Whiteley Wood Hall

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Coordinates: 53°21′27″N 1°32′24″W / 53.357381°N 1.540076°W / 53.357381; -1.540076
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The hall in the 1870s when it was owned by Thomas Gainsford.

Whiteley Wood Hall was an English country house which was demolished in 1959. It stood off Common Lane in the Fulwood area of Sheffield, England. The hall’s stables and associated buildings are still standing and along with the surrounding grounds now serve as an outdoor activities centre for Girlguiding Sheffield. The stables are a Grade II listed building.

History

Construction

Prior to the building of the hall, the land around Whiteley Wood belonged to the Mitchell family. By the time of the reign of Charles I ownership had switched to Thomas Dale and his family. Dale was a substantial freeholder in the Manor of Ecclesall bierlow and he owned a house on the site. Dale had two daughters who were his co-heirs, Anne married John Bright of Banner Cross Hall while Alice married Alexander Ashton of Stoney Middleton on 18 May 1659. It was Alexander Ashton who built Whiteley Wood Hall, it being completed in 1663, by which time he and Alice had two daughters. The Ashton family lineage remained at the hall until 1741 with Sarah Ashton being the last of the family to live there, having married Robert Alsibrook in 1709.[1]

In 1741 the Alsibrooks sold the hall to Strelley Pegge of

Sheffield Plate in 1757. In 1760 Boulsover bought land to the north of the hall on the Porter Brook where he expanded his business by setting up the Wire Mill forge, making saws and edge tools. Boulsover lived at the hall with his wife Hannah, they had ten children but only two, Sarah and Mary survived to adulthood. Boulsover died at the hall on 9 September 1788 aged 84 and due to the failure of the male lineage the hall eventually became the property of Boulsover’s granddaughter Barbara Silcock. In 1831 the hall became the property of her daughter Phoebe Silcock who in 1837 donated the land and the sum of £2,200 towards the building of Fulwood church on the other side of the Porter valley. It is said that Phoebe donated that specific piece of land so she could see the church from the hall.[2]

The present day stable block.

On the death of Boulsovers Great Grandson, Benjamin Blonk Silcock in 1861 the hall reverted to the ownership of distant relatives. However, by 1864 the hall was being rented by

J.P. and City Councillor continued to live there until 1909. Between 1911 and 1926 the hall was rented by William Clark, managing director of the Vickers steel firm. By the end of the 1930s the hall was suffering from neglect and vandalism and in November 1935 it was purchased by the Sheffield Association Of Girl Guides.[3]

Demolition

The Girl Guides Association paid £3,000 for the hall and eight acres of surrounding land, local industrialist and public benefactor

mullion windows were used to build a bungalow at Hathersage and the rest was disposed of down a disused mineshaft.[1]

The site today

The stables, associated cottages and grounds remain the property of Girlguiding Sheffield, over the years the site has been developed into a multipurpose Outdoor Activity Centre. It includes four camping sites with wet weather shelters, 2 self-catered accommodation blocks, meeting rooms and a shop.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b "Whiteley Wood Hall", Ransy Heppenstall, (privately published), No ISBN , Gives history of house and demolition.
  2. ISBN 0 9519148 3 9
    , Page 9 Gives general history of house.
  3. ^ "More About Mayfield Valley With Old Fulwood", Muriel Hall, J.W. Northend Publishing, No ISBN , Gives history of house.
  4. ^ whiteleywoods.org.uk Gives details of site today.

53°21′27″N 1°32′24″W / 53.357381°N 1.540076°W / 53.357381; -1.540076

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