient' but certainly well before the 19th century.

 

(I just found a quote in the Sheffield Local Register, which I think comes from Hunter's Hallamshire, which states that the Parish was first divided into 6 Townships in 1699)

 

There's a great detail from the 1851 OS map, showing the old workhouse, on the workhouses.org site.

 

Also from the Local Register:

6 Jul 1801 Brightside Bierlow new workhouse commenced.

 

Hugh

[HughW]

I think the Firvale workhouse replaced the old workhouses of Brightside, Attercliffe and Ecclesfield.

 

In general, the old Township/Parish workhouses were replaced by Union Workhouses following the 'New Poor Law' in 1834. (Union because the Act created 'unions' of townships and/or parishes for the purposes of poor relief).

 

Sheffield Union continued to use the Sheffield Township workhouse at Kelham Island as a Union workhouse, and, because of limited accommodation there, also continued to use Brightside Old Workhouse, particularly for children. There were several projects to extend the Kelham Island building or build a new workhouse before Fir Vale was finally built, opening in 1881. I assume that the Brightside building closed at that point.

 

Ecclesfield did not become part of Sheffield until the 20th century. It was part of Wortley Union which built a new Union Workhouse in Wortley, completed in 1852.

 

Hugh

[Falls]

Not so

 

Brightside Bierlow was one of the 6 townships of the ancient parish of Sheffield. I am not sure how ancient is 'ancient' but certainly well before the 19th century.

 

(I just found a quote in the Sheffield Local Register, which I think comes from Hunter's Hallamshire, which states that the Parish was first divided into 6 Townships in 1699)

 

There's a great detail from the 1851 OS map, showing the old workhouse, on the workhouses.org site.

 

Also from the Local Register:

6 Jul 1801 Brightside Bierlow new workhouse commenced.

 

Hugh

 

 

Yes Hugh, I realized Brightside Bierlow was, and had been, a township within Sheffield Parish for a consderable length of time. The point I was trying to make- perhaps not as well as I should have - was that the Brightside, along the other townships, ceased to exist as separate administrative units when they became part of the new county Borough of Sheffield.

 

Regards

[Greybeard]

 

Ecclesfield did not become part of Sheffield until the 20th century. It was part of Wortley Union which built a new Union Workhouse in Wortley, completed in 1852.

 

Hugh

 

Thanks Hugh, don't know why I typed Ecclesfield instead of Sheffield; I blame the lateness of the hour and the whisky - I was just about to head for bed when I saw Falls post and more interested in pinpointing the location for him than the other matter.

[terriesmith]

I have been investigating my family tree and discovered that my great great grandmother was an 'inmate' at Brightside - she appears on the census in 1901 there aged 41.

Did you ever get any info re this place and do you know where I might look for more?

[terriesmith]

She was in fact a 'foster mother' - any info would be good