Can anybody give me a potted history of Lowedges please. What was it like there 100 years ago? How did it get its name?Any books you can recommend on the history?

I have seen reproductions of OS Maps from about that time covering the area, does anybody know if these are available online?

Any help would be apprciated for a project.

I don't know about the history of Lowedges....

But old maps can be got here:

http://www.alangodfreymaps.co.uk/sheffield.htm

Karl, thank you very much. I have contacted them and it appears they do not actually have what I am looking for.

The person that requires the information lives in Lowedges and is over the age of 80. She wants the information for a project she is working on, and I said I would help, so anymore info greatly appreciated.

hi
This is almost certainly no help either - but do you know theres an album by Richard Hawley called Lowedges ?
I would love to know where the name comes from. Sorry - no help at all...

Hello BoppinBruce.
I have just seen your question.Lowedges is called that because of the old Lowedges Farm.
The remaining part of it being the stone cottage on Chesterfield Road. The row of red brick
cottages were built around 1890 -1910. They were and still are called Low Edges. All this land around here to my knowledge was farm land.

I hope that helps a little.

Respects.

Yes all the land in Lowedges used to be farm land. I remember the houses being built, we used to go and play around them, think that would be in the fifties.

Lowedges came about because of a large number of oomigoolie birds that lived on the farmland a hundred years ago.

It will be somewhat of a task to find any info relating to the area a 100 years ago.
As a lifetime reader of local history I have seen virtually nothing relative.
As has been said, it was farmed land adjacent to Greenhill Village. The history of the village has been recorded in local history terms and there is a new book about to be published.

I always admire the very large tree stood at the junction of Gervase and Low Edges roads.
That must have been there a 100 years or more. There are also some very large trees on Low Edges Crescent ( Chesterfield Rd Sth end ) they too must be part of the Low Edges history.

Another old local building is Fox Farm on Fox Lane. Fox Lane is a very old highway and is an extension of Beauchief Abbey Lane going towards Dronfield.

Travelling along the Greenhill Parkway towards Bradway, look on the right before reaching the Fire Station, could that hedge stood alone be part of an old field boundary ?

There is a really good book that you might find useful in your research called 'Chantrey Land' by Harold Armitage. The book is about the history of the South Sheffield and North Derbyshire villages and was first published in 1910.

It concentrates on Norton which used to be a Derbyshire village and was where the sculpture Sir Francis Chantry spent his childhood, and deals extensively with the surrounding areas which include Beauchief, Bradway, Greenhill, Jordanthorpe, Meersbrook, Woodseats and Coal Aston.

You should be able to find this book in the local library, if not I have a couple of these books for sale.

Good luck with your research :) xxx

Hi there :-) I would be very interested in buying

a copy of 'Chantry Land'

by Harold Armitage. And now I have 5 posts I can PM you ;-)

There is a really good book that you might find useful in your research called 'Chantrey Land' by Harold Armitage. The book is about the history of the South Sheffield and North Derbyshire villages and was first published in 1910.

It concentrates on Norton which used to be a Derbyshire village and was where the sculpture Sir Francis Chantry spent his childhood, and deals extensively with the surrounding areas which include Beauchief, Bradway, Greenhill, Jordanthorpe, Meersbrook, Woodseats and Coal Aston.

You should be able to find this book in the local library, if not I have a couple of these books for sale.

Good luck with your research :) xxx

I was born at Norton in 1939, but 3 generations of my family lived there. Lowedges was partly marsh land and was called Lowedges Marsh,used to play there as a kid, Norton is a very old district, the church was built from 911 and finished in 1102,but Victorians altered much of it. Bunting Nook said to be haunted, it runs from church to Warminster Road.Chantryland is excellent book ,I have a first edition and have read it many times,makes me very sad when I see Norton now, Sheffield does not seem to care about history of old areas

Hello orielanne.

You have actually confirmed something about where we live. On the outside of our building there is a line carved into the brickwork. It has an arrow below it pointing uphill toward it. Does this mean that we are below sea level? We live facing the park at Low Edges.There is another mark like that just below Morrisons at Meadowhead.

Yes all the land in Lowedges used to be farm land. I remember the houses being built, we used to go and play around them, think that would be in the fifties.

Wouldn't this have this been the late fifties/early sixties? I believe the housing estate recently celebrated its 50th birthday. I've family on there that have lived there since it's construction, and some deceased who helped build it along with many other 100s of houses and a few cinemas around Sheffield.

Hello orielanne.

You have actually confirmed something about where we live. On the outside of our building there is a line carved into the brickwork. It has an arrow below it pointing uphill toward it. Does this mean that we are below sea level? We live facing the park at Low Edges.There is another mark like that just below Morrisons at Meadowhead.

got an email about your reply, I think the mark you mentioned is to do with the elevation of the land, lowedges is certainly above sea level I should think. The Sheffield/Derbyshire boundery, used to be in Meersbrook Park,where Bishops House is, so 100yrs ago Lowedges was actually in Derbyshire, much of it was famland but a large area was marshland.As to the large trees on the estate,when the land was sold under a compulsery purchase order, one of the conditions was that the trees must not be cut down, so the estate was built around them. They are hundreds of years old.

Hello orielanne.

You have actually confirmed something about where we live. On the outside of our building there is a line carved into the brickwork. It has an arrow below it pointing uphill toward it. Does this mean that we are below sea level? We live facing the park at Low Edges.There is another mark like that just below Morrisons at Meadowhead.

Probably a benchmark

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benchmark_%28surveying%29

has a picture.

Can anybody give me a potted history of Lowedges please. What was it like there 100 years ago? How did it get its name?Any books you can recommend on the history?

I have seen reproductions of OS Maps from about that time covering the area, does anybody know if these are available online?

Any help would be apprciated for a project.

Chantryland is excellent book,you really should buy one,there are photo's of how it was a hundred years ago. As I said in one of my posts I was born in Norton and 3 generations of my family lived there so know the area well.All about local ghosts etc I used to play on what was Lowedges marsh.We moved to Lowedges when I was about 12.It was said that the farmer who was forced to sell the land under a compullsery purchase order put a curse on it, we certainly never had any luck there.

just as a matter of interest, Sir Francis Chantry live on Old Norton Lane and used to help deliver milk,there was a low wall with a hollow in it for the local cats.He set up a fund for the children and old people of Norton.The elderly were given a bolt of red flannel and a sack of coal each winter and the children were given the equipment they would need for there chosen trade. Both my brothers and I got the grant, the items were kept in the church till Sunday and a special service was held when we were given them,the obolisk near the churchis in memory of him