NigelT

Beechnut may be right - it could have been the 55 I was thinking of, or perhaps both, if they did the same route as far as Crosspool post office. Hillsbro - you have the most amazing collection of information originals - where do you get them from?!

Ah! I always thought the #54 terminated at Crosspool as (unlike the 51) it went up Selbourne Road and turned right to, what I thought until now, was to return to town. This would have been the late '60s when I was knee-high to a grasshopper, and you boarded the bus by an open platform at the back. Could it have been to then turn left onto Manchester Road to continue to Rivelin Dams? Why not just stop on Manchester Road opposite the Crosspool Tavern, as the #2 used to do?

Thanks Hillsbro. Curious, I don't remember ever catching a number 3 or even knowing of it's existence. I guess mother had a particular routine that she used to stick to, so we always came back via Broomhill. Either that or the times were more convenient. We'll never know!

We used to catch the number 2 from Crosspool in the early 1970s to go to the dentist's near Hunter's Bar, and then come back via the inner circle (number 9, I think?) via Broomhill. I've no idea why my mother did a circle like that, I don't recall coming back the same way as the outward. did the bus only go one way around the circle?

I'm pretty sure I remember him as running a hardware store at the bottom of Ringstead Crescent in Crosspool. Must have been the mid 1970s I guess?

Rather unlikely:confused:. This was situated at the top of Lydgate Hall Crescent, some distance away.

At the risk of turning this into a family reunion, Charles Thompson (1815-1897) was my great, great grandfather. The family business had been started in a small way by Charles father James, which Charles carried on, as did his brother Thomas (1827-1902). The difference between them was that Thomas emigrated twice to take up farming, in the 1850s to Rhode Island where sons Reuben and Henry were born (although both were christened back in Sheffield) and in the 1860s to Melbourne. He only got as far as South Africa and when he heard that his connecting ship (the London) had sunk in January 1866 (see local papers for reports of how bad the weather was at this time), he must have taken it as an omen and returned to Sheffield, where he resumed his business. Inn the meantime, brother Charles had expanded his own firm greatly but desired to live in 'a large gentleman's residence'. So he set about building Whitely Wood Grange. To do this he retired from business and sold the assets, including 90 carriages (Landaus, Broughams,4-horse buses, wedding carriages, mourning coaches, wagonettes, gigs and drays) fetching 'upwards of £10500' (Sheffield & Rotherham Independent, 2 October 1873). Most were bought by his competitor WH Haigh, and his brother Thomas. Unusually, Thomas's son Reuben married his cousin, Charles daughter Emily, so the two parts of the family tree come back together at that point. Reuben greatly expanded the family business of weddings, funerals, horse-buses and hackney/taxi cabs, turning the business into a limited company (Reuben Thompson Ltd) in 1914, based mainly on Glossop Road and later, Pinstone Street. It was wound up in 1959. Reuben is also said to have had the first motor-cab in Sheffield, and an image can be found on pictureSheffield.com. We don't have any photos of Whitely Wood Grange. We have snippets - there were maids, and a gardener who lived in a cottage nearby, and fruit trees in the garden. After Charles died in 1897, it passed to a Dr Roper,and later was derelict. A relative remembered seeing broken stained glass windows. No doubt a sad end. One day I'll put all this onto the web. I hope it has been of some assistance. ---------- Post added 22-10-2014 at 20:16 ---------- By the way, it goes without saying that if anyone does uncover an old photo of Whitely Wood Grange, we'd be rather interested in seeing it! Thanks.

Drewlath Yes, John Godbehere taught maths. I was there 72-79. Frank Yates was bril. He told us all about the practical jokes they used to play in the army, wired us all up to a vandergraaf generator and fired an air rifle across the lab. No doubt the health and safety taliban these days would ban everything like that! We had Mr Clarke, later Sue Kerr Dave Kirkman and Dave Jackson for Geography. The latter three were good to excellent, but we did have trouble concentrating on Geography when Miss Kerr was stood in front of you! In fact, didn't Miss Welch teach history? She got married in the time we were there but I can't remember her married name. We also had Barbara Hall for German. She was strict but she taught it well and I was able to remember it years later when I got a German girlfriend! We also had Gwyneth Hadley and Mr Barnard for English but I don't recall learning much useful from them. I learned far more about English grammar from our German lessons! Cheers N

For those that don't already know it, take a look at this for some familiar faces! http://www.citysnapper.org/tapton/picteach79.html Regards NigelT

I'm afraid you'd have to go back a long way! Sheffield was making steel back in Chaucer's time. And as for the unpolluted water, ....have you never seen dead sheep lying in streams?!

I think if we could all do this, and see the filthy air people breathed, and the filthy, cramped and squalid conditions most of them lived in, I think we would all appreciate our lot today a great deal more. Victorian Sheffield was probably a low point for quality of life. Be a pretty good history lesson for all whingers!!! (Light the blue touchpaper and retire..........!)

Oh easy. I would go back to 1815 when my g-g-g-g-parents were newly married, which is as far back as I've been able to get, to ask him who HIS parents and grandparents were! And to see what a Sheffield was like where you could walk 10 minutes in any direction from St Peters (I don't think it was a cathederal then) and be in open country.

Judith Hanson's book on "Crosspool" confirms that Horatio married a 25-year old actress and had three more children, and shows a fascinating picture on page 35 of Lydgate Hall Crescent half-built, with Lydgate Hall still in situ. The caption says that after Horatio's death in 1906, Lydgate Hall was left empty, although spasmodically occupied by tennants. It was finally demolished in the 1930s and the crescent completed.

Hedgehog I'll take that as a "I can't" then shall I? Yes he can do mental arithmetic, and he wants to be an accountant. Just remember, ALL generalisations are dangerous. Including this one! Subject closed, it's off-topic.