Oughtibridge, The View Over The Valley c.1960
Photo ref: O50014
Made in Britain logo

Photo ref: O50014
Photo of Oughtibridge, The View Over The Valley c.1960

More about this scene

As nearby Sheffield expanded, so did towns like Oughtibridge in the Don Valley. The river powered mills, but later manufacturing became the mainstay. Here high up over the town, in 1951 the Wortley Rural District Council thoughtfully placed this beacon to mark the Festival of Britain. It shows a map of the area with distance and altitude. Sheffield at 275ft is four miles away, while the South Yorkshire Mental Hospital (375ft) is a mile from here.

A Selection of Memories from Oughtibridge

For many years now, we've been inviting visitors to our website to add their own memories to share their experiences of life as it was, prompted by the photographs in our archive. Here are some from Oughtibridge

Sparked a Memory for you?

If this has sparked a memory, why not share it here?

I was brought up on langsett Rd South by my grandparents
The road you can see goes to the top of Jaw Bone Hill, quite a long way up hill from the bottom by Coronation Park. When conditions were right, it was my sledging run. Twice a day ,once in the morning and then once in the afternoon, I would walk up to the top and sledge to the bottom. Where was the traffic? As other photographs show, in the 1940s and 50s it was virtually none existent.
On the horizon stood Jo Woods farm. This is the place where I learnt about farming life. He had two Shire horses which were used for work on the land and hauling goods, hens for eggs and the oven and turkeys for Christmas. I would lead the shires for ploughing, turning potatoes , hauling goods and produce. The hens, of course, were free range and I had the job of finding the nests to collect the eggs. Come Christmas and my job was cleaning and plucking turkeys.
This photo shows the top and bottom yard of Oughtibridge Silica Firebrick Company. Both works were joined by railway line across Station Road and a “gynny track” which went under the road below the old Raybok Works. Many an hour was spent building dens in the top yard haybarn, avoiding the workmen of course, and catching a ride in the empty “gynny trucks ”.