Autumn 2002

Streetwise - History - Family History - Bess of Hardwick (1527-1608) A Modern Woman?

Streetwise - History

If you think there is ever a chance of being asked to compile a set of brain wracking questions for a general knowledge quiz, then read on and be educated, as well as being entertained! All you have to do is to buy a copy of Street Names of Sheffield by my former newspaper colleague, Peter Harvey, or nip along to Greenhill or Totley Library to see if there is a copy free for you to borrow.

If anyone wants two answers to the question 'Explain the origin of Moonshine Lane in Sheffield 5', you will pull in the points by saying that the name comes from the Moonshine area on Greenwood's famous 1817 map of Yorkshire and is mentioned in the 1849 tithe awards.

Although the name is most likely to refer to some geographical feature, Peter Harvey says it is not entirely impossible that the name had something to do with illegal liquor. Speaking with the authority that comes from more then 10 years research into local street names, he says that the word was in use in England in the 1700's, and is known to have been used in reference to illicit gin in North Yorkshire in the 1790's

One of the main routes between Bradway and Sheffield city centre, Abbeydale Road is described as running along the dale in which Beauchief Abbey was built. The road used to be longer than it is now, but in 1894 to avoid the possibility of house numbers going over 1000 the stretch from Millhouses Post Office to Totley Brook was re-named Abbeydale Road South.

Baslow Road was developed as part of the Baslow Turnpike in 1813-14 and The Town Trust gave £200 towards its cost. The Tollbars were abolished in 1880.

Birchitt Close, Place and Road are linked with the name Bircheheued in a document written in 1260, with various spelling changes since then. Peter Harvey says that Birchitt probably means a birch covered headland.

Bochum Parkway, another link road to the city centre was first called Norton Parkway and re-named in 1982 after Sheffield's twin city in Germany. An industrial town in the Ruhr, Bochum has named one of its ring roads the Sheffield Ring.

In prime position in the area actually called Bradway, we have Bradway Close, Drive and Road. The name Bradway can be traced back to 1260 with language experts saying it comes from Brad Weg, meaning a broad road.

Bradway Grange Road was named from the house, Bradway Grange, formerly the home of Tedbar Tinker, 'engineer, surveyor, farmer, brick and tile manufacturer and quarry owner' of Twentywell Stone and Brickworks.

Linked with a group of cottages built adjacent to the Castle Inn, opened in 1866 to cater for the navvies working on the Bradway railway tunnel, are Castle Row, Castlerow Close and Drive.

Celandine Court and Gardens were named after the yellow flowered celandine plant and were built on the site of a former nursery garden run by the Barker family.

The oddly named Chemical Yard is linked with the old Totley Chemical Works from the mid-nineteenth century run by Tinker and Siddall manufacturing chemists, and later by Thomas Kilner Amanufacturer of pyroligineous acid, naphtha, and charcoal.

Conalan Avenue was built on land owned by Thomas Tedbar Osborne, farmer, of Bradway Road, with the name coming from Mr Osborne's daughter Constance and his son Alan. Peter Harvey admits that the origin of Everard Avenue, Drive, and Glade are not known. The names were approved in July 1958.

Built to plans passed in 1937, Kenwell Drive seems to have been some kind of variation on the name of the builder, O. Edwin Hanwell of Twentywell Lane.

A link with the time of King Henry III can be claimed by people living in Longford Close, Crescent, Drive, Road and Spinney through Nigel de Longford, Lord of the Manor of Totley and Dore at that time.

The origin of Ox Close Avenue is said to be a Bradway field name which was in use in the 16th century and possibly earlier.

Poynton Wood Crescent and Glade are named after the nearby Poynton Wood, thought in turn to have been named after John Poynton, who lived in the area in the 16th century.

The good views from the sites of Prospect Court, Drive, Place and Road resulted in the present names. Because of Sheffield's hills a good many building sites had commanding views so Prospect was a popular 19th century street name. Prospect Road was first called Bradway Bank but was renamed in 1937.

Originally called Victoria Road, Queen Victoria Road was renamed in 1935.

The origin of Rosamond Avenue, Close, Court, Drive, Glade and Place probably comes from Rosamond Hawksworth who married Cyril Arthington of Hazelbarrow in the 16th century. A Roman Catholic she was named by the Earl of Shrewsbury in a list of 'Popish fugitives' he compiled for Derbyshire.

St. Quentin Close, Drive, Mount, Rise and View have links with an old well nearby called Quintinewelle in old documents, possibly named by the Beauchief Abbey monks after St. Quentin. But it might also have been because it was the fifth well (quin meaning five) or because it was near a quintain, or tilting post.

The Domesday Book records Totley as Totingelie and dialect experts say this means the clearing of Tota's people from the old personal name Tota. Residents in Totley Lane may be interested in the theory that toting hills were mounds or hills used as lookout places. To tote means to spy or watch out.

