Hollow Meadows is a hamlet in the civil parish of Bradfield, west of

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and metropolitan county, metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of City of Doncaster, Doncaster and City of Sh ...

, England. It lies along the

A57 road The A57 is a major road in England. It runs east from Liverpool to Lincoln via Warrington, Cadishead, Irlam, Patricroft, Eccles, Salford and Manchester, then through the Pennines over the Snake Pass (between the high moorlands of Bleaklow ...

, between Moscar and the

Rivelin Valley The River Rivelin is a river in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It rises on the Hallam moors, in north west Sheffield, and joins the River Loxley (at Malin Bridge). The Rivelin Valley, through which the river flows, is a -mile-long woodl ...

History

The area formed part of the chase of Rivelin until the late 16th-century, and was used for occasional deer hunting by the

Duke of Norfolk Duke of Norfolk is a title in the peerage of England. The seat of the Duke of Norfolk is Arundel Castle in Sussex, although the title refers to the county of Norfolk. The current duke is Edward Fitzalan-Howard, 18th Duke of Norfolk. The dukes ...

.David Hey, ''A History of the Peak District Moors'', p.82 It became known as "Auley Meadows", named for the Hawley family, based in Fulwood, now a western suburb of Sheffield.David Hey, ''A History of the South Yorkshire Countryside'' By the time

John Harrison John Harrison ( – 24 March 1776) was a self-educated English carpenter and clockmaker who invented the marine chronometer, a long-sought-after device for solving the problem of calculating longitude while at sea. Harrison's solution revol ...

surveyed the area, in 1637, it had been converted to pasture for grazing sheep, and totalled 429 acres. The Sheffield to Glossop turnpike road, now the Manchester Road, was constructed through Hollow Meadows and opened in 1821.David Hey, ''A History of the Peak District Moors'', pp.113-114 The Surrey Arms pub was constructed alongside the road and had opened by 1822 to serve travellers. This was later renamed the "Norfolk Arms", and around 1896 reopened as the "New Norfolk Arms", on a site at the bottom of Onksley Lane, and became a bus terminus, but it closed in the mid-2000s. In 1831, Isaac Bright, a prominent Jewish jeweller based in Sheffield, acquired a plot at Rod Moor, and began to construct mausoleums for his family. Ultimately, five stood at the site, four of which were in the shape of

beehive A beehive is an enclosed structure in which some honey bee species of the subgenus '' Apis'' live and raise their young. Though the word ''beehive'' is commonly used to describe the nest of any bee colony, scientific and professional literature ...

s. The site was badly vandalised in the 1980s, and then rendered inaccessible to visitors. The landowner demolished the buildings, illegally, before 2012. Starting in 1844, the Duke of Norfolk let plots of his land in what was now known as "Hollow Meadows". Long leases and small rents attracted people to build houses and crofts. Sheffield Town Council decided to build its second

workhouse In Britain, a workhouse () was an institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. (In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses.) The earliest known use of the term ''workhouse' ...

on 48 acres of meadows in Hollow Meadows, on the initiative of

Isaac Ironside Isaac Ironside (17 September 1808 – 20 August 1870) was an English Chartist and socialist politician, whose activities were centred in Sheffield. Early years Born near Masbrough, Rotherham, Ironside grew up in Sheffield, the son of Samuel Iro ...

; he hoped to provide a healthier alternative to existing workhouse conditions, and to show that a workhouse could be profitable. Other councillors noted the advantage of removing able-bodied men from the reach of potential political agitation. Paupers were initially put to work clearing the land and constructing the building, which included a dining room and dormitories. An average of 45 able-bodied men were based at the site, which was nicknamed "New England". Despite a high initial outlay, the farm started to turn a profit, but the management of the scheme was criticised as overly lax. From 1854, paupers were not permitted to engage in farming, only in clearing land and, once cleared, the land was let. Ironside withdrew from involvement, and the project gradually ran down. In 1879, it was converted into an industrial school for persistent truants, then became Hollow Meadows Hospital, and was later converted to housing.Peter Higginbotham, ''The Workhouse Encyclopedia''

References

{{Districts of Sheffield Villages of the metropolitan borough of Sheffield Towns and villages of the Peak District