Bradway Community Hall - Small Hall

Bradway Road, Sheffield

Building

Roofed and walled permanent structures.

Asset type

Small Victorian building built as a school room.

Age

Built 1866 during the construction of the Bradway Tunnel.

Rarity

Unique to Sheffield, but there may be similar buildings elsewhere built as part of the Victorian railway boom.

Architectural and Artistic Interest

A simple construction with no architects name associated but built by Messrs Thompson, main contractors to Midland Railway for the tunnel.

Group Value

The Small Hall has a relationship with The Bradway Tunnel and the various Air Shafts that were all part of the construction of the Midland Railway. It also has a relationship to the development of education for the children of an expanding Bradway. Its use as a schoolroom ceased with the building of the Bradway Board School, which in turn gave way to the SCC Primary School, initially Sir Harold Jackson and now Bradway Primary School. Given the role of the Methodists and subsequently the Church of England there is also a specific relationship with St James Norton.

Historic Interest

A little brick building, the Small Hall at the Community Hall, was constructed in 1866 as a school room for the children of those involved in the construction of the Bradway Railway Tunnel, which runs immediately below the Hall. Contemporary evidence for the origins of the Small Hall is found in Kellys Directory for 1868, "In Bradway there is a school for the children of the workmen employed in constructing the new railway tunnel, built at the sole expense of George Thompson Esq, the Contractor. The School is used on Sundays as a place of worship." The Small Hall was used as a place of worship on Sundays from 1867, when George Thompson came to an agreement with the Surrey Street Circuit of the United Methodist Free Church. George Thompson died before the tunnel was completed but when it was completed in 1869 William Thompson gave the Small Hall and contents to the Methodists, though the hall itself was on Midland Railway Land and thereafter a tenancy agreement was reached and an annual rent paid to the Railway Company and its successors. The history of the Small Hall then becomes bound up with the Methodists and from 1886 with St James Church Norton, which took over responsibility for paying the rent. From that time onwards there has been a relationship between the Church of England and the Community Hall. The Small Hall has been variously described as "the Mission Room" or " Bradway Chapel". In 1881 there is a record of the "Bradway Preaching Room" being used as a Denominational Day School with 30 pupils.

Archaeological Interest

The relationship of the Small Hall to the associated Midland Railway works.

Landmark Status

The Community Hall is a significant structure within the centre of Bradway and well known to residents - although perhaps now overshadowed by the Dore Golf Club and Sainsbury's and Filling Station, which may be more obvious to transient traffic along the B6054.

18 Sep 2023

10 Jun 2023