Who used to play on the meadows on shirecliffe when they were kids.Do you remember the muckhills and the ash tubs and picking cawks off the gas tip?

I used to go down to pick coke of the stockpiles with our neighbour, he had an old pram, I remember there was a tip there at one time where all the old knife blades were dumped, my brother found a brand new Bowie knife on there.
The old army base at the top of Cookswood road was a good playground at one time, I seem to remember there being a helicopter pad being built there just before I left the area ? another thing we did was to make a raft out of old oil drums and floating down the river near the white bridge.
I remember when they were dumping rubbish at the bottom of the hill on Longley Ave West to build garages, we used to go and shoot the rats with our Diana air pistols.

I used to go "dahn t' medders" when my cousins lived on Penrith Road. Michael and his sister Denise had quite a profitable "business" collecting scrap copper etc. from the tip and selling it to one of their neighbours. Trainspotting from the White Bridge was fun, and daring each other to walk over the Five Arches, or through the inner parts of the cemetery when it was getting dark (such a pity that it's now so neglected). The grassy bank (http://www.multimap.com/maps/?qs=sheffield&countryCode=GB#map=53.41086,-1.48926|19|256&be=7673654|East&bd=useful_information&loc=GB:53.41123:-1.48997:19|sheffield) where skylarks nested and the level field where we used to play football are now largely covered with bushes. I can (just) remember steam-hauled Manchester trains on the railway line; the electrics never had quite the same appeal, and now it's just a single-line branch serving the Stocksbridge works.

The helicopter pad (http://www.multimap.com/maps/?qs=sheffield&countryCode=GB#map=53.40032,-1.47122|19|256&be=7676105|West&bd=useful_information&loc=GB:53.38308:-1.46487:14|sheffield|Sheffield) off Cookswood Road was built in connection with an architects' conference that was held in Sheffield in c..1964. They did pleasure trips for a while but I got there too late..:(

Hi to both of you,my dad was stationed at the cookswood rocket site during the war,we used to go up there on foggy saturday mornings and it was really earie,there was a drawing of Hitler and other cartoons on the walls.We used to build the same rafts but we sailed them on the pond near the five arches where the car sales pitch is now. there used to be quite a few old guys picking scrap,the one I remember was Sam Wyers.I used to mend a few cars in those garages.I think there was three footy pitches on the meadows.

you must know my relatives "waltons" lived on teynham drive

Just shown mi dad this thread and it brought back some good old memories. He's a Shirecliffe lad, lived there for years on Longley Ave West, attended Shirecliffe school etc in the early 50's!

Just shown mi dad ... a Shirecliffe lad, lived there for years on Longley Ave West, attended Shirecliffe school etc in the early 50's! Then he might have known my cousin Michael Hosiedlo (b. 1950) now living in comfortable retirement in Lincoln!

I remember that, over towards the Five Arches, there was a deep hollow in the ground. This might (?) have been where some anti-aircraft guns were sited during the war, or maybe they were all at the Cookswood Road army base. I'm sure there were some gravestones just below the White Bridge, with a zigzag path leading down between railings, but looking at the Multimap aerial photo now this is just a bare slope with no railings or graves visible. The grand old Wardsend Bridge (http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u219/twigmore/Wardsend-1.jpg) was of course washed away in the 2007 floods and has been replaced by a less visually attractive but functional concrete one.

Then he might have known my cousin Michael Hosiedlo (b. 1950) now living in comfortable retirement in Lincoln!

I remember that, over towards the Five Arches, there was a deep hollow in the ground. This might (?) have been where some anti-aircraft guns were sited during the war, or maybe they were all at the Cookswood Road army base. I'm sure there were some gravestones just below the White Bridge, with a zigzag path leading down between railings, but looking at the Multimap aerial photo now this is just a bare slope with no railings or graves visible. The grand old Wardsend Bridge (http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u219/twigmore/Wardsend-1.jpg) was of course washed away in the 2007 floods and has been replaced by a less visually attractive but functional concrete one.

