From prominent families to long-gone landmarks and archaic phrases, road signs in the city reference many things that won’t be apparent to everyday passers-by.
Here are the illuminating stories behind the names of 11 Sheffield streets.
The information below was sourced from a long-running column in The Star and the Sheffield Telegraph written by the late Peter Harvey, who spent years researching the topic. His dedicated work was later compiled into a book.
1. Snig Hill
Several explanations have been offered but the most likely is that the name comes from the old practice of snigging a load up a hill - bringing it up a bit at a time, or giving it some kind of additional help, with a pole under the rear wheels, or with a secondary horse which was known as a snig horse. Photo: Google
2. Atlantic Crescent/Drive/Road/Walk/Way
These streets in Lowedges commemorate the exploits of three brothers, members of the Kirke family of Greenhill Hall, who left Sheffield, crossed the Atlantic, and led an expedition that captured Quebec from the French in 1629. Two of them, David and Lewis, were knighted. Photo: Google
3. Mulehouse Road, Crookes
Mulehouse Road is near the route of the old Racker Way, the bridle path from Sheffield to Stannington, along which mules used to carry goods. The assumption is that somewhere nearby there was a mule house, where the animals were fed and watered. Photo: Google
4. Pomona Street
Pomona Street, which runs behind Ecclesall Road, was named after the Pomona Inn which was once the centre of a pleasure ground known as the Pomona Gardens. An 1852 advertisement described them as 'the largest public gardens in Sheffield' with 'a splendid collection of evergreen and flowering shrubs, musical meetings every Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights, tea and dinner parties, and a choice stock of wines, spirits and bitter beer'. The gardens, and the inn, took their name from Pomona, Italian goddess of fruit and gardens. Photo: Google