Tag: mosboroughhistory

Mosborough’s Open Fields – A Glimpse into Our Medieval Landscape

Long before today’s neat hedgerows and housing estates, Mosborough’s landscape was shaped by a very different system of farming — the open fields. The earliest permanent buildings were probably clustered around the site of Mosborough Hall, perched on the 127m contour line — the highest point locally — overlooking Mosborough Moor to the west. This commanding spot may even have been the site of the early English “fort of the moor”, from which Mosborough gets its name.

From here, the surrounding slopes were divided into great open fields, their layout still traceable in the shape of later enclosures and in the place-names recorded in manor court rolls and 18th-century maps. These fields weren’t hedged or fenced like modern ones. Instead, they were divided into long narrow strips, cultivated by different families under a shared, carefully regulated system. Each villager farmed scattered strips across different fields, sharing ploughing schedules, crop rotations and grazing rights.

Three main fields surrounded Mosborough (see image attached):

Street Field lay west of Mosborough Hall, bounded by Station Road, Street Field Lane, Hollow Lane and Beighton Road. By 1795 it covered around 67 acres, divided between 18 occupiers. Parts of this land, including Swainhouse Field and Knowle Hill Field, had earlier been divided into smaller plots, hinting at centuries of cultivation. It has been suggested that the Streetfield name is associated with the Roman road, Rykneld Street.

Church Field stretched south towards St Peter and St Paul’s parish church. By the late 18th century, it was bisected by Sheffield Road and enclosed by Beighton and Park Mill (now Gashouse Lane) Roads, covering about 95 acres worked by 12 occupiers.

Street Field and Church Field were separated by a group of long strip-like fields running east to west, named Green Balk; “balk” in Middle English meaning an unploughed ridge of land separating fields. In a manorial survey dated 1480 Green Balk was occupied by Robert Rotherham of Mosborough.

Lee Field lay north of Mosborough Moor. In 1795, just two men – the Earl Fitzwilliam of Wentworth Woodhouse and Thomas Staniforth of Mosborough – held its 32 acres. Nearby “Harbour Friths” fields to the north, with their irregular shapes and woodland names, point to early assarts – clearings cut from the medieval woods.

Plumley had its own open field, St John’s Field, lying south of Plumley Lane and stretching down towards Lady Bank Wood. This 12-acre field was shared between four occupiers, and may correspond to “The Singels Field” mentioned in manor records of 1634.

Under the old open field system, each of these great fields would have been divided into strips and cultivated according to a communal crop rotation. One field might lie fallow while another grew winter wheat and a third spring barley or oats. After harvest, the fields were thrown open for common grazing, and livestock wandered over the stubble, manuring the land for the next year’s crop. It was a cooperative way of farming that tied the whole village together in a shared rhythm of work, decision-making, and landscape.

This ancient system survived here for centuries, gradually giving way to enclosure in the late 18th century, when hedges were planted, boundaries fixed, and strips consolidated into larger fields. But the names of Street Field, Church Field, Lee Field, and St John’s Field still echo the medieval past — reminders that beneath our roads and housing estates lies a landscape once ruled by communal plough and shared pasture.

The Former Primitive Methodist Chapel, Queen Street, Mosborough

The former Primitive Methodist Chapel at 36/38 Queen Street, Mosborough, was built in 1830 by the local community on land purchased for £19 10s from Job Allen (1772-1853), publican and maltster of the White Hart Inn, Eckington. Allen had acquired the land from the Crown Estate in 1828 when the Manor of Eckington was released for sale upon the open market.

The Primitive Methodist movement was founded in 1811 by Hugh Bourne and William Clowes in Staffordshire. They emphasized evangelism, outreach to the working class, and open-air preaching and quickly gained popularity among rural and industrial communities, such as Mosborough. The chapel was built before any of the present chapels in the Sheffield Circuit with the aid of a mortgage of £100 from Sheffield solicitor and land surveyor John Haywood of 19 Paradise Square, Sheffield.

The modest, stone-faced building is simple and functional, distinguished by the keystone arch over the entrance, which reflects the movement’s emphasis on humility and accessibility. The accommodation rapidly became too small for its congregation and school, leading to efforts to raise funds for expansion. With the help of Sheffield cutlers, Messrs. Gilbert and Jones, the local community raised funds in 1868 to pay off the outstanding debt of £70 preparatory to building a new chapel alongside the existing one. Shortly afterwards, the Old Chapel was converted for use as two cottages.

Presently occupied by the community pharmacy of Gilbert and Armstrong, with a Post Office attached, several former tenants have been recorded at various times.

  • Farewell Woodhead (1877-1948) was a boot and shoe repairer. He was first recorded at 36 Queen Street in the 1912 Edition of Kelly’s Directory of the West Riding of Yorkshire and continued to occupy the premises until his retirement around 1942.
  • At this time (1941), the neighbouring property at No. 38 was tenanted by the British Legion (Mosborough) Branch.
  • Kelly’s Directory of 1924 records that No. 38 Queen Street was occupied by Charles Gee (1872-19480), a former miner who became incapacitated, operating a hardware store.
  • Thomas Henry Bolsover (1872-1949) ran a Fruit and Greengrocery store at No. 38 Queen Street around 1919.
  • The premises are also said to have been occupied by the Eckington Leader, a local newspaper publisher and by the Eckington Co-operative Society.

Following a period of disuse, the building was taken over by building contractors Sloane and Roebuck, who used it as offices with a builders’ yard to the rear. Eventually, the pharmacists Gilbert and Armstrong had it refurbished in 1996 in advance of the transfer of their business from Mosborough High Street.