Anyone know the history of Broadfield Road?

[Dannybwoy]

Hi

 

I lived on Empire Rd (opposite the top, Abbeydale Rd, end of Beadale Rd) from the late seventies to the late eighties. A bit later than some of you are mentioning, but even from that time a heck of a lot has changed.

 

My brother and I, and our freinds used to play in Broadfield Park (thats actually where i first rode a bike without stabilisers!) before most of it was swallowed up with development. It looks nothing like it did back then. If only we'd had the foresight to take some snaps. You just think how things are is how things will always be, you never imagine things will change so dramitacally, so much so that you cant remember exactly how things used to look!

 

There used to be a little swings and roundabout bit up the end of the park, where the cut through to the road which comes out opposite Abbeydale middle school was.

 

All the area opposite the bottom of Beadale Rd was just open grassland and on the other side of the river used to be Laycocks (I think it was Laycocks anyway, whatever it was, my nan used to work there in the kitchens and my mum says she used to complain about big rats finding their way into the kitchens and stealing food)

Then the factory was pulled down and cleared. There used to be / still (?) is a little path that went from the other side of the bridge in the middle of the park that took you through to the little road over the back. All the factories there have now been pulled down.

 

I remember the RED bridge, went over it a few times before they closed it cos it was really unsafe and crumbling to bits.

 

So many memories, all flooding back now after reading this thread.

[steve18830]

Hi

 

I lived on Empire Rd (opposite the top, Abbeydale Rd, end of Beadale Rd) from the late seventies to the late eighties. A bit later than some of you are mentioning, but even from that time a heck of a lot has changed.

 

My brother and I, and our freinds used to play in Broadfield Park (thats actually where i first rode a bike without stabilisers!) before most of it was swallowed up with development. It looks nothing like it did back then. If only we'd had the foresight to take some snaps. You just think how things are is how things will always be, you never imagine things will change so dramitacally, so much so that you cant remember exactly how things used to look!

 

There used to be a little swings and roundabout bit up the end of the park, where the cut through to the road which comes out opposite Abbeydale middle school was.

 

All the area opposite the bottom of Beadale Rd was just open grassland and on the other side of the river used to be Laycocks (I think it was Laycocks anyway, whatever it was, my nan used to work there in the kitchens and my mum says she used to complain about big rats finding their way into the kitchens and stealing food)

Then the factory was pulled down and cleared. There used to be / still (?) is a little path that went from the other side of the bridge in the middle of the park that took you through to the little road over the back. All the factories there have now been pulled down.

 

I remember the RED bridge, went over it a few times before they closed it cos it was really unsafe and crumbling to bits.

 

So many memories, all flooding back now after reading this thread.

 

 

the open space and grassland at the bottom of Bedale road is where we used to live. there was a this was a crossroads but obviously it was a dead end.now for the boring bit bear with me....

 

the distance from broadfield road at the bottom of bedale road which has not been moved to the river is only 20 yds,,,,,in that 20yds we had a 2 bed terraced house,little garden, a row of garages including the gravel forecourt and the riverbank which i would say should be 60yds. spooky???

the river still has its courragated edge as i remember as a child..

[PeterRM]

There used to be hoardings at the bottom of Primrose Hill .You could climb up the back and look over the top.No one could see you as they were lights shining on the adverts great place to hide long since gone

[only_me]

i believe the path up the side of the dairy is still there which comes out hale street or road at the side of the old cinema.thats where we used to find the steel blanks for the orange machine outside the dairy

 

Me and me mates would look for ball bearings to play marbles with up the same path. I can remember a fence half way up the path that we would climb over. Once over we would search amongst the scrap for the bearings, very scary lol. That drinks machine was a godsend on those hot summer days with its cartons of ice cold milk and orange.

[Dannybwoy]

We used to play on that walk way too.

 

We though it was our 'secret' walk way, lol.

 

We either went to it down the side of the picture palace or through an archway that used to be near the chippy on Abbeydale rd.

[Deboz]

I used to live in Markham Terrace - great memories of riding my scooter down the gennel - buying Bunty comics from the corner shop at the bottom of the gennel and falling off the river bank into the river and giving my mum a fright in the 1960s.

[John Peace]

If anyone is still looking at this thread. The Flood that's mentioned was in 1969 maybe a tad later. I don't remember it being in dead winter so I believe it was rain caused, not melting snow. I lived directly on the river, straight accross from Laycocks on Tamplin Terrace, and the water filled our cellar and started lapping into the kitchen. I actually have a couple of photo's of the river over our back wall, before and during the flood.

 

Used to shoot those big rats with my air rifle as they used to swim back and forth accross the river from the houses to the factory.

[Guest]

We lived in Meersbrook where they were WELLOWS!

 

The photo I've recalled was from way back, the clothing people were wearing was more of the turn of the century so there must have been one earlier. Obviously, living near a river there are always going to be floods but, this looked like it had been reported as being something more major.

 

As kids during the 40's and early 50's in Heeley, we also referred to wellies as wellows - maybe the word was used just in that area around Heeley & Meersbrook because I have never heard anyone else use it.

 

We also played in that stream (the Meers Brook, which gave the area it's name & was also the original boundary between Yorkshire and Derbyshire) and often attempted to wade up through the tunnel under Carrfield Road - there were rumours that there was a whirlpool under there and we always chickened out. As Duffems said, we also tended to play there when it was in flood so our fears may have kept us out of serious trouble.

[DUFFEMS]

As kids during the 40's and early 50's in Heeley, we also referred to wellies as wellows - maybe the word was used just in that area around Heeley & Meersbrook because I have never heard anyone else use it.

 

We also played in that stream (the Meers Brook, which gave the area it's name & was also the original boundary between Yorkshire and Derbyshire) and often attempted to wade up through the tunnel under Carrfield Road - there were rumours that there was a whirlpool under there and we always chickened out. As Duffems said, we also tended to play there when it was in flood so our fears may have kept us out of serious trouble.

 

We lived on Upper Valley Road and we used to go down the bottom of Kent Hill to get into the river and then wade our way along in our "wellows" ('cus us kids in Meersbrook called 'em that). The river took us alongside Albert Road and, as it got towards the back of Empire Rib there was a high wall where we all used to pull our jumpers up around our necks because some silly chuff told us that rats were nested in there and that they would "jump out and bite yer neck".

So this group of kids in wellows with just their eyes poking above the tops of their raggy woolly jumpers would slither and slide their way towards Heeley Bottom, we never made it because the current was so great that we could barely stand and the water always came over the tops of our wellows. Some bright spark always shouted that they'd seen a rat so we'd all set off as fast as our aching legs would allow forgeting to keep our necks covered. When we got back to the bottom of Kent Hill where the "old gassy" was the water was very shallow and we'd all stand boasting about the fact that we'd seen "t'biggest rat ever" when in actual fact we'd seen nowt, just kids being kids. You never told your mother where you'd been even though your socks were soaking and you had a big tide mark round your calf!

[Treatment]

Empire Rib

 

Empire Rib, the Brolly place, cor man !