So what else was there to see at Sheffield Manor? Well the cafe was worth a visit. The cafe is a bit further down the hill on Manor Oakes Farm. It is staffed by the friendliest volunteers and the food is gorgeous. The sell veg that has been grown on the allotments on the hill at the side of the farm.
They charge proper Yorkshire prices too. My lovely coffee and lime cake came to £2.50! I shall have lunch next time. They also have some animals on the farm that you can wander around. They are currently converting a couple of cottages a little further down the hill. These are being done out from the wartime era. I believe that they are opening shortly so I shall have to go back for a look.
The visitor centre has lots of history information and some of the artifacts that they dug up around the Manor, and also Sheffield Castle.
The view - you are high up here.
Compare it to a few centuries ago and you can just see that the area was an industrial one even then.
One of the most exciting things is the painting of Sheffield Castle. This was commissioned by the Sheffield Co-op back in the 1930's and was painted by
Kenneth Steel who painted a lot of the old railway posters back then. The Co-op and Castle market in Sheffield are built on the site of the old castle - the footings are still visible and apparently if you find the market superintendent in the fish market on a Thursday, he'll show you round them! The painting had been found recently at the co-ops HQ in Manchester - in a store room and is now on permanent loan to the Manor. For those of you who are local, Hillsborough is to the left of the painting with Attercliffe to the right. You can see the confluence of the Sheaf and the Don on here.
Poor Kenneth Steel suffered in the Sheffield Blitz losing both his mother and his wife.
They have some great photos and information about the old co-op buildings that were built on the site (3 in total)
I loved flicking through the photo albums. The original co-op interior reminded me very much of the set from the recent " Mr Selfridge" series.
And this is what it looked like after the Germans had bombed it - devastating.
What a fabulous building it had been.
I can't wait to go back for another look.
6 comments:
Very interesting history!
What road was this Co-op on?
That cake looks home made too.
ooh that lime cake looks so good, and the prices are great - I'm sold on this place by the cake I think, I need to go and see part 1 now!
This place is right up my street and it's got a cafe too!
I do like the sound of the cottages they are fixing up, you must return and give us a tour later in the year.
Lisa x
Love the painting of the castle - the visitor centre looks to have some wonderful information and the cake and coffee looks super for the price:)
That looks such an interesting place! I bet the Co-op was a really fabulous shop in its time.
And the cake looks equally fabulous - home-made too!
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