Sheffield

Arthur Linfoot first went to Sheffield in July 1915 to begin his army training at Hillsborough Barracks.

  • Hillsborough Barracks – Arthur Linfoot arrived here for the first time on 28 July 1915. The barracks were converted for commercial use in the late 1980s, but many external features were retained. The main focus of the development is a Morrisson’s supermarket.
  • Hillsborough Trinity Methodist Church – On 1 August 1915, a few days after his arrival in Sheffield, Arthur Linfoot wrote that he had attended a church near the Barracks. He was invited to a ramble on on the following day which he described as the “Hillsbro’ Wesleyan Church Guild Ramble”. The church now known as Hillsborough Trinity Methodist Church is likley to have been the church known to Arthur Linfoot as “Hillsbro’ Wesleyan Church”. Hillsborough Wesleyan Church is where Arthur Linfoot became friendly with the Inwoods.
  • Broughton Road, Hillsborough. The Inwoods, members of the Hillsborough Wesleyan Church who welcomed Arthur Linfoot and other service men into their home, are recorded as having lived here. Arthur Linfoot’s record of the address is in a note at the front of his 1916 diary and not in a diary entry. Arthur Linfoot met the Inwoods for the first time on 1 August 1915 although he initially and mistakenly recorded their name as “Inmore”.
  • Worrall – On Monday 2nd August 1915 (a bank holiday) Arthur Linfoot wrote that he had visited Worrall during a “Hillsbro’ Wesleyan Church Guild Ramble”.
  • Wharncliffe War Hospital – On 12 August 1915, Arthur Linfoot recorded that he had walked by Wharncliffe (War) Hospital. He subsequently spent a lot of time there during his training. Wharncliffe War Hospital was also then known as the West Riding Asylum (among other names before and since) and was originally a psychiatric hospital, to which use it reverted after the war. It finally closed in 1996 and was subsequently developed for residential housing.
  • On the afternoon of 11 September 1915, the same day as a number of Arthur Linfoot’s comrades has been sent to Wales, he spent an afternoon in Ecclesall, a suburb to the south west of Sheffield. Ecclesall is named after Ralph de Ecclesall whose gift to the monks of Beauchief Abbey ultimately led to the foundation of Ecclesall chapel, now All Saints Church, Ecclesall. Arthur Linfoot wrote about another trip to Ecclesall on 15 April 1916 shortly after his return from embarkation leave.
  • On 15 April 1916 and again on 22 April, Arthur Linfoot wrote that he had visited Mappin Art Gallery, now Weston Park Museum.
  • On 13 May 1916, Arthur Linfoot wrote that he had walked from Nether Green (a south-western suburb of Sheffield) to the Wyming Valley and back via the Rivelin valley (indicated by paddle “H”).

Note that the embedded map above is a contemporary map which both omits many places which would have been familiar to Arthur Linfoot and includes new features which would not have been known to him. For example, Wharncliffe War Hospital (ultimately known as Middlewood Hospital before it finally closed in 1996) has now been redeveloped as a modern housing estate. The original location of the hospital is indicated on this map. As the main hospital building is listed, its external appearance remains largely unchanged.

A historical map of Sheffield is available here, courtesy of the National Library of Scotland.


Download Sheffield KML file.
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