Ringinglow

infobox UK place
country = England
official_name= Ringinglow
latitude= 53.3494
longitude= -1.5650
metropolitan_borough= Sheffield
metropolitan_county= South Yorkshire
region= Yorkshire and the Humber
constituency_westminster= Sheffield Hallam
post_town= Sheffield
postcode_district = S11
postcode_area= S
dial_code= 0114
os_grid_reference=

Ringinglow is a village in the western section of Sheffield, England. It is on the western border of Ecclesall Ward, and although it is within the boundary of Sheffield, it is self-contained, being entirely surrounded by open countryside.

The village is focussed on the intersections of Fulwood Lane and Houndkirk Road with Ringinglow Road. The sources of the Porter Brook and Limb Brook, both tributaries of the River Sheaf, are near the village. The Norfolk Arms, a pub in the village, is often used as a staging-post by ramblers following one of these rivers out of Sheffield towards the Peak District National Park, the eastern boundary of which runs through the village.

History

Historically, the Limb Brook marked the boundary between the Saxon kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. This remained the boundary between Yorkshire and Derbyshire into the 20th century. A report dating from 1574 detailed a tour by George Talbot, the 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, then lord of the manor of Sheffield, of the boundaries of the manor, in which they visited 'a great heape of stones called Ringinglawe' that was used as one of the boundary markers. [Quoted in cite book |last=Hunter |first=Joseph |authorlink=Joseph Hunter (antiquarian) |chapter=Chapter I: Introductory Matter.—General Description |title=Hallamshire. The History and Topography of the Parish of Sheffield in the County of York |year=1819 |publisher=Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mayor & Jones |location=London ()] Sheffield historian S. O. Addy, writing in 1888, noted that the Old English word "hlâw" is almost always used to refer to a burial mound, and speculated that this 'great heap of stones' may have been an ancient barrow. He further suggested that the etymology of the name "Ringinglow" suggests that 'originally the heap may have been a round burial mound, or mound surrounded by a circle'. [cite book |last=Addy |first=Sidney Oldall |chapter=The Geographical or Ethnological Position of Sheffield |title=A Glossary of Words Used in the Neighbourhood of Sheffield. Including a Selection of Local Names, and Some Notices of Folk-Lore, Games, and Customs |year=1888 |publisher=Trubner & Co. for the English Dialect Society |location=London ()] Addy additionally noted that there existed a 'folk etymology' for the name "Ringinglow" [cite book |last=Addy |first=Sidney Oldall |chapter=Local Names |title=A Glossary of Words Used in the Neighbourhood of Sheffield. Including a Selection of Local Names, and Some Notices of Folk-Lore, Games, and Customs |year=1888 |publisher=Trubner & Co. for the English Dialect Society |location=London ()] —a story also recounted by local historian J. Edward Vickers [cite book |last=Vickers |first=J. Edward MBE |title=Old Sheffield Town. An Historical Miscellany |edition=2nd |year=1999 |publisher=The Hallamshire Press Limited |location=Sheffield |id=ISBN 1-874718-44-X ] —that the village got its name after a man lost on the moors in bad weather was saved when he heard the bells of Sheffield parish church 'ringing low' over the moors. Both authors state that this story is a myth.

Ringinglow Road was constructed as a turnpike road from Sheffield in the 1750s, with two branches leading from Ringinglow, one to Chapel-en-le-Frith and the other to Grindleford and Buxton. [Leader, R.E. (1906). "The Highways and Byways of Old Sheffield." A lecture delivered before the Sheffield Literary and Philosophical Society ( [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~mossvalley/mv2/rl/highways1.html transcription] )] The Grade II listed [cite web |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/search/details.aspx?pid=1&id=456282 |title=Ringinglow Roundhouse |accessdate=2007-01-15 |work=Images of England ] octagonal former toll house built c1778 still stands in the village along with the Norfolk Arms Public House, a coaching inn (also Grade II listed) that was built c1840. [cite web |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/search/details.aspx?pid=1&id=456281 |title=Norfolk Arms Public House |accessdate=2007-01-15 |work=Images of England ]

References and notes