Unearthing the ancient manor of Tinsley

Year 5 pupils from Tinsley Junior School have been with us this week using ancient documents from Sheffield Archives to unearth the secrets of Tinsley manor…

Heeley City Farm is working with Tinsley Junior School, Wessex Archaeology and Sheffield Local Studies Library and Archives to investigate the history of the Tinsley manor house, possibly buried underneath the school field. The project is based at Tinsley Junior School where the whole school is working with professional archaeologists to discover and interpret the history of the manor house.

The manor house was built in the 11th or 12th century; it was the residence of the local lords and surrounded by a park and woods covering 413 acres. The manor was rebuilt in the 14th or 15th century, possibly by the de Tyneslaw family.  Tinsley was an important part of the 18th and 19th century industrialisation of Sheffield.  As a result the area became heavily populated and soon needed more public services.  In the early 1960s the old manor house, which by this time had become a farm, was demolished to enable the construction of Tinsley Junior School.  Nothing of the manor house survives above ground so the project but through archival research and geophysical surveys, it will be possible to map the underground remains in preparation for excavation.

The pupils have been busy undertaking their archival research this week including the deciphering of names on a Tinsley rent roll from 1667 (pictured above).

Pictured top right: Manor House Farm, Tinsley (also known as Needham's Farm), No 150, Bawtry Road, Tinsley (Picture Sheffield: s06421).

Archives' Arts Council project - on location with Andy Brown

Sheffield Archives and Local Studies Library were recently awarded a grant by the Arts Council for a year-long project called ‘The City as Bricolage’.  Three local photographers (Clive Egginton, Andy Brown and Gemma Thorpe) are working with us to document various Sheffield communities.

One of the areas Andy Brown is looking is faith in Sheffield.  A glance through a Sheffield directory from 150 years ago shows a range of different faiths in the city including: Anglicans, Catholics, Unitarians, Quakers, Independents or Congregationalists, Baptists, Methodists, Jews, the Plymouth Bretheren, Swedenborgians and Latter Day Saints.  Since the middle of the twentieth century, immigration and demographic change have contributed to the growth of many different faiths in the city.

Andy has been photographing the altars, objects and faith leaders of the different faith groups across the city.  Last week we were warmly welcomed to the Shri Guru Gobind Singh Ji Sikh Temple in Attercliffe by Surinder Singh Dhillon.  The Temple was officially opened by Prince Andrew in 2012.  The photographs created by the project will be exhibited in Sheffield later this year.  The project will create a valuable and dynamic addition to the city's archives, helping to ensure that Sheffield’s diversity continues to be represented in the collections.

Pictured (above): altar at Sikh Temple, Attercliffe by Andy Brown