High Bradfield
| High Bradfield | |
| Yorkshire West Riding | |
|---|---|
 High Bradfield | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SK268924 |
| Location: | 53°25’44"N, 1°35’53"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Sheffield |
| Postcode: | S6 |
| Dialling code: | 0114 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Sheffield |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Sheffield Hallam |
High Bradfield is a rural village in West Riding of Yorkshire, six and a half miles north-west of the centre of Sheffield, and within the Peak District National Park, tucked a mile within the park's north-eastern border. It stands amongst the fells, at some 850 feet above sea level, with extensive views across Bradfield Dale towards Derwent Edge and the Dark Peak.
The most striking feature of the village is the mediæval Church of St Nicholas, a Grade I listed building.[1]
The name 'Bradfield' is the Old English Brad feld simply meaning 'broad field'. The area around the village is predominately grazing land with dairy and sheep farming dominating. High Bradfield has a sister village, Low Bradfield which stands just half a mile to the south-west but at a considerably lower altitude down in the upper Loxley valley. The two villages are linked by a steep lane, Woodfall Lane.
History
High Bradfield was formerly known as a kirkton;[2] a hamlet containing the parish church. It is not mentioned in the Domesday Book, but it may have been one of the 16 hamlets recorded in the manor of Hallam.[3]
On the north-west edge of the village, close to the church, is Bailey Hill, a man-made conical mound about 34 feet high that is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The date and purpose of its construction are unknown, though it has been interpreted as a Saxon fort,[3] a Norman Motte-and-bailey castle,[4] or a place of public village assembly.[5] The late David Hey said there was no doubt that Bailey Hill is a motte-and-bailey castle calling it "One of the best preserved and most dramatic motte-and-baileys in Yorkshire." Excavations from 1720 revealed squared stones that had been produced by using tools. The eastern and southern flanks of the bailey are enclosed by a 95 metre long curving earthwork while to the west it is protected by steep slopes.[6]
About 500 yards to the south-east of the village is Castle Hill, a site marked on old maps as a “supposed Saxon encampment”. The site occupies a rocky ridge at the head of a high escarpment partially enclosed by ring work.[7] The date or purpose of construction of this site are also unknown although it has been speculated that it was used a lookout post.[5]
Church
The parish church, St Nicholas Church, is a Perpendicular Gothic style church dating from the 1480s. It incorporates elements of an earlier church that may have been built in the 12th century,[3] and it may stand on the site of an Anglo-Saxon place of worship.
The Enclosure Act of the early 19th century altered the appearance of the countryside around High Bradfield as the profusion of stones in the soil resulted in many small fields in the area. Around the same time many people in the Bradfield area were influenced by the Industrial Revolution and moved to nearby Sheffield to improve their standard of living. The Bradfield Parish workhouse was based in High Bradfield between 1759 and 1847; the building is still there today, standing across the road from the Old Horns pub on Towngate. The building was converted into private houses in the 1870s. Thousands of documents relating to the workhouse were found in a hidden cupboard in one of the houses in the 1950s; these are now in the Bradfield Parish Archives. On Jane Street is the Grade II listed building known as the Old Post Office, built from gritstone with a slate roof in 1835. It was originally an inn called Heaven House or Heaven's Gate and later The Cross Daggers. Later it served as a register office, vestry and school and latterly as a post office; it is now a private dwelling divided into several flats.[8]
Present day
The present day village is still dominated by farming. Church Farm is a large dairy farm which supplies a large amount of milk for the surrounding area. Watt House Farm is also a dairy farm but is unique in that it is the home of the Bradfield Brewery, which is based in a converted barn on the farm. It brews several beers including Farmers Blonde and Pale Ale as well as some seasonal specials.[9] There is one public house in the village, the Old Horns Inn.
The Monastery of The Holy Spirit, known locally as Kirk Edge Convent, stands a mile to the east of the village, it is a monastery of the Carmelite order of nuns.
The Peak District Boundary Walk runs through the village.[10]
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about High Bradfield) |
References
- ↑ National Heritage List : Church of St Nicolas (Grade I listing)
- ↑ Eastwood, Jonathan (1862). "Chapter IX: Bradfield Chapelry". History of the Parish of Ecclesfield. London: Bell and Daldy.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Hunter, Joseph (1819). "The Chapelry of Bradfield". Hallamshire. The History and Topography of the Parish of Sheffield in the County of York. London: Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mayor & Jones.
- ↑ Armitage, Ella Sophia (1905). "Chapter V. Moated Hillocks.". A key to English antiquities : with special reference to the Sheffield and Rotherham District. London: J.M. Dent. https://archive.org/details/keytoenglishanti00armiuoft.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Addy, Sidney Oldall (1898). "Chapter V: Bailey Hill—The Long Mound—Castle Hill". The Hall of Waltheof, Or, The Early Condition and Settlement of Hallamshire. Sheffield: William Townsend and Son. (wikisource)
- ↑ "The Making Of South Yorkshire", David Hey, ISBN 0-903485-44-3 Page 43 Gives details of Bailey Hill motte-and-bailey and says Castle Hill may have been look out post.
- ↑ Yorkshire History
- ↑ National Heritage List 1286542: Old Post Office, Bradfield (Grade II listing)
- ↑ Bradfield Brewery
- ↑ McCloy, Andrew (2017). Peak District Boundary Walk: 190 Miles Around the Edge of the National Park. Friends of the Peak District. ISBN 978-1909461536.
