Millhouses History

Millhouses was, until the 1870's, a small hamlet near Sheffield, distinguished only because it had a corn mill which had been operating since the 12th century. It lay in the Manor and Parish of Ecclesall, and was in border country - lying on the Yorkshire side of the River Sheaf with Derbyshire opposite.

It is now a desirable suburb of Sheffield, having grown rapidly in the 1870's after the direct mainline railway to London finally arrived in the city, passing through Millhouses on its way along the river valley.

The area has a surprising amount of history still available - if you know where to look.

Back to Bridge Family Home Page

Click here to go to the Virtual Tour of Millhouses

1. Charcoal Burners grave

This dates from 1786. It is in the woods, near the bridleway at the top of Whirlow Dale Road. The woods are 'ancient woodland' and for centuries they were coppiced to provide charcoal for the steel industry.

2. Wheels

The various wheels along the river were all there at the same time as the charcoal burner - that is before the end of the 18th century.

Lim or Rycroft wheel - there is almost no trace of this although the bridleway through the woods from Abbeydale to Dore passes close by the site

Hutcliffe Wheel - lay under the railway next to the nursing home across the river from Millhouses Park.

Bartin Wheel - lay exactly where the boating lake and the building with the mural are now in Millhouses Park. The boating lake was built on the site of the old wheel pond sometime between 1850 and 1890. The weir which fed the goyt and wheel pond is still in the river near the southern end of the tennis courts. The wheel was named after the Bartin family, who were farmers at Bents Green and used it between about 1780 and 1850

Ecclesall or Millhouses Corn Mill - this is one of the oldest sites on the river. The mill buildings still stand at the northern end of Millhouses Park. The millpond was where the cricket clubhouse and toilets now stand. The weir which fed water into the goyt is the large one by the bridge next to the childrens playground. The goyt ran from the weir accross to the gates and then along the embankment to the pond. The mill had switched to steam by 1855.

Moscar Wheel - lay across the river from Tesco's - below what is now the Tesco's petrol station. It was a small wheel. The cottages that stand on the site were there when the wheel was in use and stood next to the grinding hull.

3. Roads

Most of the roads in the area date from the late 19th century when the area started to be built over. Aside from those mentioned below, there was a road along the line of Archer Road, crossing the river and leading to farms and paths up to Woodseats. Another road led from Millhouses Lane by Pinglehead Farm between the fields before roughly where Whirlowdale Crescent is now. Just past the stream the road stopped and turned into a footpath which ran down onto Abbeydale Road next to Woodside Farm - roughly along the line of Dobcroft Road.

Millhouses Lane - is one of the oldest roads in the area, being shown on maps in the 18th century. It linked the corn mill with the hamlets and farms up the hill towards Bents Green.

Abbeydale Road - was a turnpike road linking Sheffield to Bakewell. Old maps show that the milestone just visible in the boundary wall of the Wagon & Horses showed 'Sheffield 3, Bakewell 13'

Abbey Lane - follows the same line as the road shown on the earliest maps linking Beauchief and Abbeydale with Little Common and Parkhead.

4. Other Buildings

The Wagon & Horses was the inn on the main road. An extension was added in 1920, using stones from the old wheel-pond wall at Totley Rolling Mills.

The Robin Hood is shown on early maps at its present site.

Behind the Robin Hood was a farm. The outbuildings of the farm still exist as the garages and flats conversion visible behind the more modern flats on Millhouses Lane.

A smithy existed opposite the end of Hastings Road on early maps. A blacksmith was till working there in the 1890's, but there was also a beerhouse next door. The site is now the Millhouses Hotel and car park.

Woodside Farm - was on the site of 100 Abbeydale Road South. From the old maps it looks like the existing building could be the old farmhouse - but little evidence can be seen from the road. In the 1850's the farmer also worked as a Woodman.

Cliff Cottage is shown on maps as early as 1828 - and can be traced continuously on maps to 46 Abbeydale Road South. In the 1880's &1890's it was known as Oakdale Villa. From about the 1830's to the 1860's the cottage was occupied by a market gardener.

5. Notes on Millhouses History

Millhouses was a cluster of properties around the 'Ecclesall' Corn mill until the 1870's when house building began in earnest.

Its position on the turnpike road to Bakewell (Via Broadfeld, Totley, Fiveways & Baslow) meant that there was a steady traffic through the area and that it had good links with Sheffield. The remains of the milestone 'Sheffield 3, Bakewell 13' is still in the low wall outside the Waggon & Horses.

