Ughill
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Ughill is a small, rural hamlet within the City 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 ...
in Bradfield Parish in England. It is 5 mi (8 km) west-northwest of the city centre. It stands in a lofty position at 918 ft (280 m) above sea level, on a ridge between Bradfield Dale and the valley of the Ughill Brook. It has traditionally been a farming community, but there was some mining in the area in the late 19th and 20th century. Ughill Hall was the scene of an infamous murder in September 1986. The hamlet falls within the Stannington ward of the City.


History

Ughill is thought to have been founded in the 10th century by a group of Norwegian
Vikings Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9 ...
with the name deriving 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 ...
language as Uhgil meaning Uha's Valley or Uggagil meaning Uggi's Valley. In the Old Norse language, gil is a steep-sided valley. Worrall family from Ughill
Gives details of name meaning.
Ughill was one of six small estates in
Hallamshire Hallamshire (or Hallam) is the historical name for an area of South Yorkshire, England, approximating to the current City of Sheffield local government area. The origin of the name is uncertain. The English Place-Name Society describe "Hall ...
named 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, these included the nearby settlements of
Holdworth Holdworth is a small rural hamlet situated within the boundary of the City of Sheffield, England. It is located northwest of the city centre at an altitude of 280 metres above sea level, giving it extensive views south over the upper River Loxle ...
,
Worrall Worrall is a small rural village in the civil parish of Bradfield, South Yorkshire, England, north west of Sheffield city centre. It has an area of 233 hectares, and population of 1,306 as of 2006, and borders the Sheffield suburbs of Wadsl ...
and
Onesacre Oughtibridge ( ) is a residential village in the north of Sheffield within the bounds of Bradfield, South Yorkshire, Bradfield civil parish. The village stands about northwest of the Sheffield City Centre, city centre in the valley of the Riv ...
. Just prior to the
Norman conquest of England The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...
Ughill had developed into an
Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...
farming holding under the control of Healfdene or Aldene who was Lord of approximately 50 settlements, mainly across
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 ...
,
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 ...
and
Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...
. Open Domesday
Gives details of Healfdene‘s settlements.
After the Conquest ownership of Ughill was taken over by
Roger de Busli Roger de Busli (c. 1038 – c. 1099) was a Anglo-Normans, Norman baron who participated in the Norman conquest of England, conquest of England in 1066. Life Roger de Busli was born in or around 1038. His surname comes from the town now known as B ...
who was given large swathes of land across
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 ...
and Yorkshire for his part in the Conquest. In the Domesday Book Ughill had a taxable value of 1.8 geld units with two plough lands and one league of woodland. Open Domesday
Gives details of Ughill in Domesday Book.
Ughill was mentioned in documents in the late 13th century when the Lord of Hallamshire Thomas de Furnival granted local herbage rights to Ellys and all men of Ughill. Around 1290, the first mention of the Ughil family was recorded in the manor when John the son of John de Ughil was mentioned in a deed, Adam de Ughil and Roger de Ughil were mentioned at a later date, so the surname had become hereditary but it did not survive. By the 15th century, the Marriott family had settled in Ughill, they were another Norman family who rose from modest beginnings to become minor gentry throughout Hallamshire. John Marriott took over a farm in the low-lying part of Ughill in 1442 and was succeeded at the farm by several generations of John Marriotts up to the 17th century. Thomas Marriott (1679–1754) became Lord of the Manor in the early part of the 18th century, where he was styled Mr Marrott of Ughill Hall. Marriott was a
Dissenter A dissenter (from the Latin , 'to disagree') is one who dissents (disagrees) in matters of opinion, belief, etc. Dissent may include political opposition to decrees, ideas or doctrines and it may include opposition to those things or the fiat of ...
who in 1743 built Underbank Chapel, four km to the east at Stannington. Thomas was succeeded by his brother Benjamin but the male lineage then failed, ending the Marriotts family’s connection with Ughill after 300 years. Rotherhamweb
The Marriotts of Ughill.
''"Historic Hallamshire"'',
David Hey David G. Hey (18 July 1938 – 14 February 2016) was an English historian, and was an authority on surnames and the local history of Yorkshire. Hey was the president of the British Association for Local History, and was a published author of sev ...
, Landmark Collectors Library, , Gives general history of Ughill.


