Can anyone tell me when The Oaks in Norton was built and the people prior to the Bagshaws that live there.

I went on a visit to the house as a small child, with Norton Free School, it was a very dusty place and Mrs Bagshaw seemed a very old lady, a bit scary for a small child.

magee

There's some handy blurb with this pic (http://www.picturesheffield.co.uk/cgi-bin/hpac.pl?_cgifunction=form&_layout=picturesheffield&keyval=sheff.id=7458)

the oaks is much older than that picture suggests.

I believe it was built at least the turn of the 19th century, C1800's

PT

Richard Bagshawe got the Oakes in 1699. The earliest date for a dwelling is 1488
Previous owners of the estate
Barker
Babbington
Wigfall
Lee
Morewood
Gill
Henry Gill had a daughter Elizabeth who married Richard Bagshawe
Can't recollect a date for the house as it is today but the lake at the front of the house was constructed by Spanish prisoners of war.
I visited the house when it was open to the public and in later years actually lived there. The house had been empty for several years and on the first clean-up operation I found a load of the old brochures that visitors would of bought. I've crawled all over that place from the attic to the cellar, the roof is lead lined and so in the roof space you can see the most amazing timber framing.
If you do a google for Norton and Gleadless History society there is a site with several pics on it including some old ones next to the present day. Quite funny seeing the old place on the net.

gosh, where do you get all this info from WB? You're full of suprises. :thumbsup:

Thank you for that very interesting information

Magee

Thank you for the photo

magee

Honest I lived there for about two years, most of the info came out of the visitor's brochure that I've still got and after all I'm not just a pretty face!!
You should of seen the walled garden although horrendously overgrown it was like stepping back in time and the old greenhouses heated by their own boiler and huge radiator pipes. Down at the bottom of the main lawn was a little brick lined hol;e looking as though it could be the remnants of something worth investigating, boy did I move when I realised it was the air hole for the very old cess pit. The bigger of the two lakes had fish in it still and a little island and after it was dredged it had unearthed two swords and the remains of a little rowing boat.
The house is now a holiday home for children and Henry Boot the builders own the parkland but aren't able to build anything as the main house is a grade two listed building.

Thanks it gets more interesting by the minute

Magee

Just had a nosy and found that site i was on about with loads of intersting pics on it. The outhouses and stables have all been converted into private dwellings which don't look too hideous and the rear lake that was very badly silted is now dredged and is kept oxygenated with a little waterfall gfeature much to the fishes relief.

http://www.gleadless.net/index.htm

the pub across the road used to be yatse,s wine lodge,dont know what it is now,but at one time it was a court house and colonel bagshawe was the resident magistrate,i did read some where a while ago that the family moved due to the noise from the ,then, new dual carriage way

The pub is called the Bagshawe nowadays, don't know about it being a courthouse but there was a Sir Wiliam Chambers Bagshawe who was a justice of the peace. Across the courtyard at the rear of the house is a range of buildings that include two carriage sheds above these were some rooms that were reputed to be used as his place of work and where he held court. Two sisters Gladys and Beatrice lived in the house for some years dying in 1955 and 1966. The estate then went to Major Thornber bagshawe who opened it to the public. Unfortunately the family eventually closed the house and either moved it's contents to another family house in Derbyshire or sold them off. The house stood empty for several years before being bought by Henry Boot who then sold it on to a group of private individuals that's when I got involved.

I was told that the tapestries that used to hang in the house were originally hung in the Sheffield castle.

They were removed to the The Oakes house by the ownwer when he had to vacate the castle after the surrender of the castle during the English Civil War.

I'd love to know where they and all the portraits are today.

You can bet the city has lost a piece of history there.

Happy Days

When the house was open to the public it was stuffed full of old and very old things. There is a tapestry mentioned in the guide book and that was dated to the 15 th century. Lots and lots of old pics some by recognised artists and a few unknown including one by an unknown artist of Elizabeth the first.
There is or was a line of the Bagshawe family that have a family house in Derbyshire [can't remember wherre] and if the stories are true all the contents of the Oakes were taken there. Rare examples of 16 th century furniture are mentioned in the guide.
The house was virtually empty when I first set foot in the place but you could tell how grand it must of been by the wood panelled library and the huge ornate fireplaces. Some of the more modern decor was a bit off to say the least, a bathroom in the servants quarters done out in black and white tiles on the floor and black paintedd walls. Suspended above the old cast iron bath was something resembling half an oil drum with loads of little holes in the bottom, a victorian shower no less.

About 25 years ago I used to live just opposite Norton Oaks Cricket Club whose members used to be able to fish in one of the ponds in the grounds of the Oaks. One of them once caught a pike there.

The whole place went downhill after old lady Bagshawe died. She used to drive round in an old Rolls and all the locals used to touch their caps when she passed. She didn't open the Oaks but when her cousin, Thornber, inherited it he used to open it occasionally. Me and my wife went round it once and bought a beutiful damask tablecloth from there - still got it and it still looks perfect.

Can still remeber the family motto which might still be on the Bagshawe Arms sign "Flos fama forma flatus", don't know what it means but would be interested to find out!

When Thornber sold the place he moved to another house they owned near Chapel en le Frith.

Originally posted by extaxman
Can still remeber the family motto which might still be on the Bagshawe Arms sign "Flos fama forma flatus", don't know what it means but would be interested to find out!


Flos fama forma flatus means "Beauty, Flower, Good Name, Inspiration".

Judging by the Oakes website, the house is run by god botherers these days as a kind of Christian summer camp.

About three years ago I was curious to see what was happening to the old place so went up there. The house was in a very bad state of repair and had been left empty so it was nice to see it being put to some use. The new owners very kindly gave me a guided tour and it was amazing to see the difference, the place had retained it's old doors and panelling, the fantastic moulded ceilings and you had to look very carefully to see the emergency fire escapes and all the modern stuff that had to be slotted in.
The place is a holiday centre for kids but has open days every now and then so members of the public can see what's going on. I believe they;ve even been hooked up to mains sewage so there is no danger of any kid finding their way into the cess pit.....What a shame

You mentioned that The Oaks was lived in, amongst others, by the Morewoods.

I am directly related to the Morewoods. On 28 June 1641, Rowlande Morewood married Mary Gill in Norton. She was born in 1619 in Sheffield and lived at Norton House. Her father, Leonard Gill, was related to the Bagshaws of The Oaks, Norton. Rowland Morewood moved into The Oaks. Do you know how many generations of Morewoods after him lived there? Where did the Morewoods live after that? I have read that they were based in Hemsworth, Norton, but I don't know where. Incidentally, the seat of the main branch of the Morewood family was at The Oaks, Bradfield. A coincidence?

I helped install the alarm system, the new glass dome, and helped re-decorate a few years back :D

Forma Floss, Fama Flatus is a Latin proverb

542. Beauty is a flower, fame is a puff of a wind. (In other words, they are both fleeting!)

There's a book "Latin Via Proverbs" with the translation in (and you can also find the book contents on the web but I'm not allowed to post the URL)

It's a lovely family motto!

Tim Bagshaw, wife & family now live at Bagshaw Hall, Wormhill nr. Buxton.

Mr G took me to visit the house on a rainy day on our second date. I remember it being very beautiful in a faded grandeur type of way ad it was very interesting to finally see inside after driving past very often. It must have been an omen because 22 yrs later we bought a house opposite the gates.