The Hall of Waltheof/Chapter XIX

HE names of some of the streets will throw light upon the early history of Sheffield, and for the sake of easy reference I deal with them under separate headings.

Fargate.—The word "gate" here means road, as in Waingate, Hallam-gate, Prior-gate. At first sight one would suppose that "far" was the common word which means remote. But what could a "remote road" be, and from what is the road remote? It is in the heart of the old part of the town. Curiously enough the Old English fear or fearr (pronounced far) means both a sow and a bullock. Here it means sow, for "a passage leading from Fargate to new Church Street .  .  .  boasted the name of 'Sow Mouth.'" Fargate then means sow gate, sow road, and it was the way by which the swine were driven into the common pastures, the "sow mouth" being the passage through which they went. There is a place at Norton, near Sheffield, called Cow-mouth, which means the entrance through which cows went into the pastures.

Brelsforth Orchards.—If you will look at the facsimile of Gosling's plan opposite the beginning of this chapter you will see a triangular space which in 1736 was enclosed by buildings on all sides, and had for its boundaries Fargate, Balm Green, Blind Lane, and Church Lane. This triangular space is not named in Gosling's plan, but in Fairbank's plan of 1771 it is described as Brelsforth Orchards, and I have seen the place so described in old plans in the Duke of Norfolk's office. And if you will look at the plan again you will see that the entrance to these orchards was a narrow opening nearly opposite Pinson Lane. I shall try to show that this narrow opening was the entrance or "mouth" of an enclosure or stockade—which afterwards became orchards—into which the cattle of the community were driven for safety by night. An old English-Latin dictionary gives the word prayel or praysel, meaning little field. Now if the triangular enclosure were the stockade or little field into which swine and other cattle were driven, the entrance to that meadow might be called "praysel-forth," meaning little field entrance—the word being found in the surnames Brelsforth and Brailsford. The "praysel" then would be the little field or triangular space described in Gosling's plan. If you will look at the plan again you will see that this passage or entrance opens into Fargate, meaning sow gate, and is exactly opposite Sow Mouth. We may infer therefore that the swine or other cattle of the community were driven through this "praysel-forth," or field-way. This word prayel or praysel appears to be akin to the Middle High German brüel, brül, a word whose meaning, says Forstemann, "hovers between a wood, a thicket, and a meadow." As the only entrance to the little field was the narrow opening or "praysel-forth," it is possible that the name Brelsforth Orchards arose in this way, an orchard having taken the place of the little meadow. An alternative derivation would be from the surname Brelsforth, which was found in Sheffield. But I think that the suggestion first made is more likely.

Jehu Lane or Jew Lane.—This lane which, I am told, was so narrow that a householder on one side of it could almost have shaken hands with his neighbour on the other, was on the south side of "Fitzalan Square." The making of the square has wiped this old street off the local map, but it led, according to Fairbank's plan, from Baker's Hill into "the Swine Market." I have conversed with many old people who spoke of this street as Jew Lane, and they were quite right in doing so. It occurs, however, as "Jehu" in Gosling's plan, and as Jehu lane in a list of Sheffield street-names, made early in the last century, given by Hunter. We must remember that every considerable town, both in England and on the Continent, had its Jewish quarter. Winchester, York, Norwich, and other towns had their Jewry, or place where the Jews lived. There was a Jewry, according to Stow, in London. "There was," he says, "a place within the liberties of the Tower called the Jewry because it was inhabited by Jews." These merchants and money-lenders were found everywhere. It is perhaps significant that the street above Jehu Lane should be called Change Alley. I notice the surname Jehu in the London Directory for 1890, as though it were Jew written in two syllables. In London vestiges of the quarter once occupied by the Jews have remained to our time in the names Old Jewry and Jewin Street, gywen being the old plural of giu or giw, a Jew. Our "Jehu" represents the old spelling, though the word was pronounced as a monosyllable. Perhaps it was in a spirit of conscious irony that the old inhabitants of Sheffield put their swine market at the mouth of Jehu or Jew Lane.

