All Manor of things are taking place...
AT the top of Manor Lane, a handful of workmen, carve, dig and build.
The site looks like nothing more than a collection of derelict buildings.
But it's much more than that.
Here, perched on the gusty hill is Sheffield's Manor Lodge, the 16th-century home of the fourth and sixth Earls of Shrewsbury, Bess of Hardwick and the place where Mary, Queen of Scots, was held captive.
Since 2004, Green Estate has been working on the Manor Lodge site as a means of rebuilding the relationship between land and people.
The social enterprise company wants to make the Manor estate as attractive and successful as other popular historical attractions such as Chatsworth House.
Peter Machan, education manager for Green Estate, said: "The history of Manor Lodge is very tangible. It all fits in with the manorial history of Sheffield.
"There was a castle here and the second-biggest deer park in the country. What we're trying to do is reinstate this as a manorial borough."
Restoration started in 2004 but rapidly gathered pace and public support after featuring on BBC television's Restoration series, securing 1.25 million of lottery funding.
The money has funded a new Discovery Centre, complete with a drawbridge.
And work has already begun to completely re-landscape the site, leaving the ancient ruins intact while making the gardens attractive to visitors.
Sheffield stonemason Neville Slack is restoring all the beautifully-crafted original stonework to its former glory.
Next year, the whole area will become a major tourist attraction linked to the Discovery Centre already open to the public.
The centre is packed with relics from the site's history. There's a jet hexagonal gaming dice, which dates back to the 1300s – believed to be the only one in the country – plus examples of original Sheffield pottery and a Bible dating back to 1594.
"The bible comes with an extraordinary story," said Peter, "A lady emailed me from Australia saying that her grandfather had found it among the mess at the lodge and donated it to Sheffield Museums. It's a Breeches Bible, and was one of the first translations of the Bible in English."
Next to the Bible, encased in glass, is a huge key of the sort that could feature in a Harry Potter film.
Peter said: "This is the key to the Manor. Two old ladies came in one day and said: 'We've got the key to the Manor.' it was presented to their grandfather, a Sheffield councillor.
The sheer range of artefacts reflects the mercurial nature of Manor Lodge's 500 year history.
It was home to one of the most influential women in 16th-century England, Bess of Hardwick, it was prison for Mary, Queen of Scots, but from the 18th-century onwards, the mansion was neglected.
Its walls crumbled and much of its magnificent opulence decayed.
But the site was still very active.
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It became home to John Fox's pottery kiln - the only one in Sheffield - in the early 1700s, which was built into the remains of Wolsey's Tower, where, in 1530, Cardinal Wolsey lodged before dying from dysentery, which he contracted at the Manor.
Peter said: "He was ordered by King Henry VIII to return to London after being charged with high treason but died while travelling from Sheffield."
Wolsey's gentleman usher, George Cavendish, kept records of Wolsey's stay at the Lodge – and didn't spare any details. "There are lurid descriptions of him sitting on a 'stool' – the toilet – suffering," says Peter.
The stench of the tower doesn't bear thinking about, nor does the task of the scourer or gong farmer, who would scrape out all the sewage once it had filled up.
In later years a colliery was also sunk in the former outer court of the grand Manor. The modest headstock served as a prophetic symbol of South Yorkshire's future. Around the walls of the Lodge a 'village' emerged to house the miners, crumbling walls were fused with back to back-housing, stacked up against ancient ruins.
Living conditions were far from attractive at the tiny colliery village, as Peter explains: "It looked idyllic but it certainly wasn't – it was full of rough characters."
There was a hunting lodge at the site as early as 1406, when the Earl of Shrewsbury acquired the land and became Lord of the Manor. The 4th Earl of Shrewsbury then made Sheffield his home early in the 16th century.
But it was during the tenure of the 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, George Talbot, who was married to Bess of Hardwick, that the Lodge was at its most splendid.
He built the Manor, creating what was reputed to be one of the finest houses in England.
The opulent home included a long gallery, a turret house, kitchens, tower chamber, great chamber, nursery, wash house, brew house, bakery and saddlers.
In 1569 the Earl was burdened with the task of housing a royal prisoner – Mary, Queen of Scots. She was held at the Lodge and Sheffield Castle, located at what we now know as Castle Market, for 14 years.
It was an enormous task, as Peter explains: "Mary, Queen of Scots, had 40 followers with her and had to be accommodated in a manner that was expected of royalty. If the standards slipped there would be repercussions."
Peter added: "There was supposed to be an allowance for keeping Mary but it was rarely paid.
"There are stacks of letters from the Earl to Queen Elizabeth badgering her for money."
Mary's captivity at the Lodge presented other problems. Bess felt threatened by the attractive Mary and was convinced she and her husband were having an affair. She left the house, taking with her many fixtures and tapestries, many of which now adorn the impressive Hardwick Hall, which was built for Bess.
The famous 'sea dog' table, a visitors' favourite at Hardwick Hall, was taken from Manor Lodge.
Peter said: "It is thought that the 'sea dog' table was ordered from France by Mary Queen of Scots when she was imprisoned here at the castle.
Certainly many of the embroideries that are now in Hardwick and Oxburgh Hall, Norfolk, were designed and produced by Bess and Mary in Sheffield."
Manor Lodge will be open to the public in April, the Discovery Centre is open now.
A range of historical-themed workshops for adults and children start at the Lodge next year.
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Weather for Sheffield
Friday 25 May 2012
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