RETRO: The birth of Gleadless Valley, the '˜jewel in Sheffield's crown'
It's fair to say that Gleadless Valley has come under a fair deal of media attention in the past week, after the tragic circumstances surrounding an axe attack on police in the area, just days after a murder not one mile away from the attack.
But many Gleadless Valley residents past and present have contacted The Star since to tell us how proud they are of their area, right from its very beginnings as one of Sheffield’s top new estates in the 1960s. Indeed, Philip Levick said on Thestar.co.uk: “The estate was the jewel in the crown of council housing and the estate won various awards from around the world for its design and the way it was run.”
The estate was developed as a large housing project between 1955 and 1962 in an effort to clear slums in other parts of the city and move residents to ‘state of the art’ dwellings.
Patio and chalet style houses were used to overcome the steep natural slopes of much of the land.
In June 1972, The Star featured the new homes which had been built in Gleadless Valley, describing them as: “A row of beautiful homes which are a credit to Sheffield’s image of a modern city.”
The tower blocks, built by London contractors, came in 1959.
Newfield Green is pictured here in 1972, but it looks much the same today, save for the introduction of the Co-op store.
