Agricultural History Review, Volume 51 Part 1 (2003), p. 121

This book answers many questions that will have crossed the mind of any moderately curious person who lives, or has lived, in the environs of Sheffield. What was the origin of the name ‘Hallamshire’ and what did it refer to; who made the millstones that symbolize the Peak 122 the agricultural National Park and strew the countryside, and how was the millstone industry organized; what kind of institution was Beauchief Abbey and why does so little of it remain? It also reveals and explains aspects of local history that even the more observant might have missed:- the water troughs for grouse carved into moorland stones; a number of surviving houses built for the minor gentry in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; the unusual longevity and local origin of many Sheffield surnames. Yet the book does more: it provides a introduction to the local history of Sheffield’s environs, avoiding the history of the metal-working trades and growth of the city which have been thoroughly treated elsewhere, to concentrate – as the title suggests – on the rural history of the locality. This includes both the countryside which remains around Sheffield (stretching out of Hallamshire into north Derbyshire in places) and that which formerly existed beneath the modern urban area.

While there are a few mentions of prehistory, the book’s scope is primarily that of the documented historical era from the eleventh to the early twentieth century. Some topics, such as the development of the moorland landscape, cover the whole period – from medieval hunting reserves to early-modern pasture farms via parliamentary enclosure to grouse shooting in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The medieval period is well represented from the twelfth-century establishment of Ecclesfield Priory and Beauchief Abbey, to the development of local surnames from farm-names and occupations from the thirteenth century onwards, and an examination of the place and family names which did not survive beyond the late medieval or early modern centuries. The history of the local gentry encompasses both the Norman origins of some families, such as the Furnivals and Mounteneys, and the rise of others such as the Shirecliffs and Brights from local farming origins. As the subtitle suggests, this is not an all-inclusive history – it is ‘history in’ not ‘the history of’ Sheffield’s countryside. For instance, there is no systematic treatment of the development of the region’s agricultural economy, although there is a chapter on farming families and many other incidental references. And while there is a chapter on the historical background of the Dragon of Wantley, as recounted in a seventeenth century ballad (demonstrating the relatively recent origin of many ancient ‘myths’), the local connections to the Robin Hood legends (Robin of Loxley, Little John of Hathersage) are not explored. Nevertheless, the topics covered are covered thoroughly, and carefully documented. Although the index is restricted to place and family names, there is an extensive guide to further reading, and the whole book is well illustrated with maps, photographs and illustrations. This is good local history designed to be accessible history review to all those who want to know more about the area they live in or visit at the weekends, and could be used as a guide book to explore historical aspects of the locality. But it is also a book of sound scholarship written by an expert in English local history who comes from the locality under investigation. It provides a reliable background and methodology for any historian seeking to investigate this, or any similar locality, and is perhaps a start of a new genre – the rural history of England’s industrial cities.