Tyler Street Huts, Brightside, Sheffield

[tonerye 10]

Tyler Street Huts, Brightside, Sheffield

 

The “HUTS” as they were termed consisted of blocks (6 dwellings per Block) of wooden buildings erected during the 1914 war to house Belgium refugees who came to work in the local munitions factories.

 

Two other settlements were established, one at Tinsley and the other at Petre Street.

 

Each dwelling comprised 3 bedrooms, 1 living room and 1 kitchen. An outside block provided a toilet and a coal store. The heating was provided by a coal burning stove in the living room with an oven and grate and heating surface for boiling etc. A bath in the kitchen was served with a cold water tap plus a gas heated boiler for washing purposes (clothes etc) and providing the hot water for baths. The walls and ceilings of the buildings were lined with asbestos panels and were not soundproof. The Chimney from the stove provided a certain amount of surround heat before passing out through the roof. Lighting was supplied by gas mantles in the living room and bat wing burners in the bedrooms.

 

A very strong community spirit was enjoyed by all the residents, who looked after each other and their homes. No need to worry about intruders, for no one had many treasured possessions around that period of time.

 

A Provisions store named the “A1 Stores” occupied the first block on Tyler Street and was run by a Mr Saunders and later enlarged when Mr Dan Rodgers bought the store. Mr Rodgers was the former manager of a store in Brightside named Gallons. He had a wife and family, a daughter Joan and a son Harry, who later took over the business and opened a further store on the Tinsley Huts complex. The rent office occupied the remainder of the Tyler Street block at No 1.

 

All the roads off Tyler Street were numbered 1 to 8. Many of the tenants on the Tyler Street site opened up the living room to sell provisions in addition to the Rodgers “A1 Store”.

 

I remember :

 

Wilcocks (frank & Amy) Tyler Street

Mitchells “

Wolfs “

Ludlows 5th Road

Worleys (George) “

Finch (Dick) 6th Road

Smiths 4th Road

Captain Darley Estate Manager

Mr Hepworth Clerk

Syd Johnson Rent Collector

Joe Fearnley Plumber

Steve Smallcombe Cobbler

 

The local Fire Brigade Volunteers headed by Steve Smallcombe and Mr McKay regularly practised and dealt with the occasional chimney fire.

 

A large wooden hall was erected on Tyler Street to cater for dancing, concerts and recreation. Part of the building was sectioned off to provide the billiards area with two full sized tables. In charge of the section were two brothers, Tom and Stan Phipps with their wives working the unit on a weekly rota. Among others providing the musical entertainment were : -

Percy White Pianist

Bert Round Violin

Harry Brooks Trumpet

A young soprano on these concerts was a local girl called Maud Haywood who had a lovely voice. One song I well recall was “Among My souvenirs”, no microphones in those days !

 

A wooden hut on the Roman Ridge road served as a Fish and Chip shop, ran by a Mr Barsbey. I well remember their son Ron, who was in the same class as me at school in Brightside as you could smell the cooking fat on his clothes, which at that time was dripping fat, but what a treat when you had money for a Fish & Chip supper.

 

The approach of summer was always heralded by “Anna” who made ice cream in her churns and sold cornets from her barrow. What a treat, well before Walls “Stop me and Buy one”. Another familiar sight was the Bread Vans selling from their vans, in particular the bakers from Carbrook Street with their decorated vans “Daily Bread” Ensign. 2lb loaves 1&1/2 pence sold only from the bakery and from their vans, which had a huge triphone horn mounted over the cab that you could hear well before they arrived.

 

The nearest form of public transport was a twenty minute walk to Brightside tram terminus or the railway station at Brightside. Later on a bus service was introduced running along Tyler Street to Wincobank. Mr Woods, who lived on 3rd Road, was the local Coal Merchant who delivered by Horse and Cart and later obtained an old lorry to do the round, but many a time the horse power came to his rescue when he could not start the lorry engine. A later venture by Mr Woods was to obtain a very old Fiat Charabanc and after weeks of tinkering managed to get the engine running. He became very confident with his skill over the engine problems and advertised on a slate that he was to operate an evening trip to Roach Abbey, fare one shilling, the departure time was 5pm. On that evening everyone turned out to see the rich people board the charabanc via the running boards, steps and into the long seating areas. Being summer time the canvas hood was rolled back and strapped down. To loud cheers they departed on time 5.00pm. As 10pm approached people were gathering along 3rd road to welcome home the “Trippers”. By 11.00pm no one had arrived and then along came a few weary people bearing the news that the old charabanc had broken down on the outward journey at Tinsley, a distance of around 4 miles, so they all went along to the Plumpers Hotel at Tinsley and stayed there until the landlord told them to leave at closing time, leaving the charabanc to be towed away later. Mr Woods returned their money and said he would let them know when he was up and running.

 

A Mr Wren Clark was the local bookmaker’s runner, often being chased by the police, sometimes in plain clothes, to catch him with betting slips on him and arrest him. It was not uncommon for Wren Clark to belt through your home via the front door and out through the back door to escape the police with instructions to lock the doors after he had made his escape.