I need hardly say that the existence of an ancient street in Sheffield bearing this name throws considerable light upon the early condition of the borough. It shows that the borough had enough commerce in early times to need the services of the Jewish money-lender, for all early centres of commerce had their Jewish quarters. As all Jews were banished from England in 1280 a small Jewish settlement may have been established in Sheffield before that time.

Pinson Lane.—We have few "lanes" in Sheffield now. The popular idea seems to be that there is something mean and insignificant in a lane, and hence Pinson Lane now bears the grander name of "Pinstone Street." Old inhabitants of Sheffield speak of "Pinson Lane." Gosling writes it Pinson Lane in 1736, and I find a croft called Pincencroft Len in a document dated 1554. "Pincen" is probably the surname Pinson, so that Pincencroft is exactly analogous to Colson Crofts, Sims Croft, Scargill Croft, and Hawley Croft, which are derived from surnames. The word "len" in Pincencroft Len is not our "lane" but the Old Norse lén, a. fief, or fee, a piece of freehold, or land held in fee simple. Thus the meaning is Pinson Croft freehold. The croft acquired the name of the person or the family—the Pinsons—who once held it, and then it afterwards became known as the Pinsoncroft "len" or fee.

Campo Lane: Camper Lane.—In a lease dated 1658, which I have seen, this place is called "the Campo Lane." In another lease, dated 1725, to which Elizabeth and James Hawley are parties, I find mention of "a place there comonly called Campo Lane, being the overend of the said croft, as the same is now meared and staked out," etc. Hunter speaks of Campo Lane, or "in full the Camper field lane." He also says that "the Campa field" occurs several times in a document written in the early part of the last century. In Gosling's plan it is called "Camper Lane." From this evidence it appears that there was formerly a "camper field," i.e. a football-players' field, in the neighbourhood. According to Tusser the sport of the "camper," or football-player, was not only good exercise, but it was useful to the meadow, for it made the grass "grow the more fine." He has also these two lines:
 * Get campers a ball
 * To play therewithall.

The word "campo" is given in the New English Dictionary as a piece of obsolete school slang, meaning a playground. Two instances only are quoted, and they are both from Brinsley's "Grammar Schoole," 1612. Brinsley speaks of boys "running out to the Campo (as they tearme it) at schoole times." It is possible that Brinsley's "Campo" is equivalent to "camper field," for the Sheffield Grammar School, which was founded in 1603, was within a few yards of this place. Owing to the position of the lane on the crest of a hill I once thought that the most likely derivation was from the Old Norse kambr, a ridge. But the evidence given by Hunter makes it more probable that Campo Lane means "football-players' lane." I do not know of any earlier mention of this street than "the Campo Lane" of 1658, but it may go much further back. Mr. Gomme has given an interesting account of old football contests, as for example that at Derby, as evidence of clan feuds or tribal rivalries. He shows that the contest was between one part of a town and another. He says "at Asborne the struggle was between the up'ards and down'ards." He says nothing more about the Ashbourne contest, but it was a very remarkable one, and I believe it is yet carried on. On Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday a football was thrown into the Bull Ring of that village, and the contest was between the upper and the lower part, or between the north and the south side, of the town, which is divided by a river. There are two mills on the stream, Clifton mill and Sturston mill, which are about three miles apart, and are about equidistant from the town. The two goals were these two mills, and the object was to put the ball on the axle of the opponent's water-wheel. The shops were closed and the contest was carried on with the utmost vigour, if not fury, the combatants rushing through gardens or any ground which lay between them and their goal, and often committing considerable damage. The ball was said to be galled on the middle of the mill wheel. At Sheffield there were also two mills, the Town mill or Soke mill at Millsands near the Don, and the mill in the Ponds. At Ashbourne it is clear that the football contest points to an old feud or rivalry between two opposing clans or races of settlers. I have failed to find any evidence of a football contest in Sheffield resembling that at Derby or Ashbourne. Yet there can be no doubt that tribal rivalry existed in Sheffield as elsewhere, and in a previous chapter I have referred to divisions of race. We may fairly conclude then that Camper field and Campo Lane arose from the sport of football playing, and that this may point back to a custom like that at Ashbourne. I am told that it was formerly a common thing for the boys in Sheffield to form themselves into sets and attack each other. Thus there was "the Pond Street set," "the Allen Street set," etc. A weak set used to be called "a peeny set," i.e. a puny set. It has often been observed that children carry on the games which their forefathers once played as men.

