Evolution

Barbrook One

Owler Bar · 6.8 miles

On Ramsley Moor in the Peak District, the stone circle identified as Barbrook One stands as an archaeological feature. The embanked ring measures about thirteen metres in internal diameter and is bounded by a rubble bank roughly three metres wide. Inside the circle a single standing stone reaches approximately one metre in height, accompanied by eleven smaller stones whose heights vary between five and twenty-five centimetres. The nearest settlement recorded is Owler Bar. Barbrook One forms part of a larger cairn field that includes a second ring, Barbrook Two, a rubble-banked cairn about 200 metres north-by-northwest of the circle, and roughly eighty other cairns scattered across the moor. Most of these cairns are under six metres in diameter and are thought to be clearance cairns from a later prehistoric period, while the larger examples are likely Bronze Age funerary monuments. Local tradition records that the early saint William Hale employed the circles in attempts to convert local pagans to Christianity. The entire area is protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument, and a further stone circle, Barbrook Three, lies two kilometres to the north.

Forge Dam Park

Stumperlowe · 12 miles

Set within the Porter Valley, the park in Fulwood forms the fourth link in Sheffield’s Grade II listed series of Porter Valley Parks. The site, once the Old Mayhouse Farm and the historic Forge Dam, was bought by the J G Graves Charitable Trust in 1938 after earlier municipal acquisition of 20 acres in 1885 for pleasure grounds and a new sewer. Designed by landscape architect William Goldring, the early layout introduced gravel walkways, flower beds and stepping stones, reflecting the 19th-century popularity of valley walks that grew from the city’s cutlery-manufacturing past, when the Porter Brook was dammed to power grinding mills. A circular route known as the Sheffield Round Walk, linking Endcliffe, Bingham, Whiteley Woods and Porter Clough, was completed around 1945, further integrating the park into the regional network. Today the roughly rectangular area occupies about 23.5 acres between Quiet Lane, Whiteley Lane and Ivy Cottage Lane, with the principal entrance on the latter. Informal roadside parking is available along Ivy Cottage Lane. Historical advertisements from 1913 mention facilities such as boating, fishing, a bowling green, swings, tearooms and motor boats, although current provisions are not detailed in the source. The park remains open to the public, forming part of a continuous green corridor that leads from Sheffield’s built-up centre into the surrounding countryside.

Doll Tor Stone Circle

Birchover · 4.3 miles

Small 6 stones circle formed part of a larger complex with a ditch, cairn (stone mound) and nearby boulders possibly associated

Ruins of Pipers Inn Coaching Inn on the Roman Road

Roystone Cottages · 7.5 miles

Ruins of Pipers Inn Coaching Inn on the Roman Road. Part of a trunk route between London and Manchester before the turnpikes of the 1700s.

Hognaston Winn

Hognaston · 9.9 miles

Lends its name to this part of the road for many hundreds of years. Nearby is an odd looking Air Traffic Control installation.

Whirlow Brook Park

Whirlow · 11 miles

Spanning 39 acres, the landscaped grounds in Whirlow, Sheffield, give public access to a series of gardens and the former Whirlow Brook Hall. The park stretches from Ecclesall Road, links on to the Limb Brook Valley and provides an entrance to Whinfell Quarry Garden, placing it on the edge of the Peak District. The house, erected in 1906 for Percy Fawcett of Thomas Firth & Sons, was later expanded by his sister Lily Marguerite ‘Madge’ Jones and her husband Sir Walter Benton Jones, who, with the Royal Horticultural Society, created a Japanese rock garden, rose garden, rockery, shrubberies, two ponds and a lake. After changing ownership in 1946, the estate opened as a public park in 1951; today the hall functions as a venue for weddings, conferences and other events. Management of the site is supported by the Friends of Whirlow Brook Park, established in 2021, which has helped fund restoration work and the erection of a new shelter in the Commemorative Garden. A Tree Trail, introduced in 2023, guides visitors through the woodland, while summer concerts are regularly programmed in the open space. Practical facilities comprise a shelter café and public toilets, both opened in the summer of 2023. The park is freely reachable from the nearest town of Whirlow and remains open to the public without a specified admission charge.