Posh Sheffield: Barlow is so wealthy horses outnumber people - almost

By David Walsh
Published 25th Feb 2023, 00:05 BST
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If Dore is footballers and Fulwood doctors, then Barlow is lawyers on horseback.

The village and surrounding area may not have more horses than people - but it may have more horsey people than not, as one local put it. And it is a favourite of lawyers who work in Sheffield.

Turning off the roundabout at Owler Bar and on to Horsleygate Lane plunges the visitor into a world of stables, huge houses, gated halls and signs that warn ‘Private Land’ and ‘Slow Down Horses Crossing’. A few miles further on, the village of Barlow is the kind of place where you are woken by the sound of hooves on the street, according to Lauren White, manager of the Tickled Trout pub.

Where there are horses there is often a hunt, and here is no exception. But its status is uncertain. Barlow Hunt’s website states they meet twice a week, although Lauren said she hadn’t seen them in the village.

Historic Barlow is the land of the horse. And where there are horses there is money.Historic Barlow is the land of the horse. And where there are horses there is money.
Historic Barlow is the land of the horse. And where there are horses there is money.

Another resident said they hunted across Derbyshire but ‘stuck to the rules’ and followed a trail laid by a runner or someone on an electric mountain bike. Hunting foxes has been illegal for 15 years. The hunt did not respond to The Star.

Facebook group, ‘Locals Against the Barlow Hunt’, believes it only goes out on Saturdays and a ‘good turnout’ was three or four riders.

Tom Crowley, aged 70, is a former parish council member and has lived in Barlow for 32 years. He said he did not agree with blood sports.

He also noted the influx of money into the village. But he said everyone was friendly and there were usually a lot of things happening.

Barlow is the kind of place where you are woken by the sound of hooves in the street, according to Lauren White, manager of the Tickled Trout pub.Barlow is the kind of place where you are woken by the sound of hooves in the street, according to Lauren White, manager of the Tickled Trout pub.
Barlow is the kind of place where you are woken by the sound of hooves in the street, according to Lauren White, manager of the Tickled Trout pub.

Barlow has two very smart pubs, the Tickled Trout and The Peacock, with the latter in particular popular with ‘ladies who lunch’.

Little terraced houses cost a whopping £240,000. Some old locals lament the loss of the post office, two other pubs, two butchers and traditional shops, while the bus service is a shadow of itself.

But the village is handy for Sheffield. Bramall Lane is 20 minutes away when the traffic is good, according to Lauren, who enjoys the football, and Chesterfield less than 10.

She added: “I love living here. It's got great countryside and community spirit but it’s close to everything.”

Tom Crowley is a fomer parish council member and has lived in Barlow for 32 years. He said everyone was friendly and there were usually a lot of things happening.Tom Crowley is a fomer parish council member and has lived in Barlow for 32 years. He said everyone was friendly and there were usually a lot of things happening.
Tom Crowley is a fomer parish council member and has lived in Barlow for 32 years. He said everyone was friendly and there were usually a lot of things happening.

Barlow boasts an annual carnival and, like many Derbyshire villages, a well dressing and flower festival. It also had street parties for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

A new venture bringing people in is a pumpkin patch in October. It also has fishing lakes and a brewery. And the church is ancient but still at the heart of village life.

Its website states: “There was possibly a simple Saxon Church on the present site, and it has been conjectured that the worn stone head over the main door may have been part of an earlier building, used again by the builders to look down on future worshippers as they enter God's house.

“Be that as it may, it is history that the grandson of a Norman baron - to whom William the Conqueror gave Barlow as a reward for his support - allotted land for the monks of Louth Park in Lincolnshire to build a church here. We know that it was flourishing in 1139.”