i work in the city centre and pass through the bus station in pond street on a daily basis.
now there is a lot of building work under way on what used to be the lower platform areas.

i have noticed that the excavation work has dug up numerous grinding wheels, now i know this area was at one time a slum area pre-war and alsi had a lot of cutlery factories too.

as they have dug up these grinding wheels , i can only preume the diggers have broken through to some of sheffield history.

my question is ,is any one investigating the area archeologically and if so where and when will we be able to veiw any findings ?

i work in the city centre and pass through the bus station in pond street on a daily basis.
now there is a lot of building work under way on what used to be the lower platform areas.

i have noticed that the excavation work has dug up numerous grinding wheels, now i know this area was at one time a slum area pre-war and alsi had a lot of cutlery factories too.

as they have dug up these grinding wheels , i can only preume the diggers have broken through to some of sheffield history.

my question is ,is any one investigating the area archeologically and if so where and when will we be able to veiw any findings ?

Oooh interesting, I might take a walk down there at some point.

Let us know if theres a sniff of Tony Robinson and his Time Team cronies won't you :thumbsup:

Don't worry, the organisation that is the offshoot of the University's Dept of Archaeology has a watching brief of all the sites and will no doubt be making an assessment of the potential of this discovery.

I should imagine as the previous poster says that this one is being covered by ARCUS. Can be contacted on 222 5106 if you want to find out more.

I should imagine as the previous poster says that this one is being covered by ARCUS. Can be contacted on 222 5106 if you want to find out more.

Thanks for that--I just couldn't remember the name of the organisation.:)

I should imagine as the previous poster says that this one is being covered by ARCUS. Can be contacted on 222 5106 if you want to find out more.

thanx :thumbsup:

a colleague of mine knows one of the archeologists working in the old part of the bus station and he told him they had so far dated the site to the mid 1600's and the area was the old shambles of sheffield

a colleague of mine knows one of the archeologists working in the old part of the bus station and he told him they had so far dated the site to the mid 1600's and the area was the old shambles of sheffield

That would be a surprise, - local historians suggest the shambles were in the old market area in the Hgh street.

Is this site behind the Queen's Head bordering Sheaf street ? On Gosling's map of 1736 it is shown as covered by the dam supplying the Pond Mill which was in use as early as 1578, so I'll be very interested in what they find.

The site is located behind the Queens pub...as for the location of the old shambles in high st then i couldnt tell you...its still an interesting dig by the sounds of it...i was once told that the old Manor Castle site on Manor Lane has tunnels stretching all the way to the city centre...i wonder if they may have found one of these?

wasnt pond street named because of all the ponds in the area in the middle ages,the queens head was known as the hall in the ponds i think,and was said to be the castle,s wash house

the "Hawle in the Pondes", depoix, yes, that's the place! :)

There is a sign, on the wall of the OQH, stating that it was believed that the OQH's building was a laundry for the manor/ castle.

When the work was going on around the front of the train station, some fantastic archaeology was unearthed:- a dam and all sorts of stuff. You could peek through gaps in the fencing and see the walls of the dam, whilst it was being excavated.

Rumour has it they've found a secret tunnel with the inscription "Thysse Waye To Ye Olde Meadow Helle". Could it be that they'll find proof that Medieval Sheffield was the birthplace of the modern shopping mall?

Ooooh, that sounds really interesting! Does anyone know if it's going to be open to the public at any point? I haven't seen the site myself as I don't often go up that part of town.

I know there was one near the Queen Victoria, in an old car-park, where they unearthed an old factories foundations..had a good gander through the fence. :)

There's a plan of the 'Ponds' here as it was in 1781. It's not a significantly different to Gosling's 1736 plan but much clearer.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/Taidi/Ponds.jpg

Sheaf street is about on a line from the 'Forge' in the bottom right hand corner to the left hand side of the 'Hospital Bridge'. The present Pond hill is shown as 'Pond Well lane' on this plan.

So the site now under development wouldn't have been under the mill dam, but on the opposite side of Pond hill.

can you tell me if they,ve found rolf harris,s digerydoo that he misplaced when he opened sheaf valley baths :help: :loopy:

I should imagine as the previous poster says that this one is being covered by ARCUS. Can be contacted on 222 5106 if you want to find out more.

