4.4 Post-medieval

Wincobank Wood was managed as a coppiced woodland within the Shrewsbury estate from at least 1564 and was named as ‘Winkobanke Springe’ between 1596 and 1616, and as ‘Wincowe Wood’ in 1637 (Ronksley 1908, 206, 236). During the 17th century, the hillfort’s eastern bank and ditch had been destroyed and a lynchet constructed over their former course (NAA 2001, 65-66).

William Camden’s 1596 Britannica referred to the ‘large bank’ that ran east from ‘Winco-bank’ (quoted in Guest 1879, 5) and John Harrison’s 1637 survey used the names ‘Winco banck’ and ‘Wincabanke’ (Ronksley 1908, 204, 209). It is not known if the ‘bank’ element relates to the outcrop of Silkstone Rock on the south slope of Wincobank Hill or to the spur of Parkgate Rock on the east slope; if the latter, it is likely to have been associated with the Scheduled section of the Roman Ridge to the north of Jenkin Road, which formed the parish boundary between Ecclesfield and Sheffield. Harrison was not concerned with the area’s antiquities and did not record the hillfort or refer to the ‘banke’ as an ancient earthwork or a supposed Roman road (Ronksley 1908, 204, 236).

Winco Wood Lane was marked as a dominant feature within the landscape on Thomas Jefferys’ 1771 map of Yorkshire. This is unlikely to have been an accurate representation, as the route was shown as a simple bridleway on the 1837 Wincobank Hall sale plan. Jefferys depicted the hillfort as a rectangular feature and it is thus possible that he was aware of the fort’s status as a supposed ‘Roman camp’; in that case, he may also have been aware of the assertions that a Roman road led from the fort and believed that its course was marked by Winco Wood Lane. From the north-east face of the hillfort, the lane was shown to cross Jenkin Road and run to the northern base of Wincobank Hill, before it petered-out to the south-west of Blackburn Brook. This suggests that Jeffreys may have confused Winco Wood Lane and the Roman Ridge, with the result that neither was depicted accurately on the 1771 map.

William Fairbank’s 1788 draft map of the fields between Brightside and Wincobank included several fields to the east of Wincobank hillfort, while fields to the north-west and west of the fort were shown on Fairbank’s 1790 map of John Sparrow’s lands and his 1795 map of the Brightside district. The 1788 map depicted the fields that lay within Sheffield parish, including Great Spring Field, Middle Field, Meadow Peck and Snake Hill.

The Scheduled section of the Roman Ridge to the south of Jenkin Road was depicted clearly on the 1788 map, with hachures to indicate the slope of the embankment and a gap to allow a footpath through the trees that grew along the top of the earthwork. Fairbank did not label the Ridge, however, and may not have been aware of its status as a surviving part of an ancient earthwork. The clear depiction of the extant section of the Ridge at this location in 1788 suggests that the earthwork had been levelled in the areas to the south-west and north-east where it was not shown.

No features were depicted within Wincobank Wood, which was marked in outline only, on the 1788 draft map. Fairbank’s 1788 map of Grimesthorpe depicted ‘Winco Knowle’, a large sandstone knoll or outcrop, immediately south of the wood and west of Grimesthorpe Green. A linear area of quarrying was shown at the centre-south of the Knowle in 1788; in 1790, the Knowle was leased to Thomas Ashforth, a local mason (SA ACM/SD/871/150) and subsequently became the site of Grimesthorpe Quarry.

Several of the fields on the east side of Wincobank Hill were shown on a 1791 engraving by David Martin, which depicted the hill from Foundry Road, Attercliffe (Plate 8). While the engraving confirms the general layout of the fields and Wincobank Wood, their boundaries did not accord fully with their depiction on Fairbank’s 1788 draft map. Further artistic licence is evident in Martin’s portrayal of the hill as a closer and substantially higher feature than it would have been from the artist’s viewpoint at Washford Bridge.

Plate 8: 1791 David Martin’s engraving showing south and east slopes of Wincobank Hill
Wincobank hillfort and the Roman Ridge were not visible on the 1791 engraving. The fort and the unscheduled section of the Ridge in the south-east part of the study area stood within Wincobank Wood during this period and their locations were obscured by trees, while the engraving did not cover the area that contained the Scheduled section of the Ridge to the south of Jenkin Road.

Neither the Roman Ridge itself nor the sandstone spur of Parkgate Rock on which it ran were readily apparent within the remainder of the fields. This supports the suggestion given by the 1788 map that much of the monument had been levelled along the hill’s east slope by this period, although it is also possible that the earthwork may simply not have been a prominent feature, given the distance and perspective from which Martin viewed the hill.

A group of cottages were shown at the north corner of Colley Field, immediately east and north-east of the hillfort, on William Fairbank’s 1790 map of lands held by John Sparrow of Wincobank Hall (Plate 9). Bryan Woodriff (2003, 86) stated that these buildings were 16th-century, cruck-framed structures. There is no evidence to demonstrate this, however, and a photograph taken while the cottages were awaiting demolition c.1970 appears to show one of the buildings with straight, vertical wall plates rather than typical cruck-blades that would have been angled towards each other to form a gable (Plate 10). This suggests that this particular cottage was not a cruck-framed building. Ordnance Survey maps indicate that the cottages were subjected to extensive internal modification during the 19th and 20th centuries, however, and it is possible that an earlier cruck frame had been incorporated into, or replaced by, a subsequent box-frame renovation and that this was not visible from the angle of the photograph.