A chance to remember the farming history of Tinsley

A family arts day in Tinsley Tingas — the old infant school — on Siemens Close will take place on Monday, October 30, from 10am to 4pm.

The Remembering Rural Tinsley event has been organised by Tinsley Time and Travel.

At the free event, people will have the chance to work with artist Laura Page to create a paper collage of Tinsley’s former farms, make vegetable prints, and have a go at maypole dancing. 

Charlotte Head, community heritage officer at Heeley City Farm, said: “Not so long ago, Tinsley was a village, neither in Sheffield nor Rotherham, surrounded by fields and farms.

“Life for the people of Tinsley was agricultural for many hundreds of years. But, even after coal was discovered and mined nearby, fuelling the growth of industry along the River Don, the farms of Tinsley co-existed alongside the factories that had clustered along the canal and river. 

“It might not be easy to imagine now, but there were farms here even within living memory — the last one closed in 1953. By this time, it was no longer viable to farm so close to industry, and the last farmer complained that his cows were suffering from the local pollution.” 

Tinsley Time and Travel is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund  to help uncover the history of Tinsley. 

More information is available by searching for Tinsley Time and Travel on Facebook, or by contacting Charlotte Head on 0114 258 0483 or [email protected].