Thanks for sharing this video it's so sad to see homes etc demolished I think historic buildings should of been left alone the UK is good at destroying towns etc for money it's so wrong there's loads of abandoned places, buildings & homes left to rot in the UK & It's disgusting people lived there it was home to them it's sad for you that your grandads home etc is gone.
For those of a certain “age” will remember that the film SLADE IN FLAME of the band was also filmed in and around Douglas Rd. BTW my father worked for the Council Cleansing Dept and the tip behind this is still referred to by staff as Douglas Rd Tip. The entrance is now off Herries Rd end. Goto 1:15 min ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-f8NDcUB2bi0.htmlsi=_BqzufXiLzzWouFY
The community’s were powerful then,the government didn’t like it,so they played the slum clearance card and split the community,putting the people in tall flats,where no one knew each other .same with the local pubs ,that’s where everyone had their opinions on government actions
*TRUTH* Did same to Netherthorpe; sure, some wern't up to standard, like my GGGrans damp home - which she 'donkey stoned' the step of nearly every day! - but many were solid built homes, pubs, churches, schools - all flattened & the residents dispersed round Sheffield, like a century of community meant nothing. Some of my older relatives still say they wish they could go back, how it was; it's so sad. It was a crime, cultural fkn genocide }:(
I lived at Upperthorpe in a council flat near my nan when I left home. It was thriving and had a good community spirit. Local shops, frequent public transport and little crime. It's now run down, the shops are crap or gone, alot of crime now, more ethnicities and generally not a great place. Sad really as my grandparents lived here and brought up their family.
My grandad talked about how if the police were chasing someone they'd run through a house, and when the police followed the find themselves in a closed room full of men. He lived in the pub on apple st... The local kids used to run up to parkwood spring well and collect water that would be sold at the pub.
Only just found your video mate. We lived up Parkwood Springs from 1962 till 1974 at 68 Mount Road which was 2 doors down from the Douglas pub. My mum used to clean there in the morning and my dad would go for a drink in the evening. The "Springs" was a great place to grow up as a child. I was 4 when we arrived and 16 when we left. There are 3 videos from film and television about PS on my own channel by the way.
@@GT380man enjoying the videos too. I'll be leading a history walk for the Friends of Parkwood Springs as part of the Heritage Open Days, 5.30pm on September 12th. Not around the village but starting from the Shirecliffe Road car park, and talking about the history of the whole 150 hectare site.
It wasnt an "estate" ..(council estate) ..it was a village ..suburban village . Btw the steps you walked down at the end were at the former Neepsend Railway station. Which could be reopened in the future, and with such prime land near the hip up and coming areas of Neepsend and especially KelhamIsland and Shalesmoor... Parkwood Springs could be reborn. Nice youtube clip 👍
Brilliant video. Fascinating information, history & presentation. Although no connection to the area I find this very sad and quite horrifying that a whole community was destroyed in such a way. The buildings and area looked beautiful to me!
Why is this site barred to vehicular access? Why really was the village destroyed? I don’t buy the reason given. Politicians don’t care a flying ***k about their constituents.
They've done some great work at the top end with a big park, mountain bike tracks and a well managed forest. You're right though, it needs some good preservation work lower down too.
I lived in Pitsmoor in the late 70’s and used to walk my dog Rosie over the top of Shirecliffe and down the hill into Parkwood Springs. By then the village had been demolished but the ski village hadn’t yet been built. My abiding memories are of Rosie flushing pheasants out of the undergrowth, the fantastic views across Sheffield and the peaceful feeling as we walked down the cliff path into the area of Parkwood Springs itself. The old road system was still intact and, most poignantly, you could clearly see where the old gardens, once lovingly tended, had been. All sorts of cultivated plants still blooming before eventually the natural vegetation took over. The destruction of this community without any regard for the culture it contained was typical of the Neanderthal mentality of the council back then. Though labelled modernisation or slum clearance, it was a plan without a heart or consideration for the human consequences. I still remember those quiet, reflective walks with Rosie so well and with great affection.
Very like where I was raised in Attercliffe but on a larger scale. Ardmore Street is still there, no houses now. They were also deemed to be slum properties and demolished in the early 70s. The houses had cellars and I think they were just pushed into them, like they had been standing over their own graves. I lived there until I was 4 and it's weird going back there and seeing the ghost street.
