Anyone remember Mucky Ernest?

[Heeley tyke]

Mucky Ernest was a character living in Attercliffe in the 30s and 40s.

His story is a strange one. I read about it some time ago in a book about the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation.

[Heeley tyke]

I unearthed this story of Mucky Ernest from a book about the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation written a few years ago by a local author.

It is a very interesting book and describes areas of the city adjacent to the canal. Here there are stories of Spence Broughton, a dragon that lived in Sheffield and about the man who executed Charles I in 1649.

But this story concerns Mucky Ernest…

 

There was a road called Bright St. that ran through Attercliffe and from there, ran a network of smaller streets and alleys or gennils, as they were known. This area was completely demolished in the early 60s in a massive slum clearance scheme.

On one of these streets before the war, lived a young man known to all as Mucky Ernest. He would roam the streets on a pair of old roller skates making a terrible clamour as all the roads were cobbled in that area. He was a simple soul and, as they used to say round here, “Two bob short of a quid!” It was said that you could hear Mucky Ernest coming six streets away and smell him from four!

One night, during an air raid, his house was bombed and for some time afterwards, he lived rough, sheltering in old chicken coops or bombed-out buildings. He would only venture out during “Black-out” hours. He still had his roller skates and would go up and down the area living on stolen milk from doorsteps and anything else he could find. Some locals felt sorry for him and would leave out food and an old coat.

About eighteen months later, his decaying body was discovered in an old cellar which had collapsed on him. He was buried in Carbrook cemetery along with other air raid victims.

The amazing thing is that people living in those streets swore they had heard his skates and continued to do so for many years after!