The Social History of Bishops' House

Bishops House stands on the land known as Colliteland given to the John de Blythe  by William Chaworth in  1377. The land which was later called Coltyard  was in continuous ownership by the Blythe Family till the property was sold by Samuel Blythe junior some time after the death of his father Samuel in 1737.    

 Evidence suggests two Bishops,  John Blythe of Salisbury and Geoffrey Blythe Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry were born in a house on this land, but the present  house is thought to be of too modern a construction to be that house. 

 It is not certain when the house was first labelled Bishops House as early documents simply call the land Coltyard.  A map by William Fairbanks in 1777 still labels the land Coltyard   A map included with conveyance documents prior to the sale of Meersbrook Estate  in 1886 is the earliest legal document at present found to call it  Bishops House,  and it is given as an address in the 1891 census. References to the Bishop connection can be found in books and articles as early as 1817 by  Samuel Lysons in his  Magna Brittanica but he did not give the legend much credence.

Documents  suggest that it was in Richard Blythe’s possession in 1500, brother to Geoffrey and John Blythe. Certainly later documents state that his son William was in possession of the land in Norton Lees in 1541. A John Blythe was in possession in 1546 after William’s death.  John, from other documents would appear to be a younger son of William. This John died in 1561 passing the land onto his son William and his smithy gear to his other son John. However a later document in 1572 had a  John as occupier and the land later passed to his son William.  It is probable that the other William died soon after his father. A document regarding an exchange of land between Godfrey Foljambe of Morehall and  John Parker of Norton Lees in 1583 directly names William Blythe as owner of the land called Coltyard.  A family heirloom of a Flanders Chest directly links this William to the first John Blythe.

The wills of various Blythes give an idea of when the additions to the house took place.  William Blythe’s will in 1631 has an inventory that lists 8 rooms and 3 outhouses, while Captain William Blythe’s  will inventory in 1665 lists 11 rooms and a cellar and 5 outhouses, and  William Blythe’s will of 1675 lists 12 rooms  plus a new house (hall) and new chamber above,  and 6 outhouses. The changes by Captain William Blythe would have to be after 1648 , when he took part in the demolition of Sheffield Castle and bought salvaged plaster and timber to build the new bed chamber and embellish other parts of the house.  Possibly the earliest change was in 1627, the date on the panelling in the hall, which also has the initials WB. However as the panelling was obviously taken from somewhere else and cut to fit the hall, we have no way of knowing if it was from older alterations or someone else’s house altogether.

Sometime after the death of Samuel Blythe in 1737 the house passed out of Blythe ownership and the house and fields were let out to tenant farmers.  It is probable that the land was bought by Benjamin Roebuck in 1757 when he bought Meersbrook Estate, which he later sold to Samuel Shore Senior in about 1783. Certainly Bishops House was in the Shore’s possession in 1805 as shown on a map of the time. At some time  during the tenancy the house was divided into 2 separate self contained dwellings.

 Due to the collapse of the Shore family fortune, the Meersbrook Estate was sold. Some parts were sold to property developers and plans were drawn up to develop the whole of the Estate as housing leaving a small garden round Meersbrook Hall and knocking down Bishops House and other nearby buildings to make room for  new access roads for the housing estate. A mixture of public pressure, the need for more public parks and a place to put Ruskins Collection led to negotiations by Sheffield Corporation to buy the land including Bishops House. The asking price per acre was the highest price of any of the  land bought as parks at the time, higher than Hillborough or Endcliffe Park. The high price  resulted in  the amount of  land  purchased being reduced, and the need to use some of the land to make new access roads, resulted is a much smaller public park than originally planned.  It is not known why Bishops House was included, but possibly this too was due to public pressure. Certainly the legend of the house was well known  at that time.

The Parks Authority continued to use Bishops House as a dwelling house, housing 2 separate families of park employees at a time. This was continued till the 1970s when the house was restored and turned into a museum opening in July 1976.  Originally the house was open to the public during the week from 10 a.m till 5 p.m from Wednesday to Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m-5 p.m. Spending cuts over the years have resulted in the present limited visiting times.

Written and researched by Joy Bullivant (for more, please visit her BH history blog)

References
Charter  William Chaworth,  assignment of Colliteland, Lees in the parish of Norton to John de Blithe , 1377, (British Library ref Add Ch, 27329) (Copy supplied to me  by Norton History Society)
1583 deed of Exchange  by the mutual grants of Godfrey Foljambe of Morehall, County Derby esquire and John Parker of Norton Lees co. Derby Esquire. Descriptive catalogue of the charters, rolls, deeds, pedigree, pamphlets, etc.. forming Jackson Collection..  http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028219636   American Libraries Internet Archive
Woods  Athenae Oxon. (ed. Bliss), ii,691: Foss’s Lives of the Judges, v. 38; Godwin, De praesulibus; Letters Papers Rich. lll and  Henry Vll (ed Garner) (Rolls Ser. ); Le Neve’s Fasti (Hardy); Cassan’s life of the Bishops of Salisbury; Jones History of the Diocese of Salisbury.)
Alumni Cantabrigienses, Part I, Vol. 1  Venn. 1922 (copy supplied by Norton Hist. Soc.)
Alumni Etonenses Harwood  1797 (copy  from Norton Hist. Soc.)
Ref. YWD 1117 Sheffield Archives Copy plan referred to in Conveyance to the Sheffield Corporation dated 25th Oct  1886
 Sheffield Archives Ref. NSC/62 Newton Shawe Collection,  Survey for assessment to the army and navy: Property of Captain William Blyth in Norton Lees 1656
 Sheffield Archives  Fairbanks Collection,  Ref.  FC FB 49  Map of a Farm at Norton Lees belonging to Samuel Shore lately held by Thomas Hobson 24th May 1777
1891 census  ref RG12/3801 administrative county Derbyshire Ecclesall Bierlow, North East Derbyshire, Norton Lees. Public Record Offices
Paradise Lost? Sheffield’s Historic Parks and Gardens by Joan Sewell. Pages 203-225 Aspects of Sheffield Vol 1. Published 1997 by  Wharncliffe Publishing Ltd   47 Queen Street Barnsley, S70 2AS
The History of the Borough of Chesterfield: With Some Account of the Hundred of Scarsdale by John Pym Yeatman originally printed 1895 reprinted by BiblioLife Reproduction Series www.bibliolife.com/opensource
Magna Brittania : Volume  5: Derbyshire by Daniel and Samuel Lysons (1817)
An historic Account of Beauchief Abbey by the Late Samuel Pegge LLD F.S.A. printed by John Nichols and Son, Red Lion Passage, Fleet Street, London 1801.
Sheffield City Museums Information Sheet 16 ref ISSN 0306 3771 (date of publication unknown but now out of print)

Thanks go to Norton History Society for supplying me with transcriptions of the Blythe Wills and their research notes,  Sheffield City Council legal department  for letting me view documents relating to the purchase of Meersbrook  Park,  the Archivists of  Sheffield Archives and Matlock (Derbyshire County Records) and the Librarians of Sheffield Central Library.

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