Heeley

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Heeley (gbmapping|SK355849) is a former cluster of villages now a suburb in the south of the City of Sheffield, England. The village has existed at least since 1343, its name deriving from "Heah Leah", "High Lea" then "Hely", meaning a high, woodland clearing. Originally Heeley was divided into three: "Upper Heeley" (or "Heeley Top") was around the intersection of Myrtle Road and Heeley Green, "Middle Heeley" was on the Gleadless Road at Well Road, and "Lower Heeley" (or "Heeley Bottom") was on the London Road around Artisan View.

History

Heeley Methodist Church was built in 1826. In 1833 Heeley there were 47 householders living in Nether, Middle and Upper Heeley. Heeley Parish was formed in 1846 from part of St Mary's Parish on Bramall Lane. The first vicar was Rev. Henry Denson Jones, and the church was opened in August 1848. The clock in the tower of Heeley church was added in 1901 to commemorate the long reign of Queen Victoria. In the yard are buried more than 3000 children, most of them in unmarked graves. In 1876 the population of Heeley reached 3860 inhabitants.Many shops exist in Heeley and many remain open and are successful. Harry Ponsford and Arnold Laver were two successful merchants, the first starting a modest moving business using a handcart, the second selling timber. Ponsford is now a well established local furniture shop on London Road and Arnold Laver have several outlets in Heeley, Mosborough and Chesterfield. The Heeley Mosque was also completed in 2007

Transport

The main road through Heeley is the A61 London Road South/Chesterfield Road, this dates from 1757 when it was built as a turnpike road from Sheffield to Chesterfield.A toll bar was built on this road at Heeley over the Meers Brook on the boundary between Yorkshire and Derbyshire.The Midland Main Line railway line between Chesterfield and Sheffield, constructed in 1870, also passes through Heeley, a station and carriage siding were built on the former site of Heeley Mill. The station had two island platforms serving 4 tracks; two were fast, the two others slow. Heeley station was the first stop from Midland Station. The station closed in the 1960s and the line narrowed to two tracks. A siding called Heeley Sidings remain and stretches from Heeley Retail Park to Woodseats Road.
Sheffield's old tramway stretched from Sheffield city centre to Woodseats and Heeley was at a time the terminus. The tramway depot still stands on Albert Road, though in recent high winds, part of the front piece of the building collapsed into Albert Road.

Heeley City Farm

"For full article, see Heeley City Farm"

Heeley City Farm is a city farm project in the north west of Heeley near the railway line. The farm is participating in several green initiatives, with a Wind turbine, and Green roofs to some structures being part of this project. The site was originally cleared as part of a scheme to build a new dual carriage way route from the south into the centre (Heeley Bypass ?), the cleared sites along Bramall Lane were part of this scraped scheme, from the 1960s. [ [http://www.d-zyne.demon.co.uk/srp-heeley_bypass.htm Sheffield roads portal, Heeley bypass] ]

Anns Grove School

A new Infants school has been constructed as part of the scheme to modernise school facilities in Sheffield. [http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-14692615_ITM] The new school is situated next to the Older Victorian school overlooking Heeley Bottom. The project which is claimed as one of the greenest schools built has features such as ground sourced heat pumps to reduce energy ussage. [http://www.newbuilder.co.uk/news/NewsFullStory.asp?ID=1215]

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