Place:Stannington, West Riding of Yorkshire, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Stannington has been, since 1974, a suburb of the City of Sheffield (or Sheffield Metropolitan Borough). The area is located in the civil parish of Bradfield, and is in the wider electoral ward of Stannington. Stannington is situated right on the western edge of the Sheffield urban area.

History and description

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Stannington is a suburb of Sheffield to the west of the city centre, located on the hill between the River Rivelin and River Loxley. There is evidence of Roman occupation of the area which comes from tablets found on the Stannington side of the Rivelin Valley (bronze artefacts, Stannington Diploma of A.D. 124, found 1761, now in the British Museum) which record the granting of land to retiring Roman auxiliaries of the Sunuci tribe. Other evidence of nearby Roman occupation comes from finds on Walkley Bank Road, which leads onto the ridge facing Stannington. The village has grown from the two settlements of Upper Gate and Nethergate. The settlement was mentioned in medieval times when a charter was granted to all men of Stannington and Morewood giving them the right to gather green and dry wood and turn out their cattle throughout the whole forest in Rivelin for a payment of four pounds in silver yearly. Stannington cross dates from the same period, Harrison's survey of 1637 describes it as a "stump cross of medieval origin". The date of erection has been estimated as 13th or 14th century, it stands at the junction of Oldfield Road and Stannington Road. Stannington officially became part of Sheffield in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. Previous to that it had been part of Wortley Rural District and was on the boundary of the West Riding of Yorkshire. The village of Stannington, which is part of the original Wortley district and marked by the "Rural District of Wortley" sign at the junction of Oldfield Road and Stannington Road; and the newer conurbations of Deer Park and Roscoe Bank primarily grew out from Malin Bridge from the 1960s onwards.

Significant buildings in the area include the Christ Church parish church on Church Street; the Unitarian chapel, Underbank Chapel; and the country house, Revell Grange; all of which are Grade II listed structures. Stannington is served by bus route 81 from Sheffield and by services 61 and 62 which provide a link with the local villages of Dungworth, Low and High Bradfield, Loxley and the Sheffield suburbs of Malin Bridge and Hillsborough where journeys may be continued to Sheffield by Sheffield Supertram. The area of Stannington was also home to a council run branch library until this facility was withdrawn in 2014 by the local authority as a cost cutting measure. The replacement of this council run service by a volunteer-led facility has been controversial, with prominent library campaign group Voices For The Library highlighting major concerns around volunteers having responsibility for the "Books On Prescription" service and issues surrounding data protection. The transfer of the library to volunteers has also resulted in huge decreases in book loans and other usage.

Research Tips

• Sheffield City Archives and Local Studies Library includes archives for the whole of the area now in Sheffield Metropolitan Borough

Address: 52 Shoreham Street, Sheffield S1 4SP

Telephone: +44(0)1142 039395

Email: archives@sheffield.gov.uk

• British History Online (Victoria County Histories) do not cover the West Riding of Yorkshire
• GENUKI has a page on all three ridings of Yorkshire and pages for each of the ecclesiastical parishes in the county. Under each parish there is a list of the settlements within it and brief description of each. The list is based on a gazetteer dated 1835 and there may have been a number of alterations to the parish setup since then. However, it is worthwhile information for the pre civil registration era. GENUKI provides references to other organizations who hold genealogical information for the local area. There is no guarantee that the website has been kept up to date and the submitter is very firm about his copyright. This should not stop anyone from reading the material.
• The FamilyTree Wiki has a series of pages similar to those provided by GENUKI which may have been prepared at a later date from more recent data. The wiki has a link to English Jurisdictions 1851 which gives the registration district and wapentake for each parish, together with statistics from the 1851 census for the area.
• A Vision of Britain through Time, Yorkshire West Riding, section "Units and Statistics" leads to analyses of population and organization of the county from about 1800 through 1974. There are pages available for all civil parishes, municipal boroughs and other administrative divisions. Descriptions provided are usually based on a gazetteer of 1870-72.

• Map of the West Riding divisions in 1888 produced by UK Ordnance Survey and provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time
• Map of West Riding divisions in 1917 produced by UK Ordnance Survey and provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time. In other counties, the map for 1900 has been used, but it is not coming up in Vision of Britain's list.
• Map of West Riding divisions in 1944 produced by UK Ordnance Survey and provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time

• The above three maps indicate the boundaries between parishes, etc., but for a more detailed view of a specific area try a map from this selection. The oldest series are very clear at the third magnification offered. Comparing the map details with the GENUKI details for the same area is well worthwhile.
• Yorkshire has a large number of family history and genealogical societies. A list of the societies will be found on the Yorkshire, England page.
• In March 2018 Ancestry announced that its file entitled "Yorkshire, England: Church of England Parish Records, 1538-1873" has been expanded to include another 94 parishes (across the three ridings) and expected it to be expanded further during the year. The entries are taken from previously printed parish registers.

Finding maps of the Sheffield area has been difficult. The town of Sheffield covered a very large area very early. Whereas in other places settlements became individual parishes, around Sheffield the settlements were all merged into a single urban area. A website produced by the Rootsweb part of Ancestry has a couple of maps that may help.

• A map of the Sheffield area circa 1990 without boundaries, but indicating many of the smaller places surrounding Sheffield itself.
• Another indicating parish boundaries as far north as Ecclesfield and as far west as Upper Hallam may also be helpful.

Wikipedia has produced a "book" which is a compilation of all its articles about Sheffield.