Pitsmoor is a former village, now a suburb of

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, 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 Historic counties o ...

, England. The name derives from ''Or-pits'' as, anciently, the main local industry was the mining of

ore Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically containing metals, that can be mined, treated and sold at a profit.Encyclopædia Britannica. "Ore". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 7 April 2 ...

.J. Edward Vickers, ''The Ancient Suburbs of Sheffield'', p.17 (1971) The village falls within the Burngreave ward of the City.

History

In 1906, thirteen

Roman coins Roman currency for most of Roman history consisted of gold, silver, bronze, orichalcum and copper coinage. From its introduction to the Republic, during the third century BC, well into Imperial times, Roman currency saw many changes in form, denomi ...

were found in the suburb. In the late Middle Ages, 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 ...

was the

lord of the manor Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seig ...

and owned the large woods surrounding it, now almost all covered by housing. A

coal mine Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

was developed, with its entrance on what later became Grimesthorpe Road. Its outflow ran by the side of the lane as far as Burngreave Vestry Hall, where it was joined by a burn which rose in Old Park Wood. A small number of old houses survive in Pitsmoor, including Abbeyfield House and Toll Bar Cottage, which was built in 1837 on what was then the main road from Sheffield to

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

and

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

. A few more survive in Crabtree, formerly a separate hamlet, lying immediately north west of Pitsmoor. Christ Church was constructed to serve the area in 1850, which was made its own parish.Ruth Harman et al, "Pevsner Architectural Guide to Sheffield", p.178 In the early 1900s houses were still being built in the area. If you take a walk up Burngreave Road from Spital Hill you can follow this progression uphill from the dates marked on the front of each villa on either side of the road. The people who lived in them were doctors, teachers, shopkeepers and business men. Pitsmoor was described as eminently respectable and a languorous and soothing suburb, in an article in the ''

Sheffield Daily Telegraph The ''Sheffield Telegraph'' is a weekly newspaper published in Sheffield, England. Founded in 1855 as the ''Sheffield Daily Telegraph'', it became known as the ''Sheffield Telegraph'' in 1938. History The ''Sheffield Telegraph'' was founded i ...

'' in 1906. In 1909, Abbeyfield House and its grounds were purchased by

Sheffield City Council Sheffield City Council is the city council for the metropolitan borough of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England. It consists of 84 councillors, elected to represent 28 wards, each with three councillors. It is currently under No Overall Contr ...

for £10,500, the grounds becoming

Abbeyfield Park Abbeyfield is a park in Pitsmoor, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, bought by the City Corporation in 1909. The park comprises the park itself, a bowling green, as well as Abbeyfield House, a former secondary school. Abbeyfield School opened i ...

.J. Edward Vickers, ''The Ancient Suburbs of Sheffield'', p.42 (1971) In 1913, another patch of land off Abbeyfield Road became Devon Gardens. The creation of these public green spaces was in aid of an urban population of factory workers who needed access to fresh air and space to exercise. During the 1920s some of the

back-to-back houses Back-to-backs are a form of terraced houses in the United Kingdom, built from the late 18th century through to the early 20th century in various guises. Many thousands of these dwellings were built during the Industrial Revolution for the rapidly ...

began to disappear but many of the courts persisted until after the Second World War. Areas around Verdon Street and Gower Street were still dominated by this type of housing. The

King Mojo Club The King Mojo Club, often known as the Mojo, was a nightclub in Pitsmoor, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England located at 555 Pitsmoor Road, that operated between 1964 and 1967. Peter Stringfellow and his brothers had been running the Black Cat ...

was based in Pitsmoor.

References

{{Districts of Sheffield Suburbs of Sheffield