 

Families I remember well include :-

 

Haycock, Hobson, Scott, Peacock, Johnson, Wright, Onion, Ludlow, Spire, Simonite, Tompkinson, Giles, Webb, Hallstone, Rowden, Mitchell, Unwin, Sharp, Crow, Crier, Kearn, McKay, Harper, Enoch, Telford, Taylor, Tomey or Tomney, Buckley, Worley, Hale, Carter, Critchley, Prestidge, Speakman, Barsbey, Wilcock and Bennett.

Brightside school provided the place of learning and did a very good job with strict disciplinary instruction under the head of boys dept Mr Barnard (Ex Submarine Captain) and the girls dept was lead by Mrs Sally Banister.

 

There were many pubs around the area including, The Rising Sun, Jenkin Road, The Railway Inn, Dearn Street, The White Swan, Jenkin Road, Hole In The Wall, The Bridge Inn, Fox & Grapes, The Crown Inn, The Foundry Arms and The Engineers.

 

As with most districts a Co-Op store was a must and our local one was in Eben Square, Brightside. Other shops in the area were Gibsons, Butcher, Jenkin Road, Kershaws, Fruit and Veg and Youngs, Sweets. One other trader of that period was Dick Priestley, the Pawnbroker who helped many families with cash loans against their deposit of goods to be redeemed when required.

 

Very poor times but never the less happy days with little or no crime compared to the modern times of today.

 

The “HUTS” were pulled down and fired in 1939 on the outbreak of war and the residents were re-housed by Sheffield Corporation on Parsons Cross and Southet Estates.

 

THE ABOVE DESCRIPTION AND HISTORY OF THE “HUTS” WAS PRESENTED TO MY FATHER IN LAW, NORMAN JOHNSON, IN JUNE 2008 ON THE OCCASION OF HIS 90TH BIRTHDAY BY MR ALF SHIVLOCK, WHO IS ALSO 90 THIS YEAR AND LIVED AT NO 40 FIFTH ROAD, TYLER STREET, BRIGHTSIDE. NORMAN ALSO LIVED IN THE “HUTS” AS A YOUNG MAN.

[tara 10]

My dad had a friend in the Tyler street municipal huts and so was there often.

I will ask him who the friend was. My Dad is 82 now. He was born in Lower Wincobank.

He often mentioned the monkey run in wooley woods too, have you heard of this, or was that just a wincobank thing.

[cat631 10]

http://www.picturesheffield.co.uk/cgi-bin/zoom.pl?picture=http://www.picturesheffield.com/jpgh/s00750.jpg

The huts are on the extreme left.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.picturesheffield.co.uk/cgi-bin/zoom.pl?picture=http://www.picturesheffield.com/jpgh/s00748.jpg

Brightside allotments with the huts on the extreme left.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A couple of photos from Picture Sheffield of Brightside and Tyler Street huts.

[SheffSadie 10]

My Grandfather grew up in the Tyler Street Huts.. His name was Brian Hogan and Brother Harry Hogan, the other brothers were called Jim Price, and Eric Price there was also Terry Hogan I think.

 

He used to always say that people who lived in the huts were very poor and had jam jars to drink tea out of and that the blankets had collars on them.

[anita morris 10]

We only discovered recently that our father grew up on the "Hutments". His name was Charles Webb and he lived on Seventh Road with his parents and his brother Les. When everyone was rehoused the family went to Parson Cross. If anyone has anymore information about life there I would love to hear from them. I know there was a booklet written about the huts and if anyone has a copy I would willingly purchase it.

[jessiet 10]

My dad had a friend in the Tyler street municipal huts and so was there often.

I will ask him who the friend was. My Dad is 82 now. He was born in Lower Wincobank.

He often mentioned the monkey run in wooley woods too, have you heard of this, or was that just a wincobank thing.

My gran always spoke about the monkey run ,it was at firth park its where teenagers used to meet i think it was along stubbin lane.

Edited January 30, 2009 by jessiet

[tara 10]

The one im talking about was in wooley woods wincobank. Gangs of teenagers would parade up wooley woods hoping to meet someone nice.

[SnookerJohn 10]

Hello

 

I know this is an old thread but only found out that my on my Fathers Birth Certificate it has Tinsley Huts as his bith address. So I thought I would try to find out more about these of of there is anyone still living that may have know the Wood Family . Thomas Wood maried to Mary Ellen, Kids Dorothy, Arthur, Tommy, John , Erest, Billy Nelly Elsie. Ernest was my dad born in 1922. They moved to Tinsley sometime later.

 

Can anyone fill in a few gaps?

[PopT 10]

There was a paperback book published some years ago about the huts.

 

I'll have a look in my ruins to see if I can find a copy.

 

Watch this Space! PopT

[braddablade 10]

the booklet is in the local studies library. published privately by a ady who grew up there. sadly now out of print as I would love a copy . My dad was born in hut 15 avenue 3 in 1922

[SnookerJohn 10]

Does anyone know of where Tinsley huts were or have any pictures or other information please?

[78Mod 10]

My Grandmother, Betty Dickinson wrote several books, one was about the Tyler Street books.....My dad and I are looking into getting them republished....I will post a message on here when something happens....also looking to launch something on the net too.....all depends on if people are interested enough though..