History

Body Snatching - February 1998

What does the phase 'body snatching' conjure up in your mind? Some dark tale from Edgar Allen Poe or a tale by R L Stevenson? A grim portrayal by Boris Karloff? Well actually there was a time when dead bodies were a valuable commodity and many a corpse was dragged from it's recent grave, to the distress of the deceased's relatives. Henry the VIII, in 1540, followed the example of James the IV of Scotland, in 1506, in making legal provision for the bodies of executed criminals to be dissected by the crude, unskilled barber surgeons of the time. This was intended as an additional punishment and also an aid to the study of medicine and human anatomy. Such dissections were usually carried out in public after execution and were regarded as a shocking and degrading treatment to the human body. The corpse of a relative or friend in popular culture was something to be treated with respect and to be dissected was regarded with horror and shame. As part of the draconian penal code of the eighteenth century an Act of 1752 allowed for murderers to either be gibbeted or their bodies be dissected after execution. Anatomical studies in this country began with the growth of private schools of anatomy set up as a result of the influence of the Hunter brothers, William and John, in the eighteenth century. The Hunter's teaching of anatomy by observations during dissection, put the subject on a proper footing. However because the only legal source of bodies were the prisons and legislation had given the monopoly on these to the Royal College of Surgeons, the demand from the private schools soon outstripped supply. As a result bodies were being dissected and sold from at least the mid 1700's. At High Bradfield to the north of Sheffield there is a watch house, erected in 1745, to deter body snatchers from raiding this large and isolated churchyard. The first half of the nineteenth century saw the activities of the 'resurrectionist's as the professional body snatchers were the activities of Burke and Hare causing national concern. In Sheffield it is the reputation of the Overend family and their supposed involvement in this grisly trade that provides interest.

Wicobank Hillfort - February 1998

That Sheffield is the only city in the world that has an Iron Age Hill Fort within its boundaries. Wincobank Hillfort is a defensive enclosure of just over 2.5 acres in area built to dominate the Lower Don Valley. The site was probably occupied earlier than the Iron Age and would have been reoccupied to oppose the Roman advance, marked by their fortress at Templeborough on the outskirts of Rotherham. The hillfort is on the summit of Wincobank Hill whose Western slopes possess the remnants of ancient oak woodlands From the summit of Wincobank Hill you can enjoy some fascinating views and note the many changes in the Don Valley area.

150 Years Ago: 1847 - February 1998

His Majesty's Inspector visited Derbyshire schools at Dore. He found the children dirty, many of them sitting without any means of employing their time and no check offered to their fighting and squabbling among themselves. The teacher said that he did not consider it to be part of his duty to question the children as to the meaning of what they read. And we think we've got problems with the national curriculum.


Bradways Tramways? - May 1998

Are there any Outrams still living in the Bradway area? Certainly there were families of that name in the surrounding area throughout the last four or five hundred years.
My first record is of a John Outram appearing before the Holmesfield Court in 1486, and then an Edward Outram was involved in a trespass case in 1612. On this latter occasion Edward Outram had a lead smelting mill on the river Sheaf just below Totley Rise, known as Outrams End or Bradway Mill. And I bet you didn't know that, in 1775, a James Outram, an engineer and iron master advising the Duke of Norfolk, pulled up the wooden rails then in use at the Duke's colliery in Sheffield, and laid down L-shaped cast iron rails spiked to cross sleepers. The first Outram plates became known as 'Outrams Way'.

Then in 1800 his son Benjamin- substituted stone for cast iron sleepers and subsequently Outrams Ways were installed all over the country. Eventually the first two letters were omitted and the word Tramway substituted - hence tramlines, tramcars, tramstops, tramrides and of course Supertram!
Incidently the first tramway for passenger traffic was laid in 1832 from New York to Hallam.

Brian Edwards


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