The railings were taken down, its a mystery why as i seem to remember the White Bridge was still standing, it was a public footpath and the boundary of the graveyard.

Then he might have known my cousin Michael Hosiedlo (b. 1950) now living in comfortable retirement in Lincoln!

I'll ask him but it's doubtful as my Dad was b.1938, he did live in the house though until he married in 1964, his parents lived there until around 1990 before moving to a flat.

hi billy casper,Ill probably know your dad I lived on crumpsall rd and went to shirecliffe school from 1953-57 left shirecliffe in 1964.

Hi joanne 5600,Iknew your Terry he was in my class all through the time there I remember he was a good footballer.
Hi hillsboro,yeh all the guns at our end were at cookswood I think they did as much damage to sheffield as the germans especially if my old pa was on them!!

hi hillsboro,Is that the right spelling of your cousins name?I seemed to know most people of that time but not of that name.You wouldnt know the area of the white bridge now its been devasted and a lot of graves covered up including the big one full of children.
where abouts on Dykes hall rd were you,I spent most of my life down there.

Hi bullerboY - yes, Hosiedlo thus spelt is a Ukrainian surname. Michael's dad, my Uncle Peter, came here as a refugee in 1947. The family lived on Penrith Road (top of the hill, same side as t' medders) until 1964 when they moved to Stannington. We lived at No 20 Dykes Hall Road (demolished 1982 and now flats). I know most of the people who lived at the bottom of Dykes Hall Road in the 1950s-70s - the Lindleys, Mortons, Redferns, Tiveys, Allans, Coopers, Watsons etc. We were the Robinsons!

probably know your face,my mates were alan fawcett and on the opposite side no91 roger turner,dennis he lived two houses up from the castle his wife val had the hairdressers at the corner of leader rd.Dont know your cousin.Also knew thw Askews opposite you.

hi billy casper,Ill probably know your dad I lived on crumpsall rd and went to shirecliffe school from 1953-57 left shirecliffe in 1964.

Hi joanne 5600,Iknew your Terry he was in my class all through the time there I remember he was a good footballer.
Hi hillsboro,yeh all the guns at our end were at cookswood I think they did as much damage to sheffield as the germans especially if my old pa was on them!!

yes terry was my uncle sadly passed away now though, surprised you dont know the others he was one of eleven

my friends mum had a shop at the bottom of findon street now sure of the surname though Pat was their daughter (who i know)

joanne5600,I will know the others but its a long time ago ,terry and I had a mutual friend her name was pat and she helped him in his house on pollard.I knew the shop but not who had it.

There was also the black bridge that went over the railway to the graveyard, it was further towards the 5 arches than the white bridge, we sometimes took a short cut through there whilst doing cross country running at school.
Many of the graves had started to subside during the late 50's, some kids I knew found silver cups, swords, and even a roman style helmet, evidently they used to bury people with their possesions when some of those graves were dug.
I knew the Walton's, my cousin Pauline Webster lived on the same road, I remember the meadows catching fire many times, but one particular time it started at the white bridge, caused by a steam train, that were still running at that time, and the fire went right up to the back of the houses on Penrith Rd.
The white bridge got used a lot by people going to the dog track, my mates and I went that way to see the speedway every Thursday night, those were the days when kids could walk anywhere and anytime in safety.

Hi Skippy - yes, the meadows often seemed to catch fire. It doesn't seem to have happened in recent years, which might partly explain the proliferation of bushes and small trees in the area. Some parts of the cemetery have evidently been landscaped - this applies to the area below the former white bridge. Anyone with an interest in the cemetery might like to look at the home page of the Friends of Wardsend Cemetery (http://www.fowc.i12.com/), though the links don't seem to be working at present. The black bridge is still there, and is used by a few people who walk from Owlerton to Shirecliffe and vice-versa.

