Hackenthorpe is a village 5 miles south east of

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 ...

’s city centre, now classed as a historic township of the city. Due to much expansion, the village became a part of Sheffield city during the 1950s. During much of the late 19th and 20th centuries the village was noted for its

steelmaking Steelmaking is the process of producing steel from iron ore and/or scrap. Steel has been made for millennia, and was commercialized on a massive scale in the 1850s and 1860s, using the Bessemer process, Bessemer and open hearth furnace, Siemens-M ...

, with the Thomas Staniforth & Co

Sickle A sickle, bagging hook, reaping-hook or grasshook is a single-handed agricultural tool designed with variously curved blades and typically used for harvesting or reaping grain crops, or cutting Succulent plant, succulent forage chiefly for feedi ...

works being based at Main Street. Another prominent feature of the village is the 17th century Hackenthorpe Hall, built by John Newbould for the Hounsfield family, with James Hounsfield being a prominent land owner. The building is today used as a nursery. The Hackenthorpe Infant School provided education to the local children in the village during the 20th century, this was demolished in 1999 and today local children attend the Rainbow Forge school. Today the village has seen much development in terms of housing, however the former sickle works, estates and post office still remain in the village and are a reminder of its industrial past. Hackenthope was once a part of Derbyshire in the parish of Beighton but is now part of South Yorkshire.

Early history

The first mention of the village comes from 9th century Anglo Saxon records of

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

land owners. The village was then known as Eckingthorp, meaning 'The hamlet of Eck's people'. The then hamlet stood on the edges of the 'Great Forest' which stood in the area where the Rother Valley Country Park stands today and extended to areas of Derbyshire,

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

and

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

. Today the only remnants of the 'Great Forest' is Sherwood Forest. Eckingthorp was settled by the British invaders known as the Angles. The invasions took place at the end of the Romanic period around 500AD. Prior to these invasions the area was part of the Kingdom of Mercia, the local Shire Brook formed the border with the neighbouring kingdom of

Northumbria Northumbria () was an early medieval Heptarchy, kingdom in what is now Northern England and Scottish Lowlands, South Scotland. The name derives from the Old English meaning "the people or province north of the Humber", as opposed to the Sout ...

. Being so close to the border meant the hamlet was prone to invasions. The Sheffield Museum contains a number of bones and flint tools unearthed in the area during the 19th century, dating back to the Neolithic period, this shows the area was inhabited long before the Angles settled. In later centuries the hamlet consisted of farmlands, with the

serfs Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery. It developed dur ...

spending time cultivating plots while also spending time working on the local lordships domains. As well as farming the area was found to be rich in

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

and

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the f ...

which provided income to many residents. In 1653, John and Alice Newbould, wealthy landowners from Woodhouse built the Hackenthorpe Hall on Main Street, a sign of increasing wealth in the hamlet. By the turn of the 18th century Hackenthorpe began to develop into an industrial site, with coal mines, quarries and mills found throughout the area between Hackenthorpe and Birley. A remnant of this time period can still be found on Main Street, the Staniforth Works dating from 1743, originally built for scythe making can still be found on the street, complete with the smithy pond in the yard. Some of the old forge dams used for smithing during this time period can also be found throughout the local Shire Brook Valley Local Nature Reserve, most notably Carr Forge. The 19th century saw significant growth in the area, and the small hamlet was now a village. A chapel was built in 1813 across from Hackenthorpe Hall, this would later be replaced by a new church in 1899 known as Christ church at the end of Sheffield road. In 1820 steam power began to be used by the local scythe makers and by 1840 the Sheffield Coal Company had several mines throughout the area. At this time the Beighton railway station was in use by people entering and exiting the area on the Midland line from

Rotherham Rotherham ( ) is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies at the confluence of the River Rother, South Yorkshire, River Rother, from which the town gets its name, and the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don. It is the largest settlement ...

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

. 1855 saw the opening of the National school in the Beighton parish which served the area until 1880, when Lord Manvers allowed for a second school to be built serving the Hackenthorpe village. By 1877 the first of the Birley Collieries was opened, and saw a daily output of 500 tons of coal. Throughout the remainder of the 19th and 20th centuries the collieries were a large source of employment for residents of the village.

20th century

With coal mining playing a large role on the village, the colliery owners began building terraced housing for local workers. It was around this time that development began on the Frecheville estates, which had until this time been known as Birley Moor, a mostly rural region. Following 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 ...

, housing was in short supply in

and the land between the city and Hackenthorpe saw prolific development causing the village to be incorporated into the city limits on 1 April 1967. This also saw the village leave the county of

for

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

. Development continued into the 1970s, with the areas around Mosborough village being developed and incorporated into the city. By this stage the coal mining industry had ceased, with the closure of the Birley Collieries the area saw a drastic change.

21st century

Today the village is a shadow of its former self, with many of the old terraced housing demolished and replaced with modern housing. The Staniforth Works remain, now used to house small businesses, as a reminder of the villages industrial past. The Hackenthorpe Hall can still be found on Main Street and is now used as a nursery. Other older buildings include the post office, and the blacksmiths now used as a veterinary office. Shops at Hackenthorpe

Development has been focused along the Birley Moor region, with a shopping district now found at the junction between Main Street and Birley Spa Lane, new housing estates were also built in this area with much of the rural farmland now gone.

Name origin

As is the case with a number of towns and settlements in the

British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...

, Hackenthorpe gets its name from the

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

, meaning 'Hachen's outlying farmstead'. For many years the village was simply split between the parishes of Beighton and Birley, however during the 14th century the modern spelling of Hackenthorpe emerged when local dialects began to have an influence on placenames.

References

External links

Hackenthorpe local history - Sheffield City CouncilHackenthorpe History on the Christchurch website
{{Sheffield Villages of the metropolitan borough of Sheffield