I've gone past it probably thoussands of times and have sat on the bench on top of it and yet I'm not sure what it is.
On Chesterfield road just past Derbyshire Lane going on up the hill you go past Woodbank Crescent and then in the hillside a short distance on you see this odd brick built archway with a viewing point on the top of it. It's right next to the steps that lead from Chesterfield road up to Woodbank Crescent and as a friend has been asking me what it was and I don't know I thought I'd throw it out to the forum.

What you need to do is 'Ask Wookie'.

I believe it is the remains of 'Mulligans Mansion'. Originally the home of a rag and bone man and his family. It was converted to flats, had some scruffy families living there and then demolished sometime in the sixties.

What you need to do is 'Ask Wookie'.

I believe it is the remains of 'Mulligans Mansion'. Originally the home of a rag and bone man and his family. It was converted to flats, had some scruffy families living there and then demolished sometime in the sixties.

Lol, have not heard that for a while.. :hihi: so is that really what it was :D

Lol, have not heard that for a while.. :hihi: so is that really what it was :D

Yes, as far as I know this information is correct, but that is all I know, Wookie asked the same question some time ago and it turned out his mum used to live behind it...

You ought to pop back for a visit...

I thought I remembered something about it being the site of a house but if so it must of been a rather odd looking place as the remaining brick archway doesn't look at all like anything house related.
Maybe it's the bricked up entrance of one of the many mythological tunnels that are supposedly all over the place.
Further research is required I think.

Yes the mulligan's mansion was covered in the recent local free magazine "Active 8", which is basically 30 pages of adverts, and 4 pages of something to read. There was even some drawings of what the building looked like.

It seems that someone has recently cleaned up the site and removed a load of ivy. Now the brick wall is falling down and the council has put some barriers around it.

I've just done a quick google search and found nothing relevant. I can see in the wall there is what looks like a gate opening but can't picture what the rest of the building must of looked like. The brick arch is slap bang next to the hillside and so was this part of the original structure? If the house was up nearer to Woodbank Crescent then how on earth did you access it from Chesterfield road or has there been an awful lot of landfill?
Any links to relevant info would be appreciated as for the umpteenth time I'm off to scan google.

you are probably looking at the remains of the old brickyard, mulligans mansions wason the left as you came round the bend just prior to the works

Do you mean the area that you can access from Woodbank Crescent? If so, iirc, it was given a bit of a facelift by local residents and made into a little communal garden area a few years ago.

I'm not actually sure if it's on the site of what was 'Mulligan's Mansions', or on the site that had a sort of gateway in the wall but never actually had a house built there in the end?

Yes I do mean that bit of land Ruby, up to about ten years ago it was just a bit of overgrown wilderness and then it was cleared , a path and steps were installed and I think the bench and the viewing point were put into place.
I trundle up or down the flight of stone steps that go up the hill there and sometimes even sit at the viewing point so I see things altering. The area is being maintained by some-one as rubbish is removed and I've seen some people cutting back vegetation although I'm not sure who sorts that out.
So I'm still wondering what that brick archway was for and as I've poked around a bit the 'house' idea seems unlikely as there don't seem to be any other building remains, the archway seems to be the only thing there and it is in very good condition.
.

Looking on Google Earth at this place & there is a "pointer" accross from Woodbank Crescent stating there was a subway there once ...that went across the main road into Woodbank Crescent.....thats all it says

this refers to the large pipe ont he other side of cheterfield road if you look over the wall there is a 36 inch or 48 inch seweage pipe that goes on to what I believe is little london road nothing at al to do with the house that was built on the banking.

to wallbuilder the house was there I used to go in the house when it was occupied as a child I used to play with the other kids that lived there at the time.
above where the archway is bricked up was a patio area approx six yards wide that extended the width of the house and the house was set back approx 5 or 6 yards
it was three storeys high and also had two old fashioned type dormer windows one on either side of the house. it was all built of red brick and it really was a imposing sight even though it was almost derelict. I lived approx 800 yards from the house from 1942 to 1961 to be exact I lived at 573 chesterfield road for the first 19 years of my life and so I beleieve it puts me in a position to comment as to wat was there at the time

I'd still be interested to see a picture [if one exists] of the house. When the house was demolished why was the archway bit left and how did it fit in with the rest of the structure as it looks like the archway is flush to the hillside. I've put a link to the thing on the other thread started in the history section.

The Friends of Woodbank Crescent came together to create what's called Woodbank Crescent Community Garden. About 9 years ago, Andy Kershaw of BBC Radio Sheffield fame was involved.
I live nearby and pop down occasionally, have seen that it is maintained more or less regularly, but I have no idea by whom, if it's still the community group, or how to contact them.

Where the steps are used to be a quarry,if I have the right place,it's where Homebase etc is biult, we were forbidden to go near it as kids,because it was considered so dangerous, it was filled with water, so of course it became one of our favourite playgrounds