Middlewood, South Yorkshire

Middlewood is a north western suburb of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The suburb falls within the Stannington ward of the City.LocationMiddlewood was formerly an entirely rural location, it has been partly encroached on by the expansion of the city of Sheffield since the 1960s. The exact area of the Middlewood district is not easy to determine, but is popularly thought to extend from the "Middlewood shops" at the top of Leppings Lane northwest for three km along the A6102 past Middlewood Hall to the outskirts of Oughtibridge. Between those two points it includes the land on the south western side of the River Don up to Worrall Road.HistoryMiddlewood HallMiddlewood Hall is set in 54acre and was constructed in 1810 by Mark Skelton, however a farmhouse is believed to have existed on the site well before that. The Skeltons were a family of steel forgers and merchants who owned forges on the River Don. The 1911 census records show that the Hall was occupied by the Thorp family and their servants. In 1926 the house was sold to the Wilson family (local snuff makers) and then in 1980 to Wharncliffe Construction who turned it into a luxury hotel. However the Hall lies on green belt land and further expansion was not possible. After changing hands twice more as a hotel, it was purchased by a private individual in 1999 who converted it back into a private family dwelling. The hall is a grade two listed building.Middlewood and Wharncliffe HospitalsBoth hospitals were on the same site and were built and fitted out at a total cost of £150,000. Wharncliffe was a small medical hospital while Middlewood was a large psychiatric hospital. Middlewood was opened on August 21, 1872 on a large rural site. It was originally known as the South Yorkshire Asylum until 1890, then became the West Riding Asylum, Wadsley (1890–1930). It was known as Wadsley Mental Hospital between 1930 and 1948 when it became Middlewood Hospital. Not all of the original inmates were psychiatric patients, some were paupers from the workhouse, some were females suffering postnatal depression and some were suffering from epilepsy.