Hunters Bar
Writing Challenge 2023
Posted by Chris Sissons on Jul 5, 2023
Writing Challenge ยป Chris Sissons
Today I went for a haircut. My current barbers is on Sharrow Vale Road at Hunters Bar, where I was brought up. I guess I can’t keep away, even though I stopped living there in September 1972.
I took the photo with my back to my old primary school and towards Endcliffe Park. The roundabout has been like that since just before I left the area. There was a big campaign against widening the road by reducing the diameter of the roundabout. The council moved in at 4am and did the work before anyone could object. (A tactic used again recently on nearby Rustlings Road, to unnecessarily remove street trees.)
Now, if you squint at the photo, and look at around the centre of the image, you’ll see a diagonal white line. This stands for the old toll bar gate, which gives the area its name. The black stone to the left is the original gate post. A long time ago, the island was attached to the park and the toll was paid by those using the path through the park.
Yes, what is now the park was once the main road. The park and other parks following the river Porter was a major industrial area, attached to the dams in the river. The dams drove the wheels and they drove the grinding wheels. The businesses paid their taxes at the toll bar.
Hunters Bar is a shopping area and I can remember many of the shops as they were in the 50s and 60s. Not many are still selling the same things! The butcher and fishmongers near the corner to the right were always there but I think they’ve moved one building on!
And I think my barbers was always there, although the owner is not as old as the business!
Can you see what I’m doing here? The city varies through time as well as space. As I grow older, I am aware of history as witnessed by me or picked up from years hanging around. Just as a parent might remember their adult child as a baby and every age between, we can visualise our cities as they were and this is important.
It’s important because we belong to that history. When we move around, visit and enjoy a place, it’s not just a backdrop to our lives, it embodies them. We are not citizens of nowhere but belong somewhere, be it through birth or adoption. We might not be interested, that’s our choice, but it still works its magic on us and makes us the people we are.
Most artists are aware that their work is viewed in a unique way by everyone who pays attention to it. Perhaps we don’t think of our environment in this way but it still reaches out and changes us in subtle ways. You could argue that it’s not like art because the city is not a deliberate work of art. There are loads of accidents, there’s no grand designer.
Up to a point, perhaps. The artists are mostly long forgotten. They’re people who made choices and made changes perhaps unaware of what they were doing. Not everyone involved had a say, of course. The men who reduced the size of the island were obeying orders.
But the temptation to leave your mark, to leave something that is your legacy is something we perhaps underestimate.
This year's Writing Challenge, fueled by prompts, is about the City of Sheffield. Be surprised by what's included and even more surprised by what's left out. This is Post 13 and there are 21 altogether. Share your thoughts and your love for the City in the comments. The first Post 0 is Context: Sheffield. The last post 12 is Stirrings. The next post 14 is Men of Steel.
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