Buildings


Ughill Manor

Ughill Manor is a farmhouse which dates from the early 18th century, however buildings have existed on the site from a much earlier date with timbers from the adjoining
cruck A cruck or crook frame is a curved timber, one of a pair, which support the roof of a building, historically used in England and Wales. This type of timber framing consists of long, generally naturally curved, timber members that lean inwards and ...
barn being dated to 1504. Ughill Manor and its barn and cow house are Grade II
listed buildings In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...
.


Ughill Hall

Ughill Hall is a substantial stone residence which has been much altered over the years; it existed in a form much different from the present-day building in the reign of
Edward the Confessor Edward the Confessor ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was King of England from 1042 until his death in 1066. He was the last reigning monarch of the House of Wessex. Edward was the son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy. He succeede ...
(1042–1066). For many years it was the home of the Marriotts. In more recent times the hall was owned by Charles Vickers who used it as a summer shooting lodge and then by Mr. Lomas, the owner of some of the mines in the surrounding area. The adjacent Ughill Hall farm is still a working farm. Local Mouth
Gives details of Ughill Hall.


Ughill Hall shootings

The Ughill Hall shootings occurred on 21 September 1986 at Ughill Hall in Bradfield near Sheffield. Ian Wood shot and killed his mistress Danielle Ledez and her daughter Stephanie and severely injured Christopher, Ledez's elder child. He went on the run for eight days when he surrendered to authorities in France after threatening to commit suicide by jumping off Amiens Cathedral. Wood was later convicted of double murder, attempted murder and theft.


Upper House

A plaque on the building states that Upper House was the home of the Worrall family from 1540 to 1988 and that the family had lived in Ughill for in excess of 700 years over 25 generations. Other buildings in Ughill include Platts Farm, Nether House, Manor Farm Cottage and Cherry Tree Cottage.


Mining

The
fire brick A fire brick, firebrick, fireclay brick, or refractory brick is a block of ceramic material used in lining furnaces, kilns, fireboxes, and fireplaces. Made of primarily oxide materials like silica and alumina in varying ratios, these insulati ...
company Thomas Wragg & Sons owned a Pot Clay mine immediately to the south east of the hamlet. Pot Clay is a very mouldable type of fireclay long used in the past to make crucibles for the local Sheffield steel industry. It is found in beds together with beds of
Ganister A ganister (or sometimes gannister ) is hard, fine-grained quartzose sandstone, or orthoquartzite,Jackson, J. A., 1997, ''Glossary of geology'', 4th ed. American Geological Institute, Alexandria. used in the manufacture of silica brick typically ...
throughout the area and from about 1860 was in demand to make casting pit (pouring pit) and ladle control refractory bricks for the growing Sheffield steel industry following the introduction of Bessemer converters. In the early 1970s the mine was producing 15,000 tons of clay per year, with the company quoting, “The mine can be worked at the present rate for 100 years”. A
refractory In materials science, a refractory (or refractory material) is a material that is resistant to decomposition by heat or chemical attack and that retains its strength and rigidity at high temperatures. They are inorganic, non-metallic compound ...
brick works stood at the entrance to the mine. However the Ughill mine had drainage problems and although powerful pumps had been installed in the 1950s to pump between 600 and 800 gallons per minute from the mine, the mine closed on 17 November 1977. It had become uneconomic to mine the clay due to water problems and the owners found it more profitable to bring in clay from the Midlands. The site of the mine has been landscaped and returned to agricultural use.''"The Forgotten Mines of Sheffield"'', Ray Battye, ALD Design & Print, , pages 70, Gives details of mining. J&J Dyson mined fireclay at their open cast quarry at Wheatshire between Ughill and Sugworth. The quarry is closed but can still be seen from the nearby road. Thos. Wragg had small firebrick works at Load Brook (closed 1957) and Brookside (Stopes Road, Stannington, closed 1960) the former previously owned by the Trickett family, the latter by the Drabble family and a major works (Storrs Fire Clay Works) in the nearby Loxley Valley. Wraggs along with its local competitors, J&J Dyson of Griffs Works, Stannington and Thos. Marshall of Storrs Bridge Fire Brick Works, Loxley, mined the Stannington Pot Clay seam and manufactured fireclay-based casting pit holloware refractories for use in steel making worldwide. All three plants closed following a collapse in demand for casting pit refractories of the type made locally mainly because of the introduction of continuous casting of steel worldwide and the general demise of the British steel industry.


References

{{coord, 53.410242, N, 1.611782, W, scale:5000_region:GB, display=title Villages of the metropolitan borough of Sheffield Towns and villages of the Peak District