Spoon Lane

 

A Bridleway between Underbank, Stannington over Storrs Brook to Storrs Lane and Dungworth. This is an ancient route indicated on the reconstruction by G Scurfield of the lost map of Harrison’s survey of Sheffield Manor 1637. It is now a walled lane and would have been a packhorse route that became a cart track, albeit a very steep one. The relatively easy crossing of Storrs Brook would have been an important factor for the course that this route takes through the steep sided valley. 

 

There are historic water power sites along Storrs Brook, further down the valley from Spoon Lane, which joins the industrial area of the River Loxley, which would have made Spoon Lane an important route for the subsequent local industry.

 

The name Spoon Lane is thought to have derived from a Richard Spoone, who left a bequest in his will in 1652 for the support of a ‘preaching minister’ at Stannington. The present Unitarian Chapel, dating from 1741, stands near the Stannington end of Spoon Lane. Underbank Schoolroom (on the opposite side of the road from the chapel) was also established after Spoone left property for ‘paying for the learning of poor children’. The lane is much older than Richard Spoone, but his stamp on the area may well have caused it to be renamed.