Attercliffe
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Attercliffe is an
industrial suburb An industrial suburb is a community, near a large city, with an industrial economy. These communities may be established as tax havens or as places where zoning promotes industry, or they may be industrial towns that become suburbs by urban ...
of northeast
Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
on the south bank of the River Don. The suburb falls in the Darnall ward of Sheffield City Council.


History

The name Attercliffe can be traced back as far as an entry in the
Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...
of 1086 - Ateclive – meaning “at the cliff”, a small escarpment that lay alongside the River Don. This cliff can be seen in images from the 19th century, but is no longer visible.J. Edward Vickers, ''The Ancient Suburbs of Sheffield'', pp.7–10 (1971) Westforth or Washford Bridge, at the Sheffield end of the village, was first recorded in a will of 1535. It was rebuilt in wood in 1608 and 1647, then in stone in 1672, 1789 and 1794.G. R. Vine,
The Story of Old Attercliffe
' (pt. 2)
Historically a part of the parish of Sheffield, Attercliffe Chapel was built in 1629 as the first place of worship in the settlement. The Town School was built in 1779, and Christ Church was built in 1826 but destroyed during the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. In 1686, Richard Frankland set up a dissenting academy at Attercliffe Hall. Three years later, it was taken over by the nonconformist minister Timothy Jollie, who educated students including John Bowes, Nicholas Saunderson and Thomas Secker. Secker, later
Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...
, was frustrated by Jollie's poor teaching, famously remarking that he lost his knowledge of languages and that 'only the old Philosophy of the Schools was taught there: and that neither ably nor diligently. The morals also of many of the young Men were bad. I spent my time there idly & ill'. In the early 19th century, Attercliffe remained a rural community known for its orchards, windmill, and large houses including the Old Hall, New Hall and Carlton House. New Hall was later converted into
pleasure garden A pleasure garden is a park or garden that is open to the public for recreation and entertainment. Pleasure gardens differ from other public gardens by serving as venues for entertainment, variously featuring such attractions as concert halls, b ...
s, with a
cricket ground Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field, at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails (small sticks) balanced on three stumps. Two players from the ...
, racecourse,
bowling green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...
,
maze A maze is a path or collection of paths, typically from an entrance to a goal. The word is used to refer both to branching tour puzzles through which the solver must find a route, and to simpler non-branching ("unicursal") patterns that lead ...
, lake and depictions of famous cities. It was known for its concerts and firework displays. Small-scale manufacture of pen knives and
pocket knives A pocketknife (also spelled as pocket knife) is a knife with one or more blades that fold into the handle. They are also known as jackknives, folding knives, Everyday carry, EDC knife, or may be referred to as a penknife, though a penknife may a ...
developed in the early 19th century, The suburb became more accessible with the construction of first a turnpike road from Sheffield to the terminus of the River Don Navigation at Tinsley, then the opening of the Sheffield Canal, running to the south of the village. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, there was a frequent proposal to widen this to form a Sheffield Ship Canal, to terminate in a basin at Attercliffe.G. R. Vine,
The Story of Old Attercliffe
' (pt. 3)
Attercliffe railway station opened in August 1871 and closed on 26 September 1927. Attercliffe has long been an industrial area, but by the early 20th century, there was also a large residential population and high class shops, John Banner's department store (Banner's), which opened in 1934, in particular. The area declined after the Second World War as Victorian housing was cleared and not replaced, causing schools to close, followed by most of Attercliffe's shops. Banner's closed in 1980 and was converted into offices. Some of the local industries closed or moved to larger sites further out of Sheffield.


Adelphi Cinema

The Adelphi was an art deco cinema on Vicarage Road, built in 1920 by architect William C. Fenton. It is Grade II listed. The cinema closed in 1967, and the building was then used as a bingo hall under the name "Adelphi Bingo Club" and a
nightclub A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...
. It is currently disused. In November 2022 Sheffield Council announced plans to redevelop the building for community use.


Attractions

Its location on the Sheffield Supertram route, the completion of the Five Weirs Walk and construction of the
Don Valley Stadium Don Valley Stadium, England, was a stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, completed in 1990, and hosted the 1991 World Student Games. It was named after the nearby River Don. The stadium was demolished in 2013. The stadium and facilities were ...
and
Sheffield Arena Sheffield Arena, known for sponsorship purposes as Utilita Arena Sheffield, is a multi-purpose arena located in Sheffield, England. It is situated near Meadowhall Centre, Meadowhall and lies between Sheffield city centre and Rotherham town centr ...
in the 1990s brought some life back to the area. As part of the area's regeneration, new house building started in 2002. Don Valley Stadium was demolished in 2013, but other entertainment venues bring visitors to the area, including
Hollywood Bowl The Hollywood Bowl is an amphitheatre and Urban park, public park in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles, California. It was named one of the 10 best live music venues in the United States by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine in 2018 and was listed on ...
&
Cineworld Regal Cineworld Group (trading as Cineworld) is a British cinema operator headquartered in London, England. It is the world's second-largest cinema chain (after AMC Theatres), with 9,139 screens across 747 sites in 10 countries: Bulgaria, Czec ...
. This has changed Attercliffe from its previous seedy element to an area for outer city entertainment with the introduction of Valley Centertainment. It is home to one of the highest concentrations of sporting facilities in the UK with the Olympic Legacy Park, incorporating iceSheffield and the English Institute of Sport.


Politics

Attercliffe falls within the Darnall Ward. Sheffield Attercliffe was the name of one of Sheffield's parliamentary constituencies from 1885 to 2010, when it was renamed Sheffield South East.


References


External links

*
Pictures of the Adelphi Cinema

Sources for the History of Attercliffe
Produced by Sheffield City Council's Libraries and Archives {{Authority control Suburbs of Sheffield