If only we could go back in time permanently. Yeh wouldn't have been Internet and things we have of today in 2024, but kids weren't cheeky brats on street corners, no graffiti, could leave your doors open, safe to walk out without fear of being stabbed or mugged, people were friendly. Absolutely dislike change.
l watched your video to the end.. l felt sad as you recounted the story of an abandoned village. True, nature always wins. we pass on, another generation emerges
I imagine someone has already told you this, but the old doorway bricked up near the beginning of the building was a foot access to Neepsend locomotive shed. I have seen an icon on old maps where that small bricked up arch is - it's three lines coming together as an arrow - but I don't know what that icon means.
I feel like I need to clarify that; Neepsend yard was parallel to Wallace Road, whilst Neepsend locomotive shed had its rear wall against Douglas Road and locomotives entered/exited at the Rutland Road end.
At the foot of the bridge was Neepsend railway station so the community had everything it needed. It still amazes me that the council deemed Parkwood Springs unfit for human habitation but they did the same in Attercliffe wiping away complete communities.
Also the estate including Harlestone steet between Petre Street and Earsham St, whole estate is now a field, and a walkpath, they clear away the estates with really nice communities, but Page Hall is worse than all the others were, but it still exists?
12:22 not as useless as you might think! There was a traveller's site the other side of the gate for about 12 years until about 3-4 years ago and that lamp-post at one time was wired up to provide electricity for about thirty vehicles🤣🤣 I lived on Wallace Rd 2003-5 in a caravan.
I thought exactly the same thing about the very useful lamp post! 😆 I lived in a Luton van with my then 6 year old at the top of Pickering Road by the entrance to the woods 2018-2019 until we were moved off by the council, and then on the new site not far away 2019-2023
Interesting video , it’s great how you’re interested in revisiting Sheffields past 👍 I was born up there in 1970 and was moved out in 1974 , my Nan live next door I think it was called Pickering road . The housing wasn’t fit for purpose! Randomly The 70s Band SLADE filmed a pop video up on the Rec .
Slade also filmed some of their 1974 film, Slade in Flame, in and around this estate. Probably the best place to view how the area was at the end as the bulldozers were about to move in.
nice video, it a shame they pulled down whole communities only to leave the land empty. when i walk round Trafford general hospital, it hits me my grandad was born there over 123 years ago. I remember Eddie the eagle being on tv using the ski village in 90s
The bridge you just came over at the end there, my Dad was stood on that bridge watching the bombs drop on Sheffield, in the blitz. Fortunately he wasn`t injured, thus why I can comment on it today. In the 60`s used to regularly go to the park.
For those of a certain “age” will remember that the film SLADE IN FLAME of the band was also filmed in and around Douglas Rd. BTW my father worked for the Council Cleansing Dept and the tip behind this is still referred to by staff as Douglas Rd Tip. The entrance is now off Herries Rd end. Goto 1:15 min ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-f8NDcUB2bi0.htmlsi=_BqzufXiLzzWouFY
I lived at Parkwood just for a few months and found it must have changed considerably in the last 50 years, I wonder if the closing of the mines could be the reasons for Parkwood Springs changes? I found the people to be the most pleasant and helpful I have ever met, basically the remain families of the old Yorkshire miners, such a damn shame to have lost so much..
Great job. Good video. Just remember ‘what’ and ‘that’ are not interchangeable. Two separate words with different meanings. Southerners already think we’re thick as fk, don’t give them the ammunition!🤔😂
A very interesting video ! I am surprised the area has not been developed, it’s virtually in the middle of Sheffield and such a shame that it’s been left unused. Apparently there was recently a big new age/ travels camp near or on the old ski village. 👍🏻
The traveller's camp was there for years. They kept the area in much better nick than it is today. Their eviction by the council was so utterly pointless.
If this was where I lived the reason for the mounds of earth and stones would be to prevent the traveller community getting their caravans through and setting up a camp.
Subscribed, really interesting video. When did the last occupants leave? Amazing how nature reclaims but sad in a way considering how much housing is needed now, and green fields are disappearing under concrete. Sheffield City Council finished off the Luftwaffe's job then with the Church. Really interesting. That low blocked up arch would suggest there is a basement maybe?
Not sure if it has been suggested already but the little arch near the train bridge might have been a spring where horses could drink from before cars took over, there was a couple of them in the town I live in in Rotherham
And on the pedestal, these words appear: My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away...
Thank you for this. I did have to look it up though, having been educated in Germany. The beginning of a sonnet by Percy Bysshe Shelley (Wiki is very helpful 😊).
I lived on Douglas road from birth until my family relocated to a new estate on Manor park centre round about 1952.Remember our neighbour Mr Castile taking me round the train shed at the bottom of the road.