Baker's Hill: Shude Hill.—The miller, who was always an important man in any town, probably lived down by the Ponds where the mill was. If you will look at Gosling's map you will see the ground-plan of the old half-timber house known as "the hall in the Ponds," with its garden in front. Here the miller himself may have lived. The map will also show you that Baker's Hill and Shude Hill are adjacent to the water mill which ground the corn. Shude Hill means "husk hill," and we may compare it with the Scotch "shealing hill," which, according to Jamieson, is "the eminence near a mill, where the kernels of grain were separated, by the wind, from the husks." An old rental in the Sheffield Free Library, dated 1624, tells us that a Mr. Mosley had a lease of the bakehouse in Sheffield at a rent of £20. We see, therefore, that the machinery for winnowing and grinding the corn, as well as the public bakehouse on Baker's Hill, lay all together, and we thus get an interesting glimpse of the time when a portion of the community ground their corn at the public mill in the Ponds, and when their bread was baked at the public bakery. In Sheffield, as I have already said, there were two mills, the Town mill or Soke mill at Millsands, and the mill in the Ponds.

Blind Lane.—Blind here means dark, obscure. Chaucer speaks of "blind lanes." There is a Dark Lane between Crookes and Walkley. It was once overshadowed by trees.

The Hartshead.—A narrow street near the east side of the churchyard is known as "the Hartshead." By an indenture, in my possession, dated the 20th August, 1662, John Askewe of Southwarke, in the county of Middlesex, cutler, in consideration of £40 paid to him by Parker Barnard of Attercliffe, yeoman, conveyed to the said Parker "All that cottage or tenement wherein Thomas Cauthorne doth now inhabit and dwell, scituate lying and being in Sheffield aforesaid in a certaine street there coinmonly called the Hartshead." I take "the Hartshead" as having originally been the name of the piece of land which lay to the east of the parish church, and as pointing back to the old religious practice of suspending the heads of animals, such as goats or horses, on trees, or on the gable ends of houses. We may compare the O. N. dyrshöfuðs-dyrr a door over which a hart's head is placed. It seems strange to find this narrow passage, not more than five feet wide, described as "a certain street," for its only title to that name is its stone pavement. It is one of the oldest and quaintest "streets" in Sheffield, and resembles a "wynd" in Edinburgh, with houses on both sides irregularly disposed and huddled together. One of the houses, built of stone, and with old timber and plaster work over the "street," is not later in date than the early part of the seventeenth century. The curious thing about it is that it goes right over the "street" like a little "Bridge of Sighs." This bridging over of narrow alleys or lanes was not uncommon in the old parts of Sheffield, and there are two of these "bridges" in the Hartshead. These alleys were very snug and quaint places to live in, but the want of proper air and light must have been distressing. Some of the rooms on the ground floors of the houses have been paved with boulders.

The Wicker.—This word has been a stumbling-block to all who have been interested in the antiquities of Sheffield. Originally it was the name not of a street but of a piece of flat land, afterwards forming a sort of village green, lying in a bend or angle formed by the winding of the Don. This will be readily seen by a reference to Gosling's plan. I formerly suggested that it might be derived from the Old English wíc, a creek, or angle, and ker, Old Norse kiarr, a car or marshy place. But the Old Norse vík, genitive víkr, cognate with the Old English wíc, a creek or inlet, would make the best sense, if we may believe that the oblique case víkr is the older form of the word and remains here. If that were so the word simply means inlet or creek. Vík and Víkr are frequent amongst Icelandic local names. The Old Norse vík is derived from the verb víkja, to turn or recede. We may compare víkr-hvarf, a creek. It is less likely that the word means marshland, though in Old English nomenclature wic appears occasionally to have that meaning.

