A Brief History
A brief history of Whiteley Woods
The name Whiteley Woods is derived from hwit-leah-wudu, meaning bright fair clearing. There has never been a village of Whiteley Woods, only various collections of cottages or small hamlets, called Whiteley Woods Bottom, Whiteley Woods Green and so on.
There was a Hall at Whiteley Woods before the 17th century, when the land belonged to the Mitchell and Dale families; Thomas Dale was a freeholder of the manor at the time of Charles I. In 1659 his daughter Alice married Alexander Ashton, and the part of the Hall which stood until 1957 was built by Alexander and Alice Ashton.
After Alexander Ashton’s death in 1682, the Hall passed through various owners until 1741, when it became the property of Strelley Pegge of Beauchief. He sold it to Thomas Boulsover in 1757. Boulsover (1705 –1788) was a Sheffield cutler and the inventor of Sheffield Plate. He already had a rolling mill and cottages below Whiteley Woods at Wire Mill Dam, and a business plating buttons and snuff boxes at Forge Dam.
Thomas and his wife Hannah had 10 children, but only two daughters survived to adulthood: Mary and Sarah. In 1789 Sarah and Mary built the chapel, which now stands in the grounds of Meadow Farm on the corner of Trap Lane, in memory of their father. It has not been used as a place of worship since 1852. In 1929 a memorial to Thomas Boulsover was built near the site of his works at Wire Mill Dam, using some of the stones from his mill.
The Hall passed through the hands of several descendants of Thomas Boulsover, until it was bought by Samuel Plimsoll in 1864. Samuel Plimsoll is sometimes called ‘the sailors’ friend’. He invented the Plimsoll Line, which denotes the maximum depth to which ships may be loaded; Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli stayed at Whiteley Woods to discuss the scheme, which became law in 1875.
Samuel spent all his money on his campaign, and his wife persuaded him to sell the Hall in 1876.
The next owner was Alderman Thomas Gainsford JP, who was instrumental in the construction of the many dams around Sheffield, and who spent a lot on improving and beautifying the building, and who added the west wing. In 1893 the Hall was sold to Mr. Muir Wilson and from 1913 to 1925 it was lived in by Mr. Clark, Managing Director of Vickers Ltd. When Mr Clark retired the Hall was left empty except for occasional use for entertaining. Unfortunately during this time damage was done by thieves, who got onto the roof to steal the lead, and by 1935, when the property was purchased by Sheffield Girl Guides, the Hall was beginning to decay due to damp and neglect.
Sheffield Girl Guides paid £3200 for the whole site, money which they borrowed from the Graves
Trust. It soon became obvious that the cost of upkeep and the rates were far too high for the Guides, and in the late 1930s the roof was completely removed. From then on deterioration was rapid, the floors fell through to the basement, and the building became unsafe. Despite an attempt to preserve the building, or at least the south façade, the Hall was demolished in 1957.
The only buildings still remaining are the outbuildings, which stood to the left of the site of the Hall, around three sides of a courtyard. They were originally the gardener’s cottage and the coachman’s cottage (later the chauffeur’s cottage), which are now the wardens’ cottages, stabling and storage for carriages, a tack room, and a barn with mounting steps, now called Plimsoll. There was also a hay loft above the Cottage.
The layout of Plimsoll barn, with doors placed for maximum through draught suggest that it may originally have been a threshing barn.
The arched area to the right of the courtyard was once more open. Carriages went around the sweep of the drive to the front of the Hall, dropped off their passengers, and continued round to the courtyard. They were driven into the end barn, now called Gainsford, where they were cleaned and repaired if necessary, then taken next door to the storage area. Next to Gainsford was the stabling, where the cobbled floor still shows.
When the Hall was demolished in 1957, its date stone was kept, and in 1960 it was set into the back wall of the saluting base to commemorate the Guiding’s Golden Jubilee. It is now very worn, but it is just possible to make out the 3 As of Alexander and Alice Ashton and the date 1663.