Nice little video I just came across. I’m originally from Doncaster, if you know Donny well enough, I’m from Thorne. I did enjoy listening to a Yorkshire accent again. I took early retirement last year and moved to the Philippines last year, so it’s good to hear someone who talks proper 😉 I’ll check out some of your other videos. Thanks for posting.
I was born on Reginald St,1957 no 13, sadly got demolished nearly 2 yrs after I was born, you talked about the railway and my parents said Reginald St was very near to the railway line and a tiny pub, all the houses were back to back houses I believe,
Thanks for the video! ❤ They did same to Netherthorpe; cultural genocide. A few buildings were maybe genuine slums; my GGGrans damp home - which she 'donkey stoned' the step of nearly every day! - [tho' it could've been renovated & repurposed, not obliterated] but MOST were solid built homes, pubs, churches, schools - all destroyed, powerless residents scattered round Sheffield; as if a century of community meant nothing. My older relatives still say they wish they could go back; that they never found a community like that again it's so sad, & infuriating; it was a crime not 'progress'. Now replaced by a few ugly & shoddy built concrete boxes; great..
Amazing location! Kind of reminds me of Centralia in Pennsylvania and what they call the 'real Silent Hill' town. Whilst there are no underground coal mines burning where you are, it does have that same vibe (how it looks etc). Keep up the good work :-) As a new subscriber, I'm just going through your videos this weekend.
Your video popped up on my feed, I don't like near Sheffield but the video is fascinating. A great thing to watch. Informative and the information is well presented. It's good to have the back story as well. Thanks for posting it
My dad and his brothers grew up in the same yard as your grandad and went to the shop. My dad loved talking about Parkwood and growing up there, great to see this video about it. Thank you
Hi my grandma lived on Wallace Road, my Mom lived at the top of Vale Road which was boomed out in WW2. My Aunt lived in a house with the gas works behind, it always smelled bad. I remember standing on the bridge watching trains, thank you for sharing 😊
Sheffield girl here & just discovered your channel today! Really interesting content & your voice is really relaxing- I could just see you on something like The One Show doing a history segment! Keep it up 😊
I lived at 203 douglas and my great grandad use to be the landlord of the douglas pub .it was very interesting see what happened todouglas rd and the surounding area 17:23 😊
We used to ride motorbikes at parkwood in the early nineties, i remember driving through the tunnel and up the steep hill to the bottom of the ski village, had no idea it was once a suburban area
Douglass rd went from parkwood springs across where shirecliffe tip is now it came out on longley ave. west .me and my mates used to walk to parkwood along douglass rd but it was only a dirt track till it got to parkwood
Great film. Crazy that the City demolished this community in its entirety…..I’m thinking they had plans to build an estate on it but this was never realised. Sad to see, but very fascinating.
Indeed he did. Infact he stayed at parkwood springs when he was writing the road to Wigan pier. This was originally in the video, however yours truly completely messed up the take and it wasn’t good enough to end up in the video!
Fascinating ! I like collecting maps and street plans. Sometimes when a 'new' street map comes out, just a few new changes are published, and things that have gone on the ground may still be on the map.
Good video! I used to live up in Southey but worked in Fulwood, so I would often take a variety of different routes to walk through this area to get to work. Never saw it in its heyday, though. I must have walk down Mount Rd a few times as I crossed over the Neepsend railway footbridge.
There was a “Play For Today” many years ago where the council cleared a community like this citing it was best for them but it transpired that the real reason was to house immigrants who demanded to have community housing and that they would struggle mentally with living in tower blocks but it was ok for good old brits what did our communities matter, I’m not sure if was based on fact but seeing what has happened over the decades I’m thinking it was fact.
I loved the look of the cobbled streets of the UK. Now our roads are awful, heavy traffic is the major cause. Everywhere you look there are potholes, lumps and bumps, when they tarmac the roads they never do it right, it's rushed and shabbily done. Bring back the cobbles!!
I lived on the Kelvin near there, lots of my friends and class mates came from Parkwood Springs. Spent many hours as a kid playing there and as an adult worked at the Ski Village.
Cool. My ancestor was from Pickering and was a house builder around the time and I wonder if Pickering Street was named after where he was from/ if he had anything to do with building the houses there. Some of the streets in Wincobank are named after my family too
Because my mother's family came from Parkwood Road my cousin and I used to climb those stone steps, over the railway bridge and up the long step (not enclosed as I rember) to go and play on the rec. Afterwards we'd go up to the top of the hill and play around the old gun emplacements. When I started work in 1966 our foreman was still living on Parkwood Springs.
