Hawley Street, Sheffield, Houses History

[lawrenceHHH]

Hello,

I am trying to find out when the present houses in Hawley Street in Sheffield city centre were built. My particular interest is in number 93. The street is recorded in the census for 1911 - 1921, which is my research period. I believe there was quite a bit of bomb damage done in that area in WW2 - perhaps this is why the even numbered houses are missing? Did the odd-numbered side survive  or were they rebuilt after the war. Looking at the entry door doorsteps, they are the old-fashioned single stone type and look well worn. I have tried an estate agent whose sign I saw on the street ( from the internet) but they did not know, and the landlord is never there, they said.

 

Many thanks

Lawrence

[TedW]

In the 1800s Hawley Croft was also called Hawley Street and Hawley Lane by the locals, and was in a different place - at 90 degrees to the current Hawley Street, which was built commencing 1902.  The area was an early slum clearance project in Sheffield completed in 1903.  A new tram and bus depot took up almost the whole of the "even" side, extending down as far as the roundabout on Broad Lane, covering the area that had been the notorious Crofts (Sims, School and Hawley Crofts).  At the Campo Lane end was the Crofts Buildings flats which were hit during the Blitz (my great grandfather was at number 44 at the time).

An interesting story is Frank C Bostock's Jungle, which occupied the temporarily empty site between 1910 and 1913  see: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/nfca/projects/sheffieldjungle

 

It's possible to track the changes using the maps at the National Library of Scotland.

[TedW]

A bit more:

 

In 1893 the Health Committee controlled housing matters and in that year took action under the Housing of the Working Classes Act 1890 to deal with the slums. They declared 5 1/4 acres of the Crofts area to be an Improvement Area and made a compulsory purchase order. Under the Act, property had to be purchased at a fair market price, taking into acccount the buildings' likely lifespan in their current condition, but without the normal 10% addition to cover the compulsory element.

 

No provision was made for rebuilding, and it was not until 1898 that decision to build was taken, although the Provisional Order that the corporation had taken out in 1894 gave approval for the corporation to rebuild themselves - normally they would have to sell or lease the land to private builders. The Order also stated that houses should be built on the site for 700 people displaced by the scheme, and that the corporation could demolish the buildings on 1/3 of the land, but no further demolition could take place until dwellings for 250 people had been put up, upon which the remainder could be demolished.

 

By 1898 the corporation had acquired a considerable proportion of the properties in the Crofts area and in February of that year commissioned the Health Committee to report on re-building options. The City Surveyor prepared for a competition amongst architects to design workmens' dwellings on the flat system, the cost not to exceed £10,000 (nothing more was ever heard of this). In July 1898 the Committee requested the Surveyor to report on what buildings in Section 1 of the Crofts should be demolished as "dangerous" and to issue notices to quit for these buildings. There were 373 houses and 6 pubs in this category. There were no attempts to re-house people evicted under the scheme, they were left to their own devices, although a report from the Medical Officer of Health in 1899 showed that 2,650 new houses had been built the previous year and there were 2,596 uninhabited. Tenders for the Section 1 rebuilding were accepted in February 1900. The scheme comprised 124 tenements and two shops and these were all ready for occupation by mid 1903.

 

In October 1900 planning preparations for Sections 2 and 3 began (and were to include a municipal lodging house, subsequently dropped). Section 2 provided for 249 tenements, and the final plans were submitted for approval to the Council in May 1904. Later in the year instructions were given to clear the site, and it was decided to retain one alcohol licence in the area and offer a site for licenced premises for sale.

 

The corporation had originally intended to erect workmans' tenements on the whole of the Crofts area but in March 1905 the Local Government Board pointed out that the corporation's proposals would house more people than had been displaced. This resulted in a change of policy. In September 1905 the plan to erect four blocks of flats in Section 2 was revoked, and a new proposal, to build three blocks of workmens' dwellings comprising 57 tenements and three shops, replaced it. These were ready to occupy in April 1908.

 

The corporation decided to apply to the Local Government Board for permission to grant 200 year leases on the remaining unbuilt-on parts of Section 2, and on the whole of Section 3. According to the City Engineer's Report for 1911, Section 3 was then being cleared of materials and rubbish so that the land could be used as an open space until required.  The Royal Alexandra roller skating rink had opened on Hawley Street on 30th September 1909.  By 1914 the rink had closed and the building, currently used as an exhibition centre, would be demolished to build a tramways depot.

Edited March 31, 2022 by TedW