Blackwells Forge, Oughtibridge

[St Matt 10]

Hi all, I currently live at Broomfield House on Bedford Road and was wondering if anyone knows anything of the original occupants, I believe they were called Blackwell or maybe Bedford and they had something to do with the old forge?

 

any information would be great as I’d love to know a bit of the history of Broomfield House.

 

Thanks

[CaroG 0]

Hi Mark.  Quite randomly, I googled 'Broomfield House, Oughtibridge' yesterday because I think it was built by my great (or possibly great, great)  grandfather who founded the foundry.  And my grandmother and mother were all born there. Even though I'm born and bred in the south myself - I seem to have become the family's archivist - and can probably help you with info including photos. And I'd love to see what the house looks like, now! I last saw it in probably the late 1960's visiting my grandmother, Kathleen Knight, and I remember a dark, foreboding and very old-fashioned house. I'm sure it's transformed today! Can I private message you somehow? 

[bullerboY 10]

StevenB.Monty Napiers wife was a customer of mine and they lived up by Psalter Lane they have a daughter named Coral,Monty and his wife died some years ago.

 

[Carveup 0]

Lived in the village for 22 years. There were mines in DelphWood  on Hilltop at top of Cockshutts Lane. There were also mines up Cockshutts Lane entry of one of them in the back yard of the row of houses 57 to 63.  All the fields backing on to all the houses up the lane are undermined which means it has never been suitable for building.  I remember steam rollers going up Cockshutts lane when road surfacing. What a noisy rattling beast. We had fresh warm milk delivered by farmer Joe Wood of Onesacre in his pony and trap. He ploughed with two shires, lead horse Prince who was mad. The Blackwell family owned the forge on Forge lane, and the forge/rolling mill just past the road end. Half way between the cottage on the bend and Hang man,there was a derelict house hit by a bomb during the war. On the left just before the Hang man there is a raised bit of land now covered with trees. This was the village tip in the early 20 century. My father when he was a child, could remember a man with a horse and cart taking rubbish to tip there, Circa 1913. Probably be a few gems buried in that lot! Several of my aunts and uncles From both father and mothers families are buried in  common graves in the  Church yard having succomed to the childhood diseases so prevalent in the late 19 th/early 20 th centuries. I get back to sing at the Blue ball when I can and look wistfully at the fields we played in? 

[Mark-Edley 10]

On 26/02/2020 at 00:31, Carveup said:

Lived in the village for 22 years. There were mines in DelphWood  on Hilltop at top of Cockshutts Lane. There were also mines up Cockshutts Lane entry of one of them in the back yard of the row of houses 57 to 63.  All the fields backing on to all the houses up the lane are undermined which means it has never been suitable for building.  I remember steam rollers going up Cockshutts lane when road surfacing. What a noisy rattling beast. We had fresh warm milk delivered by farmer Joe Wood of Onesacre in his pony and trap. He ploughed with two shires, lead horse Prince who was mad. The Blackwell family owned the forge on Forge lane, and the forge/rolling mill just past the road end. Half way between the cottage on the bend and Hang man,there was a derelict house hit by a bomb during the war. On the left just before the Hang man there is a raised bit of land now covered with trees. This was the village tip in the early 20 century. My father when he was a child, could remember a man with a horse and cart taking rubbish to tip there, Circa 1913. Probably be a few gems buried in that lot! Several of my aunts and uncles From both father and mothers families are buried in  common graves in the  Church yard having succomed to the childhood diseases so prevalent in the late 19 th/early 20 th centuries. I get back to sing at the Blue ball when I can and look wistfully at the fields we played in? 

Sorry for the delay in replying - I've been moving to Normandy! That derelict house, hit by a bomb? During the war, as a forgeman at Blackwells, (a reserved occupation), on most shifts my Dad walked to work and back, from Deerlands Avenue via Jawbone Hill to Oughtibridge. He used to tell that after a raid one night, a cottage along the route had been hit and demolished. He was one of the first to arrive, and assisted in searching for survivors. I believe that they found the body of a woman hidden in the cupboard below the stairs, in whose arms was a baby, still alive!

Do you remember any detail of the bombing, at all?

[bazza63 12]

The house on the main rd which was hit by a bomb, a child survived only a baby was Brian  Woodhouse he now lives in Bradfield.

 

[Mark-Edley 10]

Hi bazza63. Interesting - very interesting! I wonder if it's the same person. Do you have any ideas on how I could contact him, to find out?