Beauchief

[Annie65115]

Now part of Sheffield, previously in Derbyshire.

I'm doing a local history sort of thing on the area and getting very confused.

Nowadays there is Beauchief Abbey (easy!); Beauchief Hall (also easy!); Beauchief Abbey Farm; and Beauchief Abbey House. (all available on Streetview should you need!). There are also 2 cottages next to the Abbey, and Cockshutts Farm.

I have found an 1840 map of the area which shows the Abbey but none of these other buildings (which I'm sure were all extant then). It also shows Abbey Lane Farm about 1/4 mile away, on Abbey Lane; and Abbey Houses about 1/4 mile away in the opposite direction on what is now Abbeydale Rd (Sheffield). Cockshutts Farm hasn't changed its name.

http://www.rootschat.com/links/01g3e/

19th century censuses show people at the Hall, at Cockshutts and at Beauchief Abbey Farm. I can't find any mention anywhere (censuses or elsewhere) of Beauchief Abbey House or Abbey Lane Farm. People farmed at Beauchief Hall, quite separate from the bigwigs who lived at the Hall -- was this actually from one of these other dwellings?

So can anyone help me disentangle these buildings? Beauchief Abbey House is quite a big place - what was it previously called?

And does anyone know where Beauchief tollbar was, because I can't find that either -- and I've lived in the area for 20 years without knowing there used to be a tollbar here!!!

[ShaunJ]

In the 1851 census, Beauchief Bar and its tollkeeper Joseph Hague were enumerated between Cockshutts and Woodend (and Beauchief Hall after that).

Newspaper mentions of the toll:

.......a bridge carried away by the flood at a short distance from the house [Speight's farm near Ecclesall Mill]. A little higher up, at the Beauchief toll-bar, the low lands were covered by water to a great depth.....  ( Sheffield Independent, 13 October 1849)

(Following an accident at The Old Crown, Highfield) The horse, on being liberated, galloped forward with the shafts, and in its course broke the turnpike gate at the Beauchief bar. (Sheffield Independent, 27 March 1852)

[ShaunJ]

In 1861, George Silcock was the toll bar tender. Toll Bar House was enumerated after the Abbey Houses, after Wood End and Hudcliff Cottage and 3 more households, then Toll Bar House, then 2 more households, then Beauchieff Hall.

[Annie65115]

Thanks Shaun.

In 1851 I think the enumerator must have been zigzagging about, because if you were to start at the Hall, you'd go past Cockshutts then reach Wood End Farm (which is what is now on Archer Road) about a mile further on.

Hutcliff Cottage no longet exists, but Hutcliffe Wood does, as does an eponymous road - but that's not far off a mile long too --

I have just been to the local museum which used to have lots of interesting books and pamphlets for sale but now has zilch! So no help there!

[ShaunJ]

The turnpike belonged to the Owler Bar Trust according to this 1851 OS map http://maps.nls.uk/view/102345235

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F108383