Twentywell Sick is the old name of the deep valley leading to the north end of Bradway Tunnel and is referred to in a twelfth century document as Quintinewelle, from St. Quentin's Well. Presumably there was a well of this name in the area of Twentywell Drive, Lane, Rise, Road and View.

The names Wollaton Avenue, Drive and Road come from Wollaton Hall at Nottingham, the home of the Middleton family who were lords of the manor of Totley from the early 1700s to the late 1800s. The hall is now the Nottingham Natural History Museum.

Woodland Place comes from the nearby Clay Wood.

Roger Davis

Family History

There are many books and CD-Roms published on the subject but some starters tips are:

Ask relatives of the generation above if they can remember any details about their grandparents, such as where they lived or were born. If they can, that might put you into the 1800s, which means you can look up details on the Census Returns for that area. The 1901 census was published at the beginning of 2002 and will be held in local record offices along with earlier ones.

A visit to the Family Records Centre at 1 Myddelton Street, London, will give you access to copies of the Census Returns from 1841 onwards, plus details of births, marriages and deaths since 1837. It houses a wealth of other information too. Visit the website: (www.pro.gov.uk), or tel: 020 8392 5300 for details of opening hours.

Details of births, marriages and deaths before 1837 are generally kept at the local county record office.

Visit the website: (www.cyndislist.com) for a comprehensive list of genealogical sites.

Get in touch with the family history society of the area you are interested in, by doing a search or by visiting the Federation of Family History Societies' website: (www.ffhs.org.uk).

The Guild of One Name Studies may have a group dedicated to your name. Write to the guild at Box G, 14 Charterhouse Buildings, Goswell Road, London EC1M 7BA or visit the website: (www.one-name.org).

Bess of Hardwick (1527-1608) A Modern Woman?

At sixteen, Bess married her cousin Robert Barlow, of a local family slightly richer than the Hardwicks. Robert, an ailing 14 year old died almost immediately and Bess acquired a small estate.

She had been in the service of the Zouche family of Codnor Castle and decided to continue to serve in great households. Thus she met and subsequently married Sir William Cavendish. The Cavendishes, originally of Suffolk, came to Derbyshire in the 16th century. William Cavendish had been appointed a Commissioner in the Dissolution of the Monasteries, for which he was rewarded with a knighthood and gifts of monastic lands.

Sir William Cavendish was persuaded by Bess to sell his Suffolk estate in 1553 and buy land and property in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire .She and Sir William began to build the original Chatsworth House but before its completion William died in 1557 leaving Bess with six children (and at Chatsworth) the supervision of 375 workmen.

Bess was now, however, a very wealthy widow and as such in 1559 met and married Sir William St Loe, Captain of Queen Elizabeth's Guard, and Grand Butler of the Royal Household and said to be Queen Elizabeth's favourite courtier. In 1564, St Loe died, and Bess inherited the bulk of his property. Their was much speculation as to whom she would marry next!

In 1567 she married George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, Lord Lieutenant of Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, and Derbyshire, High Steward of England, Knight of the Garter. Hugely wealthy, very influential and from one of the most illustrious families in England, he owned vast estates as well as merchant shipping, coal mines, lead mines, glass works, and iron foundries.

Bess's rise was not without its dangers. Queen Elizabeth was looking for a custodian for the inconvenient and potentially dangerous Mary, Queen of Scots, and Bess's houses now proved a doubtful blessing. For fifteen years Mary was moved from house to house belonging to the Shrewsburys. Tutbury Castle, Sheffield Castle, Sheffield Manor, Wingfield Manor, Buxton, and Chatsworth accommodated and guarded her, so that of the fifteen years of her captivity she was in the Sheffield area for fourteen of them.

And thus Bess fell foul of Queen Elizabeth! She unwisely arranged the marriage of her youngest daughter to Charles Stuart the younger brother of Lord Darnely who was Mary, Queen of Scots late husband! Bess had pushed too far. Queen Elizabeth was furious, threatened the Tower and Bess's marriage collapsed.

In 1590, however, when Lord Shrewsbury died she regained control of all her lands and received a very large widow's settlement. She spent the next fifteen years building the second Hardwick Hall - 'more glass than wall!'

As some indication of her wealth and importance, in 1591 on a trip to London in a litter swung between four horses, with several baggage wagons and 43 attendants, church bells were rung in every town and village through which she passed.

Of her children, her second son, William Cavendish became Duke of Devonshire and owner of Chatsworth and Hardwick, and from her third son descended the Cavendish - Bentincks, Dukes of Portland who owned Wellbeck, and later Bolsover Castle.

When Bess died in 1608, the astronomical sum of £1,584.7s.9d. was paid just for the mourning cloth. She was buried in great state and her tomb alone is worth a visit to Derby Cathedral.

Bess of Hardwick then was successfully ambitious for herself and her children. Would she serve as a role model for the modern woman? Her confidence, business management and determination certainly inspire respect.

Pat Pryor

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