csg1 Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 Hi, does anyone know where I can go for information on the construction of Orchard Square, what was there before, why it was built etc. (just general history of the area). Thanks for anyone who can help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greybeard Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 The buildings were originally Firth College, built in 1879. Firth College subsequently amalgamated with several other Sheffield colleges to become the University of Sheffield in a new building on Western bank. The buildings on Leopold street were then used partly for the City Grammar School and partly for the Council Education offices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hazel Posted November 21, 2009 Share Posted November 21, 2009 Orchard Place was the Matenity and Child Welfare Clinic just down from Leopold St, it covered some of the area of Orchard Square and there was access to it from Fargate. The clinic was there before it moved to Mulberry st. When Sheffield Public Health Dept was taken over by Trent Reginal Hospital board, Sheffield would have lost prime building land when handing the clinic over, so they quickly moved Orchard Place Clinic or this was what I was told. Staff carried papers, files etc down Fargate and into the new place so that Sheffield could move in time to retain the Orchard Place buiding and land. hazel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plain Talker Posted November 21, 2009 Share Posted November 21, 2009 The buildings were originally Firth College, built in 1879. Firth College subsequently amalgamated with several other Sheffield colleges to become the University of Sheffield in a new building on Western bank. The buildings on Leopold street were then used partly for the City Grammar School and partly for the Council Education offices. Greybeard, I think you might be confusing Leopold Square (the old Education offices) and Orchard Square. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
echo beach Posted November 21, 2009 Share Posted November 21, 2009 Hi, does anyone know where I can go for information on the construction of Orchard Square, what was there before, why it was built etc. (just general history of the area). Thanks for anyone who can help. In the 1860's my great, great grandfather lived on Orchard Street in the Knowles Building which lies adjacent to Orchard Square. I'm not sure what the Knowles Building was: probably a tenement, but a look at a trades directory from thirty years earlier shows that there was a real Dickensian hodgepodge of activities on that particular street. There were two taverns (The Mermaid & the 3 Tuns), a straw hat maker, a powder flask & shot belt manufacturer, a lancet & fleam manufacturer, a clasp maker and a school. In addition, there were the usual shops ( furniture, baker, bookseller & stationer, ironmonger and a tile dealer) and some trades like dressmaker, hosier & glover, maltster and corn factor & flour dealer which have either died out or been taken over by large mass production companies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plain Talker Posted November 21, 2009 Share Posted November 21, 2009 The notorious Victorian criminal, Charlie Peace had links with the Orchard Street area. His mother (IIRC) lived there in the old housing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheff2006 Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 Hi, does anyone know where I can go for information on the construction of Orchard Square, what was there before, why it was built etc. (just general history of the area). Thanks for anyone who can help. I would be interested in this as it is one of my favourite parts of the city centre. Wasn't the 'new' Orchard Square built around 1986ish? I remember going down to the restaurant part on the lower floor around 1987-88ish where TKMaxx is now. It was great and seemed bigger than it is now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bagger Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 I would be interested in this as it is one of my favourite parts of the city centre. Wasn't the 'new' Orchard Square built around 1986ish? I remember going down to the restaurant part on the lower floor around 1987-88ish where TKMaxx is now. It was great and seemed bigger than it is now. I remember those restaurents downstairs! It was like a much smaller version of the Oasis in Meadowhall. I used to go in there for a jacket potato with cheese when pregnant in 1991. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csg1 Posted November 22, 2009 Author Share Posted November 22, 2009 Thanks for the help - didn't know any of that. The information you provided has given me something to go on, need to find sources though to back up what I put in my coursework. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greybeard Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 Looking at Google maps I obviously had got the wrong place. Orchard square is the successor to a gennel and yard that ran from Fargate back to the rear of the buildings on Orchard place. It was once known as Favell's Yard perhaps after a surgeon of that name who had house on Fargate. Old maps show properties of various sizes in and around the yard, some may have been domestic but I suspect most will have been workshops and warehouses etc. In this photo the old building on the right has windows typical of a cutlery works or silversmith's http://www.picturesheffield.com/cgi-bin/zoom.pl?picture=http://www.picturesheffield.com/jpgh/w00677.jpg There is also a photo of the Maternity and Child Welfare Clinic that stood in Orchard Place. http://www.picturesheffield.com/cgi-bin/zoom.pl?picture=http://www.picturesheffield.com/jpgh/w00563.jpg and the house Peace is supposed to have escaped from http://www.picturesheffield.com/cgi-bin/picturesheffield.pl?_cgifunction=form&_layout=picturesheffield&keyval=sheff.refno=s05931 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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