Stannington History Group

A brief history of Stannington

The name Stannington may derive from “Stan” meaning “stone” and “tun” meaning “an enclosure, farmstead or village”.

The village of Stannington was originally a village in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Nowadays it is in South Yorkshire and is on the very edge of the city of Sheffield.  

Stannington as described by Joseph Hunter in his "Hallamshire" says: "There is properly speaking no village of Stannington, the principle collections of houses being known as Upper Gate and Nether Gate".  

At the time of the Conquest Stannington was in the Manor of Hallam which was held by Waltheof who later married Judith, William's niece. He was executed in 1074 for treason.

An undated charter (13th/14th century) granted to "the men of Stannington and Morewood the right to gather green and dry wood and turn out their cattle throughout the whole forest of Riveling" in return for Four Pounds in silver yearly.

The Stannington Diploma. There may be some evidence of settlement in the Stannington area in Roman times. In 1761 fragments of a brass plate, the "Stannington Diploma or Manumission Tablet" was found by a man ploughing a field called Kings Piece, at The Lawns, Rivelin dating from AD 124. This was the 'discharge papers' of Albanus, a Belgian cohort in the Roman army when he was discharged after 25 years service. The original is now in the British Museum.

Underbank Chapel is the oldest place of worship in Stannington. In 1652 Richard Spoone left land and property for the maintenance of a minister. A converted barn was used for religious worship until the present building was constructed in 1742 on land provided by Thomas Marriott. Spoone also left a property known as Sim House and land for “...paying for the learning of poor children ... whose parents are willing but not able to keep them in school”.

Bowcroft Cemetery. The Quaker cemetery on Riggs High Road contains the graves of members of the Shaw and other Quaker families. In the late 1600’s Quakers opposed the payment of tithes to the church and were not allowed to be buried in parish graveyards. George Shaw’s grave has an interesting inscription regarding the payment of tithes.

Stannington Stump Cross at the junction of Oldfield Road and Stannington Road, is thought to have been erected in medieval times (but is first mentioned in Harrison's Survey of 1637) to mark the village boundary..

Stannington was important in the 18^th century as a centre of cutlery manufacture and its products were exported to many countries, including America and Australia. Many worked as razor, knife, saw and file makers in “little mester” workshops, some of which survive as sheds or coal houses.

Ganister, or fireclay, was first mined in this area around 1800. J. & J. Dyson extracted clay at The Griffs and Wetshaw Mine to make refractory bricks used to line furnaces. There were also mines at Crawshaw, Ughill, Load Brook, Storrs, Storrs Bridge and in the Loxley valley. After being a major employer in the area for over 150 years, the industry began to decline in the 1980’s and little remains today.