William Ashforth - Family History Journal

Family and Local History Day, Bradfield Village Hall, Low Bradfield, Sheffield

In this article I mentioned an upcoming event, a Family and Local History Day to be held at Bradfield Village Hall, Low Bradfield near Sheffield. Well I made the time to attend and was not disappointed. I was surprised just how many people turned out, though the fine and sunny weather may have contributed.

Many local history groups and societies were represented including the Hillsborough & Owlerton Local History Group. This stand had numerous photographs of Owlerton Green and Hillsborough. I was born at Hawksley Road on the edge of Owlerton Green and though I moved to Stannington in the mid 1950's, my maternal grandparents continued to live there until the early 1980's. I have witnessed the many changes that have taken place over the years and so seeing these photographs brought back a lot of memories.

While discussing with one of the ladies from this stand some of the photographs of Owlerton Green, she happened to mentioned she lived on one of the nearby streets. I in turn mentioned I was born at Hawksley Road whereupon she remarked that her colleague lived on a street whose houses backed on to where I was born. As soon as she mentioned her colleagues name I immediately realised this was a member of a family whom I had not seen for probably 30 or 40 years.

Needless to say I had a long chat with this lady and since she has lived on this same street all her life she is a mind of information regarding local families and people I had not seen since my childhood. For reasons of privacy I will withhold names, but it is sufficient to say meeting this lady made the day very worthwhile indeed.

I ordered some copies of the photographs of Owlerton Green which a couple of weeks later duly arrived. I am not sure who may own the copyright of these photographs but I may try and obtain permission to publish them on this website.

I chatted with the people from the Friends of Wardsend Cemetery stand and purchased the CD:

Wardsend Cemetery, Monumental Inscriptions

The Friends of Bradfield Archives were very welcoming and I spent some considerable time working my way through the Bradfield Parish Register indices, searching for ASHFORTH and RIDAL. They also had a plan of the graveyard at the Church of Saint Nicholas at nearby High Bradfield. Several years ago I located this headstone:

John Ashforth died 1768 and William Ashforth died 1825 - Headstone

though according to the plans there are several others to be found. I made a rough sketch of their locations and will search for these others at a later date.

From the Sheffield & District Family History Society I purchased the following CDs:

Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Sheffield Cathedral, Baptism Records 1813-1875
Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Sheffield Cathedral, Baptism Index 1752-1812
Sheffield Marriage Indexes

Time passed very quickly and after some 4 hours we finally departed, but not before taking a few photographs of Low Bradfield. All in all a very worthwhile day and one I can thoroughly recommend.

I now need to make some time in order to sort through all this research material.

Family history weekend

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Church of Saint Nicholas, High Bradfield, Sheffield, Yorkshire.
John Ashforth 1768 of Stannington
Also William Son of the above who died (illegible) 1825

Combining a walk around the Bradfield area near Sheffield, South Yorkshire with a little family history, I planned our walking route so we would pass by the graveyard at the Church of Saint Nicholas, High Bradfield.

This is rather a large graveyard given that even today the local population consists mainly of small hamlets and hill farms, though judging by the inscriptions the graveyard served many local villages even though these are several miles away.

With limited time our search was rather random but luckily within a couple of minutes our eyes fell upon a small headstone inscribed with the names John and William ASHFORTH. The inscription reads:

John Ashforth 1768 of Stannington
Also William Son of the above who died (illegible) 1825

The headstone is embedded quite deeply in the ground and not wishing to cause any damage we simply had to make do with what was visible. Below the surface there could be further inscriptions, though judging by the proportions of the headstone, I doubt it.

For any researchers not familiar with this area, Stannington, originally a small hill top village, is now more or less a part of Sheffield. In fact from 1955 to 1959 I lived and went to school at Stannington and it was very much a village though signs of expansion were quite noticeable.

Low Bradfield and High Bradfield are rather remarkable, just 3 miles from the outskirts of Sheffield they have managed to retain their status as small villages. Low Bradfield has a post office that also serves as general store and cafe, together with a magnificent cricket ground. High Bradfield boasts the magnificent Church of Saint Nicholas. Quintessential West Riding of Yorkshire villages, now in the administrative area of South Yorkshire.

So far all my ASHFORTH line originate from Sheffield. I am about to obtain more ASHFORTH birth, marriage and death certificates that may lead me a further afield, though intuition tells me John and William ASHFORTH are not part of my immediate family.

Updates:
2010-11-10 I recently attended a Family History Fair at Bradfield Village Hall, Low Bradfield near Sheffield. A group representing the Friends of Bradfield Archives held a plan of the burials at the Church of St. Nicholas, High Bradfield. This showed at least 2 other Ashforth burial plots. I made a rough sketch of the location of these plots and on my next visit to the churchyard will try and locate the headstones.

Old Comments:

My father John Edward Asforth Sr, died 4/28/1984
Submitted by Susan on Sat, 2010-06-26 21:20

I wish I could track down his family, grew up not knowing any of them. All I ever met was my Grandmother once who loved in Cinn, Ohio. I think I have family in the New England area.

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Tag Archives: William Ashforth

Family and Local History Day, Bradfield Village Hall, Sheffield

John Ashforth died 1768 and William Ashforth died 1825: Headstone