Low Bradfield is a village within the civil parish of Bradfield in

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. ...

, England. It is situated within the boundary of the city 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 ...

in the upper part of the Loxley Valley, 6¼ miles west-northwest of the city centre and just inside the northeast boundary of the

Peak District The Peak District is an Highland, upland area in England at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire, it extends into Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. It includes the Dark Peak, whe ...

National Park. Low Bradfield and the surrounding area is noted for its attractive countryside which draws many visitors from the more urban parts of Sheffield. At weekends the village can become quite crowded, especially when there is a match on the village

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

pitch. Low Bradfield which stands in the shadow of

Agden Reservoir Agden Reservoir is a water storage reservoir, situated at grid reference , west of the centre of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It is owned by Yorkshire Water / Kelda Group. The reservoir covers an area of and has a capacity of 559 m ...

has a sister village

High Bradfield High Bradfield is a rural village north-west of the centre of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England and within the city's boundaries. The village lies just within the Peak District National Park, inside the park's north-eastern border, is at ...

which is located at a higher altitude, ½ mile to the northeast. The two villages are joined by the steep Woodfall Lane.

History

Early history

The earliest historical sign of settlement in the Bradfield area is an early to mid

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

ring cairn on Broomhead Moors, three miles to the northwest of Low Bradfield. This is believed to be a ritual or burial site from over 4,000 years ago. On the ridge between Bradfield Dale and the Ewden Valley is the Bar Dike, a 492 yards long trench with a rampart on its southern side which is 10 feet high in places. The dike is believed to have marked the boundary between different Dark Ages tribes in the period following the withdrawal of The Romans from Britain.''"The Making Of South Yorkshire"'', David Hey, Page 23, Gives details of Bar Dike.

Anglo-Saxon cross

There is evidence of

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened wit ...

settlement within the Low Bradfield area with the discovery in 1870 of an

Anglo-Saxon cross Anglo-Saxon art covers art produced within the Anglo-Saxon period of English history, beginning with the Migration period style that the Anglo-Saxons brought with them from the continent in the 5th century, and ending in 1066 with the Norman ...

in a field near the site of the former Cross Inn not far from the village centre. It has been examined by Sheffield University'sbr>Phil Sidebottom
who has compared it to similar crosses found in

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands C ...

that were put up in the middle of the 10th century. He says the cross’s hammer head design confirms that it dates to just before the

Norman conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Conq ...

. The cross can now be seen in the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-typ ...

of St. Nicholas' Church at High Bradfield.''"Medieval South Yorkshire"'', David Hey, Page 47 Gives details of Saxon cross and other medieval history.

Norman development

While Bradfied is not documented in the ''

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

'' it is inconceivable that it was not settled at that time and it is believed to be one of 16 unnamed Berewicks (an outlying part of a large manor) within Hallamshire that are mentioned. The hamlet of Low Bradfield grew up around the manorial corn mill which was established on the banks of the River Loxley in the shadow of the local church and castle at High Bradfield. The village developed as a farming community with much of the surrounding countryside set aside by the Norman lords as a deer hunting park. The Howard family showed little interest in hunting and the deer were finally removed from the park in the 16th century.''"Historic Hallamshire"'', David Hey, , Gives history.

Great Sheffield Flood

Low Bradfield was the first populated place to be flooded by the

Great Sheffield Flood The Great Sheffield Flood was a flood that devastated parts of Sheffield, England, on 11 March 1864, when the Dale Dyke Dam broke as its reservoir was being filled for the first time. At least 240 people died and more than 600 houses were ...

when the Dale Dyke Dam broke on 11 March 1864. The original dam wall stood almost one mile west of the village. There was only one fatality in the village mainly because word had spread throughout the immediate area that there was a leak in the earth embankment and the community was partly prepared for the tragedy. The only death was a one-day-old infant, the child of a local couple (Mr. and Mrs. Dawson); despite this the village was extensively damaged.Mick Armitage‘s Sheffield Flood website.
Gives details of flood. Two stone bridges were swept away, as was the corn mill,

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such as gates, gr ...

