Middlewood is a north western suburb of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The suburb falls within the Stannington ward of the City.
Location
Middlewood was formerly an entirely rural location, it has been partly encroached on by the expansion of the city of Sheffield since the 1960s. The exact area of the Middlewood district is not easy to determine, but is popularly thought to extend from the "Middlewood shops" at the top of Leppings Lane northwest for three km along the A6102 past Middlewood Hall to the outskirts of Oughtibridge. Between those two points it includes the land on the south western side of the River Don up to Worrall Road.
History
Middlewood Hall
Middlewood Hall (grid reference ) is set in and was constructed in 1810 by Mark Skelton, however a farmhouse is believed to have existed on the site well before that. The Skeltons were a family of steel forgers and merchants who owned forges on the River Don. The 1911 census records show that the Hall was occupied by the Thorp family and their servants. In 1926 the house was sold to the Wilson family (local snuff makers) and then in 1980 to Wharncliffe Construction who turned it into a luxury hotel. However the Hall lies on green belt land and further expansion was not possible. After changing hands twice more as a hotel, it was purchased by a private individual in 1999 who converted it back into a private family dwelling. The hall is a grade two listed building.
Middlewood and Wharncliffe Hospitals
Both hospitals were on the same site and were built and fitted out at a total cost of £150,000. Wharncliffe was a small medical hospital while Middlewood was a large psychiatric hospital. Middlewood was opened on August 21, 1872 on a large rural site (approx ). It was originally known as the South Yorkshire Asylum until 1890, then became the West Riding Asylum, Wadsley (1890–1930). It was known as Wadsley Mental Hospital between 1930 and 1948 when it became Middlewood Hospital. Not all of the original inmates were psychiatric patients, some were paupers from the workhouse, some were females suffering postnatal depression and some were suffering from epilepsy.
Insulin shock therapy was introduced at the hospital in 1935 for the treatment of schizophrenia. The hospital was evacuated during both World wars and used as a war hospital. The hospital had a working farm operated by the residents until the early 1960s and also its own church. Changes in mental health care meant that the hospital was scaled down and then closed in 1998. The site was bulldozed and is now a private housing development called Wadsley Park Village.
Other historical buildings
Middlewood Tavern is a public house which has documented history going back to 1835 when Joseph Bowden applied for a licence to sell liquors on the premises. It was, and still is partly, in a secluded situation on Middlewood Road North (A6102) surrounded by a few houses and formerly relied on trade from staff at Middlewood Hospital. Rocher bridge (footbridge) crosses the River Don at the Tavern and gives access to Beeley Wood. After the Sheffield flood of 2007, leading to the collapse of the road towards Oughtibridge, access was severely restricted and the Middlewood Tavern lost trade and subsequently never recovered and closed soon after.
Toll Bar Cottage is also situated on Middlewood Road North, just before it reaches Oughtibridge. The keeper collected tolls on the Wadsley, Langsett, Sheffield Turnpike road which opened in 1805. The road became toll free in 1875; the cottage is a private dwelling today. Middlewood Grange is a Victorian detached house in which is set just behind the Tavern.
Present day
Housing developments
The Winn Gardens estate, a council housing scheme was built in the mid 1960s on land (grid reference ) which formerly belonged to Middlewood Hospital and was used as the farm and allotments and grew all the hospital's fresh produce. Middlewood Park stands at the NW end of the estate. Most of the housing around the lower end of Stockarth Lane, just before the tavern, dates from the second half of the 19th century, although there were some newer houses built in the early 1980s.