In the Sheffield Directories of the 1830's &40's, people are noted as living at Millhouses and having businesses in the City - three miles away.

It is therefore wrong to think of the area as isolated. It was rural. Most of the induatry was seasonal - being fitted in between the demands of agriculture and smallholdings. This is evident from comments in the records of the Tyzack works at Abbeydale and those of other steel companies in the area.

The industries of the area were steel related and long established.

The south of Sheffield (especially Norton) had specialised in scythe grinding since the 1600's. This was carried out alongside other 'rural' inductries such as knife and scissor grinding in Ecclesall and nail making anywhere where a farmer could mount a die and wield a hammer. Bricks and fireclay were made at Woodend (Woodend farm lies where the Lycock Sports grounds are) and at Twenty-well lane.

At Millhouses there were water wheels at Moscar (over the river from Tesco's, next to the cottages which can still be seen), near to the Wagon & Horses Inn (where the boating lake now stands) and at the foot of Hutcliff Wood (under the railway where Beauchief station used to be). These were all grinding wheels, usually rented out to locals by the landowner.

For example, the Bartin Wheel (where the boating lake is) was in use in 1631. By 1701 the Bartin family (farmers at Bents Green) were using it and were known to be doing so in 1725 &1752 (from the rent books). In 1830 William Bartin Junior was using it to grind pocket knives. At that stage it had four troughs and probably looked like the grinding hull at Abbeydale. It was empty by 1850 (William's father had died and he was now runiing the family farm at Bents Green). By 1880 the wheelpond had been rebuilt and is shown on the maps as a skating pond.

There were other wheels along the River Sheaf driving rolling mills griniding hulls and a paper mill at Totley, smelting at the Bole Hills above Whirlow and Norton, charcoal making in the woods all around the area and coal mining usually associated with the surface clay deposits used to make bricks.

So, in 1850 the picture is one of a rural community, on a main road with a significant proportion of old established industries along the river. Most of the locals are engaged in agriculture in one form or another, but have a seasonal interest in the metal trades. Some will certainly have walked the three miles into the city each day for a job in one of the many expanding steel companies.

The earliest maps of the area were the boundary maps attached to contracts and leases. One of these for 1828 (associated with the Millhouses Mill) clearly shows the Mill, the Wagon and Horses and a cottage or farm on the west side of the main road between the inn and the mill.

The first Ordnance Survey maps (1850's) mark this 'Cliff Cottage'. They also show another farm on the west of the road to the south of the inn, buildings where the Abbey Friar and barbers are now and spreading up Millhouses Lane to the Robin Hood (then called the 'Robin Hood and Little John' public house). Springfield road did not exist, buildings covered the area from the junction to the Robin Hood. There is a cluster of buildings ( a farm?) behind the pub just up Millhouses Lane, where there is now a small block of flats. The only other buildings visible are some at the bend of Millhouses Lane (by the Tennis Club) and a cluster at Pingle Head (now a block of flats).

From the Sheffield Directories and census returns we can build up a picture of the village as it was in 1850:

The landowner was the Earl Fitzwilliam. He owned most of the wheels and associated works and leased them out.

The major buildings in the area were the mill, the farms and the two hostelries.

The Mill was run by Charles Speight. He is listed as also being a farmer, so we can assume that he farmed fields around the mill - where the park, the Millhouses Garage and sheds are now. The mill had one of the first steam engines in the area in 1828 (a 12hp engine - at a time when wthe water wheel was probably generating 30 hp. This allowed the mill to grind corn all year round, even during the low water periods in summer and freeze-ups in winter. By 1855 (when Abbeydale got it's first steam engine) the mill no longer paid any water rents - so presumably was not using water power. The mill was big concern. In 1828, it had 6 pairs of stones.

The Waggon & Horses was an Inn and a farm, run by William Smith. Again we assume that the fields farmed were those around the Inn - where the park is now and possibly to the west where the houses are. We know that the field opposite the inn was a strawberry field at one time - possibly worked by John Beighton in 1849

The Robin Hood & Little John was run by Enaes Brown and his wife Mary. Mr Brown also had interests in a coal and firebrick business at Woodend. Woodend farm was where the Mc Donalds is now. (The old brickworks on the Sainsbury's site did not appear on the maps until after 1900).

Cliff Cottage can be traced through the maps as being 46 Abbeydale Road South. Mr William Chapelow (or Chiplow) lived here and was a gardener, growing vegetables etc for sale.

Woodside Farm can be traced the same way to the site of 100 Abbeydale Road South.