The Ski Village. Probably the most stupid idea anyone in Yorkshire has ever had (apart from Sheffield City Council deciding to cut down all the trees).
I cant Understand why not redeveloped either renovate or knock down and rebuild but why knock down and then keave derelict !!??. When we have huge shortage of housing !!..
Late to this but paternal side of the family from Sheffield and was not aware of the history of Parkwood Springs, what a total lack of forward thinking by the local authority at the time to just tear it all down, very sad 🤐
The area was also a travellers site for many years. The mounds were put there after they were evicted. There were some excellent parties there. My kids even had their own caravan on the site.
I wish someone who is a great artist could go up there and paint a picture half what is there now and halfwhat it used to be and it would meet in the middle. That would be awesome.
This video brings back so many memories I with my friends used to go up there to play on the wreck , it's a shame it had to come to this ,but things change and not always for the better.
I've lived in Sheffield for almost 10 years now, moved here from the north west, and I find this sort of content incredibly amazing. Our local history is so wonderful, and every day we're walking over a patch of ground with so many stories to tell. I just wish more people around here still cared to hear them. I like to point out where the old cricket ground/dog racing track was to my daughter whenever I'm dropping her off If you were to ever do an in-person tour of Sheffield, I would pay good money to be given a bit more insight to this lovely city! I've always wanted to go round and see all the old sewer gas destructor lamps we have, see if I can find any that are celebrating their 100th birthday this year!
Thanks for the kind words! In person tours was a thing I was considering when I was doing my History 0114 channel, but I just didn’t think the interest would be there. maybe one day…who knows!
@@tourobscure If you ever do start doing them, I'll be first in line! And thank you for mentioning that channel, I now have lots more content to watch! Have you ever done a video on Park Hill? I moved in here the other year and fell in love with it! I've got a book that one of the residents made with a collection of photos he took of the original buildings and the surrounding areas in the 60s, for a brief spell last summer I was heading down to the same spots they were taken at and recreating them just to see how much has changed. Got some friends who were raised here too, they get very sentimental when they come round. If you ever needed to get some footage of the buildings I'd happily buzz you in!
Thank you for sharing working class history. Another fine example of how the working class are constantly being moved on. Just a bleak view of what memories (and money) was lost. All for progress. There seems to be a long history of workingclass communties being destroyed. Its odd to think that its not covered in lego houses
Enjoyed your story of this forgotten area. I was born into an area condemned just like this, a strong working class community torn apart in the supposed quest for a ‘utopia’ . Difference was in my community (at the time) they rebuilt it while demolishing the old. Sadly they displaced many families and friends, in particularly the elderly who always grounded these communities. In 50 years it went from a strong, working class tight community to a no go area for crime & drugs trapping lots of good people in its walls. It’s worth a look at its downfall. It’s The Byker Wall Estate, Newcastle upon Tyne.
Well interesting video pal. Was born near Hillsborough in '82 and never knew Parkwood Springs was once a village until your Vid. Will be asking my Mum what her memoies are next time I visit!
I am so lucky born in south woodford a suberb of London o. The eastern suburbs am 300 yards from where i was lived which is still standing and my local park is just round the corner. When i watch videos like this one i know o returned to this rather nice area was that ot always felt like home.. Here 0 to 10 years moved back aged 40 been here ever since now 70 !!😮
Amazing thank you. I had family there on Vale Rd and on Douglas in 1911 so it's amazing to see that it's still trying to live on. Many memories for many ppl. I really enjoyed that.
Crazy how councils come in close hole housing estates an demolish totally fuk stuff up. there's not enough houses going..if all them was still up revitalised there would of bin a few thousand houses 🙄
I was born in the mid 60s and can't remember what it was like down there. About the time I began to understand that there used to be housing around there, nearly all of the site had been flattened. I did go cycling around the old quarry in the mid-late 70s and I went over the railway bridge at Neepsend station and up the shallow steps a few times. I seem to remember it being grassed over with few trees, but there were still lamp posts where the roads had been. Thanks for putting some meat on the bones
The wall to the left side of the bridge was to the Engine sheds the door was access for workmen, opposite side to the right of the bridge the corner shop was Charles Watson's, and the Chapel was on the opposite corner.
There was a quarry at the top of the hill where we used to ride trail bikes around back in the 70s, a few of the old houses were still standing as was the pub.
