Low Bradfield

Low Bradfield and the surrounding area is noted for its attractive countryside which draws many visitors from the more urban parts of Sheffield.

[1] On the ridge between Bradfield Dale and the Ewden Valley is the Bar Dike, a 492 yards long trench with a rampart on its southern side which is 10 feet high in places.

It has been examined by Sheffield University's Phil Sidebottom who has compared it to similar crosses found in Staffordshire that were put up in the middle of the 10th century.

[3] While Bradfied is not documented in the Domesday Book it is inconceivable that it was not settled at that time and it is believed to be one of 16 unnamed Berewicks (an outlying part of a large manor) within Hallamshire that are mentioned.

The village developed as a farming community with much of the surrounding countryside set aside by the Norman lords as a deer hunting park.

There was only one fatality in the village mainly because word had spread throughout the immediate area that there was a leak in the earth embankment and the community was partly prepared for the tragedy.

One of the great attractions to people from outside the village is the large centrally located recreation ground known as the Ibbotson Memorial Field which is a popular site for picnics and family visits and also serves as the village cricket ground, drawing large crowds to games on summer weekends.

The former Wesleyan chapel on Mill Lee Road was built in 1817 and now serves as the offices for Bradfield Parish Council.

There was a second pub called the Cross Inn which was situated at the foot of Woodfall Lane but this closed in the late 1970s and is now a private house.

[10] Another ancient residence in the dale is Hallfield House which dates from the Elizabethan era and was the seat of the Greaveses, a very old Hallamshire family.