Pepper Alley.—This is the name of a narrow lane or alley which ran between Fargate and Norfolk Street. I had always thought that these Pepper Alleys were in towns only, but I find a Pepper Alley close to the southern boundary of Wentworth Park and to the north of Kimberworth. A writer in Notes and Queries said that Pepper Alley and Pepper Street as names of low parts of towns and villages are quite common all over England According to Halliwell there is a Cheshire proverb, "When the daughter is stolen shut the pepper-gate." I do not know the meaning or derivation of the word.

Ratten Row.—A small block of buildings surrounded by streets on all sides and lying between Broad Lane End and Westbar Green appears on Fairbank's plan as Ratten Row. The reader will be familiar with Rotten Row in London. I find in Sisson's "Historic Sketch of the Parish Church, Wakefield," 1824, that there was a street in that town "called Bread Booths now Ratten Row." The buildings comprising Ratten Row are marked on Gosling's plan, but the name is not given. Förstemann under the word raud, red, gives such names as Roten-bach, and Roten-burg. It would appear that "ratten" or "rotten" in these names means "red," and refers probably to houses built of red brick. If this be the meaning it is strange that the word has not been preserved in the dialect. I have seen "Wratten" as an alias of the surname Ratcliffe, as though it were Ratten-cliffe, Red-cliffe. I find Rotten Close in a plan of land in Ecclesfield dated 1764.

Paradise Square.—Paradise was an old name for a garden, and it is sometimes found amongst English place- names, as at Wedmore in Somersetshire. "In some Icelandic farms," says Vigfusson, "a grassy hollow or valley close by a dwelling-house is called Paradis." It is also applied to a grassy slope, as would be the case in Sheffield where the square is on the slope of a hill. Oughtibridge's view of Sheffield shows that the square was a grassy slope.

Lambert Knoll: Lambert Street.—According to Gosling's plan Lambert Knoll is the name of a piece of land at the top of the street now called Scotland Street. A "barth," as Dr. Murray shows, is "a warm sheltered place for cattle and sheep," and he quotes Tusser's Husbandry, 1573; "warme barth giue lams." The meaning of our local name, then, is "lamb shelter." We may compare Lamb Hill at Handsworth near Sheffield, and the Old Norse lamb-hús, lamb sheds.

Sale Hill.—This is now the name of a modern suburban street in Sheffield, but it seems to have been originally applied to the hill on which the street is formed. If so, it is the Old Norse sel a shed. Vigfusson defines sel as "a shed on a mountain pasture, but within the landmarks of each farm, where the milch-kine are kept in the summer months." There is a place called Sail Hill in the parish of Drax, near Selby.

Water Lane.—This was also called Watering Lane, as I have seen in a plan, made in the last century, in the Duke of Norfolk's office. There were formerly troughs in this lane.

Snig Hill.—In the neighbourhood of Bradford and elsewhere in Yorkshire there is a word snicket, meaning a narrow passage or entrance, or, as we should say in Sheffield, a "jennel." The word "snug" meaning comfortable, or lying close and warm, is identical with the word "snig" used in this street-name. It is the Old Norse snöggr, Swedish snygg, smooth, short, close, with a secondary or derived meaning. It is not the hill, in this case, which is "snug," but the narrow old street, and had it been "snicket hill" the meaning would have been clear. In the Supplement to my Sheffield Glossary I have mentioned the phrase "a snig place to catch a poacher" where the meaning is quiet, secret, or retired. Snig Hill, then, is "snug hill," snug street, with the meaning close, retired, narrow. In the chapter on "The House" a drawing of this street will be found showing some old houses, with projecting upper stories, and possibly all the houses in the street were once of this kind. In a street already narrow upper stories projecting a long way would give an appearance of still greater narrowness, so that such a street might on that account be called "snig" or "snug." How snug some of the streets in Sheffield once were I have already shown when speaking of the Hartshead.

Winter Street.—In a plan of property in Sheffield made about the middle of the last century I find "Winter Crofts." This is analogous to the Old Norse vetr-beit, or vetr-hagi, winter pasture, as distinguished from sumar-hagi, summer pasture.