The three-year project represents the final piece in the jigsaw for the transformation of this exceptional heritage site into an educational and resource hub for the community.

Called Hands on Our Heritage and to be run by Green Estates Ltd (GE), the project completes their wider vision for social and economic regeneration in the area.

Bringing the last derelict buildings into use will also create a skills training facility in Sheffield, establish the South Yorkshire Local History Resource Centre, and realise a vision for the whole site to become a beacon for education, training and volunteering opportunities for people living on the surrounding estate and beyond.

Located just a mile from the city centre, the 14 acre green space is all that remains of what was once the Great Sheffield Deer Park. With an uninterrupted history stretching back to at least the Saxon period, the site presents a real insight into the story of Sheffield. Visible features today include the ruins of Sheffield Manor Lodge, which sit alongside the recently restored Turret House, the newly created Discovery Centre, and the Manor Oaks Farm complex. The once derelict landscape is currently being returned to productive use to reflect its historic function in providing food, minerals and timber for the growing city of Sheffield.

While not listed, the restoration and future use of the currently derelict stone buildings forms a vital role in helping to understand this landscape, and the relationship with the lodge, castle, and city of Sheffield over the past two hundred years. It is likely that building materials from the lodge was used to build the cottages, as the deer park became industrialised from the 17th century onwards.
 
Key features of the new project include: the creation of a ‘WW II Evacuee Experience Education Centre’ on the ground floor of the cottages, and exhibition and activity spaces upstairs to tell the story of ‘Life at Manor Cottages’ through the eyes of previous residents. In addition the story of the colliery village will be told, along with that of food and farming techniques of the time. There will be Community Group Outreach support, lots of new volunteering opportunities, a Big Dig archaeology project, discovery trails, public history events, and a Heritage Skills Training Programme.

Fiona Spiers, Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund Yorkshire and the Humber region, said: “This project is the second major initiative we have funded at this important Sheffield heritage site. Where the Manor Lodge and Discover Centre focus on the Tudor period and life of Mary Queen of Scots, this new project will bring alive the more recent and wider social history of the site, the WWII period, surrounding housing estate and colliery mining village. We hope that the full offer here and opportunities for people to get involved with the fascinating heritage around them will provide real tangible benefits in terms of education, training, and volunteering opportunities for the whole community.”

Sue France, Project Leader at Green Estate Ltd, said: “For us and for so many others who have worked to bring this almost forgotten history of Sheffield to life for so many years, this grant really is the realisation of a dream. It will give us the opportunity to finish the transformation of the whole site and as importantly to use the process to establish a really vibrant neighbourhood centre where lessons from the past are applied to the future. So far our main story has been about the nobility, now we can focus on the remarkable craftspeople and tenants that also helped to shape both the social and economic history of Manor Lodge and Sheffield.”

Notes to editors

* The HLF grant to the project Hands on Our Heritage is for £499,600 (90% of project costs) and is a second-round pass, which means it is a confirmed award. 

To find out more about Green Estates Ltd

Further information

Vicky Wilford, HLF Press Office on 020 7591 6046 / 07973 401 937 or vickyw@hlf.org.uk

Sue France, Green Estate Ltd on 0114 276 2828 or sue.france@greenestate.org