| Ringinglow | |
|---|---|
 The Roundhouse | |
  Ringinglow Location withinSouth Yorkshire | |
| Metropolitan borough | |
| Metropolitan county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | SHEFFIELD |
| Postcode district | S11 |
| Dialling code | 0114 |
| Police | South Yorkshire |
| Fire | South Yorkshire |
| Ambulance | Yorkshire |
| UK Parliament | |
| 53°20′58″N1°33′54″W / 53.3494°N 1.5650°W /53.3494; -1.5650 | |
Ringinglow is a village in the western section ofSheffield,England. It is on the western border ofEcclesall Ward, and although it is within the boundary of Sheffield, it is self-contained, being entirely surrounded by open countryside. The village now falls within the Fulwood ward of the City.
The village is focussed on the intersections of Fulwood Lane and Sheephill Road (historically this section was known as Houndkirk Road) with Ringinglow Road. The sources of thePorter Brook andLimb Brook, both tributaries of theRiver Sheaf, are near the village. The Norfolk Arms, a pub in the village, is often used as a staging-post byramblers following one of these rivers out of Sheffield towards thePeak District National Park, the eastern boundary of which runs through the village. ThePeak District Boundary Walk runs through the village.[1]
On Fulwood Lane a polished Neolithic stone axehead was found in 1952 indicating ancient human activity in the area.[2]
An interim report byUniversity of Sheffield staff on excavations of a linear feature in the Sheephill Road, Ringinglow area has suggested evidence of the route of the lost Roman Road linkingTempleborough with the Roman Signal Station atNavio andBatham Gate. The feature, which extends through Barber Fields is 20 m wide and filled to a depth of 5 m with rubble and has a metalled surface.[3] This route would have passed close to theRoman Villa atWhirlow Hall Farm.[4]
Historically, theLimb Brook marked the boundary between theSaxon kingdoms ofMercia andNorthumbria. This remained the boundary betweenYorkshire andDerbyshire into the 20th century. A report dating from 1574 detailed a tour byGeorge 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.[5] The site of the cairn is believed to be to the west of the village.[6] Sheffield historianS. O. Addy, writing in 1888, noted that the Old English wordhlâw is almost always used to refer to a burial mound, and speculated that this 'great heap of stones' may have been an ancientbarrow. He further suggested that the etymology of the nameRinginglow suggests that 'originally the heap may have been a round burial mound, or mound surrounded by a circle'.[7] Addy additionally noted that there existed a 'folk etymology' for the nameRinginglow[8]—a story also recounted by local historian J. Edward Vickers[9]—that the village got its name after a man lost on the moors in bad weather was saved when he heard the bells ofSheffield parish church 'ringing low' over the moors. Both authors state that this story is a myth.
Ringinglow Road was constructed as part of aturnpike road fromSheffield toChapel-en-le-Frith andBuxton that opened in 1758.[10][11] TheGrade II listed[12] octagonal formertoll house builtc. 1778 still stands in the village along with the Norfolk Arms Public House, a coachinginn (also Grade II listed) that was builtc. 1840.[13] Addy's 1888 map shows the Norfolk Arms was then known as the Ringinglow Inn.
Historical evidence of shallow coal drift-mining of the Ringinglow seam has been found in the nearby Barber Fields, adjacent to Sheephill Road. This was served by anindustrial railway which ran from a location near to Furnace Farm to Copperas Farm. Neither of the farm names appear on the modern Ordnance Survey maps although evidence of a ballasted footpath from the Limb Brook to Smeltings Farm can still be found. The railway is known to have existed in the late 1940s but, like the mines is no more. Other mines in the area were the Deep Sick Coal Pits.[14]
In 2005 a Rotary Club fundedtoposcope, Finder Cairn, was erected at the junction of Fulwood Lane and Greenhouse Lane.[15][16]
Instrumental tracks titled 'Ringinglow' have been included onThe Human League's 2001 album,Secrets, andRoger Eno's 2001 album,Between Tides.