Yes, ARCUS will be the one to contact; there is also building work going on several sites near Arundel Gate, which might be worth watching.

As a qualified archaeologist myself, I have been on some 'Watching Briefs' in the past. These are carried out when there is not enough time (or money) for an excavation, or a full dig is not justified, but where there is likely to be historical material of interest.

Hopefully Arcus have been warned well in advance of this work, and they will record and recover anything of significance.

When I have the time, I must have a look myself through the fence.

As some of you say, this area by the bus station is likely to be where milloponds were located; the mention about tunnels is interesting; of course there are plenty of legends about 'imaginary tunnels' linking churches, abbeys, pubs, etc., but there might just be a possibility that some might have existed, possibly either 'sally ports' (concealed exits in town/castle walls to send soldiers out to attack a force attacking the castle), or, more prosaically, sewers discharging into the Porter Brook.

This kind of stuff is fascinating and there should be more of it

There's a plan of the 'Ponds' here as it was in 1781. It's not a significantly different to Gosling's 1736 plan but much clearer.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/Taidi/Ponds.jpg

Sheaf street is about on a line from the 'Forge' in the bottom right hand corner to the left hand side of the 'Hospital Bridge'. The present Pond hill is shown as 'Pond Well lane' on this plan.

So the site now under development wouldn't have been under the mill dam, but on the opposite side of Pond hill.That map also shows The Shambles to be at the end of Change Alley to the left of the map.

Apparently there is a secret tunnel from the the basement in Howden House to the old Castle Gatehouse up at Shirecliffe.

That map also shows The Shambles to be at the end of Change Alley to the left of the map.

There seems to be some confusion on that plan. Shambles in those days used to mean a place where beasts were slaughtered and meat offered for sale, yet the next street to Change Alley is called 'Slaughter Houses' - it's now Market street I think...the topside of Fitzalan square.

Apparently there is a secret tunnel from the the basement in Howden House to the old Castle Gatehouse up at Shirecliffe.

Well that should trash the thread :thumbsup:

My mates mum once saw a bricked up entry into another tunnel under Cockaynes that went into a secret WW2 bunker that was built for Churchill in case the Germans invaded London. There was a sandwich shop in Hartshead.. Churchills... named after it.

Latest rumour is that the Archeology dept is going to excavate the entire road system and expose the original medieval cobbles. They are hard wearing, long lasting and will give a much smoother ride for motorists and cyclists alike

funnily enough on my way into work, the other day I was looking at the works being done up near barkers pool/cambridge st/ division st, (preparations for the NRQ) and saw, in the holes, the "cobbles" under the tarmac-ing. and they weren't cobblestones, at all, they were tarred wooden blocks*. It was really wierd to see them, still in Situ, and actually looking quite pristine, and unworn!

* I seem to remember someone mentioning, on a thread, elsewhere on here that the council did use wooden blocks as a cheaper substitute for cobblestone setts, but I thought that would have been used more on backwater-type roads, where the traffic would not have been as heavy. hmmm... interesting...

funnily enough on my way into work, the other day I was looking at the works being done up near barkers pool/cambridge st/ division st, (preparations for the NRQ) and saw, in the holes, the "cobbles" under the tarmac-ing. and they weren't cobblestones, at all, they were tarred wooden blocks*. It was really wierd to see them, still in Situ, and actually looking quite pristine, and unworn!

* I seem to remember someone mentioning, on a thread, elsewhere on here that the council did use wooden blocks as a cheaper substitute for cobblestone setts, but I thought that would have been used more on backwater-type roads, where the traffic would not have been as heavy. hmmm... interesting...
I think the wooden cobbles would have been used where quieter traffic was wanted as well. Outside municipal buildings etc.

The wooden setts were used around the Royal Hospital as they were quieter.

... a secret WW2 bunker that was built for Churchill in case the Germans invaded London. There was a sandwich shop in Hartshead.. Churchills... named after it.

no sh*t? :hihi: :hihi: :hihi:

Weren't the wooden ones outside hospitals also strewn with straw - for the same reason?