’s shop, schoolroom, schoolmaster's house and a farmhouse. Samuel Harrison described the flood damage at Low Bradfield thus: ''“The destruction at Lower Bradfield is so thorough that the rock is torn up from under the foundation of the buildings.”''A Complete History of the Great Flood at Sheffield.
Gives further details of flood.

Present day

Low Bradfield continues its tradition as a farming community into the present day. Cross Farm, Nether Farm and Fair House Farm are situated close to the centre of the village. Fair House is a grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

and is one of the oldest structures in the area dating from the 1630s and was originally called Swinden House. Nether Farm is Grade II listed and dates from the 1820s. There are several other farms in the outlying areas. One of the great attractions to people from outside the village is the large centrally located recreation ground known as the Ibbotson Memorial Field which is a popular site for picnics and family visits and also serves as the village cricket ground, drawing large crowds to games on summer weekends. The field was named after the Ibbotson family who have lived in Low Bradfield for several centuries. The local

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cov ...

and

bowls Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which the objective is to roll biased balls so that they stop close to a smaller ball called a "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a bowling green, which may be flat (for "flat-gr ...

clubs also have facilities at the field. There are several other notable buildings in the village. The former

Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan– Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charle ...

chapel on Mill Lee Road was built in 1817 and now serves as the offices for Bradfield Parish Council. Just across the road is another former Wesleyan chapel which was built in 1899 to replace its counterpart. It closed in 1993 and was sold for residential use. Also on Mill Lee Road are the former water board filter houses which filtered water from the Agden, Dale Dike and Strines reservoirs in Bradfield Dale. The filter houses were built in 1913 and extended in 1953 before being closed in 1995 when a new water treatment works was opened in the Loxley Valley. The buildings are derelict and unused at present. The Bradfield village hall, situated on the Memorial Field was completely rebuilt recently and re-opened in 2006. There is just one

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

in the village, the Plough. There was a second pub called the Cross Inn which was situated at the foot of Woodfall Lane but this closed in the late 1970s and is now a private house. Just across the road is the village shop which is also the local

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional se ...

. The former Low Bradfield School is now a private residence which was built in 1867 to replace a school that was washed away in the flood of 1864 in a different part of the village. The school closed in 1985 with its pupils being transferred to nearby Dungworth School.Bradfield Parish Council.
Gives present day details.''"Around Bradfield"'', Malcolm Nunn, Gives present day details. The

Peak District Boundary Walk The Peak District Boundary Walk is a circular walking trail, starting and finishing at Buxton and broadly following the boundary of the Peak District, Britain's first national park. The route was developed by the Friends of the Peak District (a ...

runs through the village.

Bradfield Dale

The area to the west of the village is a rural area known as Bradfield Dale and contains the three reservoirs of Agden, Dale Dike and Strines which were constructed in the 1860s. The many construction workers who came into the dale prompted the Haychatter Farm to open a public house on its premises known as the Reservoir Inn and then the Haychatter which remained open until 2003. The dale contains

Sugworth Hall Sugworth Hall is an English country house on Sugworth Road in Bradfield Dale, near Sheffield, England. It is situated approximately west from Sheffield City Centre. The hall is a Grade II listed building which stands within the Peak District N ...

which dates from a least the 16th century although the building has been much changed since then. Eminent families who have lived there include the Hooles and the Boots. Charles Boot built a

folly In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of usual garden buildings. Eighteenth-cent ...

tower overlooking

Strines Reservoir Strines is a village in Greater Manchester, in the valley of the River Goyt. It is located midway between Marple and New Mills, about six miles south-east of Stockport. The village falls within the Marple parish and the Metropolitan Borough of S ...

in 1927 known as Boot's Folly, it is a prominent landmark for miles around. Another ancient residence in the dale is Hallfield House which dates from the

Elizabethan era The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personific ...

and was the seat of the Greaveses, a very old Hallamshire family. The dale also includes the Strines Inn public house.''"A Look at Life in Bradfield Dale and the Surrounding Area"'', Joe Castle, Gives details of Bradfield Dale.

References

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