The Dairy-Maids of Porter Brook (Part 1)

scrteened porch said:
Thanks. I don't think I'd seen that word before.
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There is a very famous Englishman called Brian Clough - he has nothing to do with knives or mills though!

Great read Jack. Thoroughly enjoyed that. I know very little about the topic you have so excellently laid before us, this even though my grandparents lived in Sheffield for all of my lifetime. As a child, my parents used to take us to a cottage in Derbyshire at school holidays - I spent a lot of time in the area around Matlock Bath and Cromford and as such spent many a day in the museums and mill buildings of Richard Arkwright; who I'm sure you're familiar with. :)

Thanks Jack.
 
scrteened porch said:
Thanks. I don't think I'd seen that word before.
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It isn't that common here anymore :) Derived from the Old English clōh, and German in origin. Clough - A steep-sided valley or ravine.

pmew said:
There is a very famous Englishman called Brian Clough - he has nothing to do with knives or mills though!

Great read Jack. Thoroughly enjoyed that. I know very little about the topic you have so excellently laid before us, this even though my grandparents lived in Sheffield for all of my lifetime. As a child, my parents used to take us to a cottage in Derbyshire at school holidays - I spent a lot of time in the area around Matlock Bath and Cromford and as such spent many a day in the museums and mill buildings of Richard Arkwright; who I'm sure you're familiar with. :)

Thanks Jack.
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Brian Clough was a well-known and very successful English football manager - once name checked by Muhammed Ali no less (you can probably find the clip on YouTube)! :eek:

I re-watched the film The Damned United (based on the book of the same name, about Clough's very brief tenure as manager of Leeds United) just the other day Paul! :D

I do indeed know that area well my friend, and there are some spectacular old mill buildings. I have family connection in and around Matlock, and when I was a youth worker years ago (and joint founder of Sheffield's Broomhall Canoe Club), I used to regularly take kids kayaking down the river at Matlock Bath :thumbup:
 
What a great virtual tour with very interesting history entwined. I certainly enjoyed seeing all the pictures, but the old period ones were a special treat.
I look forward to part two!!!
 
Thanks a lot guys, I was over in Sheffield taking some pics for Part Two on Friday, and will try to get it posted later in the week :thumbup:
 
Nice post Jack. I have enjoyed looking at the pictures and reading about the history.
 
Thanks guys, really appreciate the feedback :thumbup:
 
This was a great read, Jack. I loved seeing the old stone buildings. There's almost nothing like that around here.
 
Thanks Phil, I'll try to include some older pics in the second part :thumbup:
 
Thanks for the great pictures & the history Jack.
With my family name being Mayfield and reading of the Mayfield Brook feeding into the Porter Brook,I feel a distant connection to the Dairy-Maids and the cutlers of Sheffield.
A very faint connection it is, but still cool in my book.
Looking forward to Pt.II.:thumbup: :)
 
There's actually a whole Mayfield Valley Mykel, a very interesting and historic area :)
 
mykel m said:
I saw that Jack.
I've been doing a lot of googling thanks to you. :rolleyes: :)
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:) :thumbup:

I did a brief search myself, but was a bit disappointed with what I could find. It's a fascinating area and I've spent quite a bit of time there over the years. I once met a fascinating old man, while sitting on a bench there. He was originally from the area, but had not been there for many years. He told me that he had been to Mayfield School, which is still there as a studies centre, and I have been there as a child myself, and later with my eldest daughter when she was on a school trip. The old man said that in the summer, the teacher would take them out into the fields to have their lessons.

Each year a photographer would come to take a school photo, and would bring with him a box of shoes as the children didn't have them. The children at the front would put the shoes on, so it looked like all the children were wearing shoes on the photograph.

The area was very impoverished, the old man seemed to relate this to the Boer War at the end of the 19th Century, but I'm not sure if the war had a general effect (increasing taxation or the price of food for example), or just one locally (the loss of family members). His family were so poor that him and his sister had to be placed in a local home for orphans and the children of poor families (the building is still there and I have been inside it), which he said was very common. He became separated from both his sister and the rest of his family.

Later, he was in the army and sent all over the world. When I met him it was the first time that he had returned to the area since he was a boy, and must have been well into his 80's. He clearly wanted someone to tell his story to, and I enjoyed listening to him.
 
Jack Black said:
:) :thumbup:

I did a brief search myself, but was a bit disappointed with what I could find. It's a fascinating area and I've spent quite a bit of time there over the years. I once met a fascinating old man, while sitting on a bench there. He was originally from the area, but had not been there for many years. He told me that he had been to Mayfield School, which is still there as a studies centre, and I have been there as a child myself, and later with my eldest daughter when she was on a school trip. The old man said that in the summer, the teacher would take them out into the fields to have their lessons.

Each year a photographer would come to take a school photo, and would bring with him a box of shoes as the children didn't have them. The children at the front would put the shoes on, so it looked like all the children were wearing shoes on the photograph.

The area was very impoverished, the old man seemed to relate this to the Boer War at the end of the 19th Century, but I'm not sure if the war had a general effect (increasing taxation or the price of food for example), or just one locally (the loss of family members). His family were so poor that him and his sister had to be placed in a local home for orphans and the children of poor families (the building is still there and I have been inside it), which he said was very common. He became separated from both his sister and the rest of his family.

Later, he was in the army and sent all over the world. When I met him it was the first time that he had returned to the area since he was a boy, and must have been well into his 80's. He clearly wanted someone to tell his story to, and I enjoyed listening to him.
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Lucky you were there at the very day of the old gents return eh?
Did he say wether or not he was reunited with his family?(Hope so)
 
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