There was also the black bridge that went over the railway to the graveyard, it was further towards the 5 arches than the white bridge, we sometimes took a short cut through there whilst doing cross country running at school.
Many of the graves had started to subside during the late 50's, some kids I knew found silver cups, swords, and even a roman style helmet, evidently they used to bury people with their possesions when some of those graves were dug.
I knew the Walton's, my cousin Pauline Webster lived on the same road, I remember the meadows catching fire many times, but one particular time it started at the white bridge, caused by a steam train, that were still running at that time, and the fire went right up to the back of the houses on Penrith Rd.
The white bridge got used a lot by people going to the dog track, my mates and I went that way to see the speedway every Thursday night, those were the days when kids could walk anywhere and anytime in safety.

which of the waltons did you know my dads derek

probably know your face,my mates were alan fawcett and on the opposite side no91 roger turner,dennis he lived two houses up from the castle his wife val had the hairdressers at the corner of leader rd.Dont know your cousin.Also knew thw Askews opposite you. Yes, I remember the Askews, also Alan Fawcett. My cousin lived at 181 Penrith Road - next door at 183 were the Kennedys, and the Halls were nearby at 175.

Hi skippy,that will be the same Websters the ran the drift mine? I remember Terry Hinchcliffe,Roger Emmett and the brooks and Rita Tanner.

The meadows havnt been on fire since I left it wernt the trains!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

Then he might have known my cousin Michael Hosiedlo (b. 1950) now living in comfortable retirement in Lincoln!

I remember that, over towards the Five Arches, there was a deep hollow in the ground. This might (?) have been where some anti-aircraft guns were sited during the war, or maybe they were all at the Cookswood Road army base. I'm sure there were some gravestones just below the White Bridge, with a zigzag path leading down between railings, but looking at the Multimap aerial photo now this is just a bare slope with no railings or graves visible. The grand old Wardsend Bridge (http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u219/twigmore/Wardsend-1.jpg) was of course washed away in the 2007 floods and has been replaced by a less visually attractive but functional concrete one.

when I was a kid playing on medders we always used to think the deep crater in the ground had been made by a bomb during the war .
I wonder ifs its still there ?.

I used to knock around on the meadows when I was about 13/14 yrs old. I also remember landing flat on my back in the stream(opposite herries pond)when the tarzan rope stapped. Does anyone remember it?. The tree was right at the top of the embankment next to the road, I must have fell about 15 - 20 ft. I still can't believe I walked away from it with nothing more than a bruised ego.

which of the waltons did you know my dads derek

Can't remember their names, but it was the ones that were in the senior school between 1955 to 58.


Buller, my uncle [Jack Webster] worked at Firth Browns, would the Brooke's have been Harry Brookes family? I heard he had passed away sometime ago now, he was a great singer, he went on the club circuit under the name of Harry Conroy.

my dad would have been 15 as he was 70 this year

my dad would have been 15 as he was 70 this year

He would have left the year I started then, 1955.

This isn't about Shirecliffe meadows but what we 'Woodys' would call 'Up on't Wood'. And that was the area of ground to the north of Rutland Road and west of Cookswood. I remember seeing all those guns, all in line, when I was a kid, anyone know what kind of weapon they were? They didn't look like your typical anti-aircraft gun, but smaller with a protective plate with the barrel or barrels protruding. They made a hell of a racket when they were fired in practise.

Hi texas,I think they were a type of rocket.
Hi skippy,yes Harry was a mate of mine,after behing on the buses he ran his own driving school round Hillsboro,left us too soon.

i was born on boynton road in 52 back garden went onto first wood up to corner shops myself and my brother used to go over to parkwood springs where there was a play ground.ive never left the area and i now live on penrith road i went to shirecliffe school and left in 1967

i was born on boynton road in 52 back garden went onto first wood up to corner shops myself and my brother used to go over to parkwood springs where there was a play ground.ive never left the area and i now live on penrith road i went to shirecliffe school and left in 1967

I lived at 61 Boynton until 1965, next to the corner house on Boynton & Shirecliffe Rd.