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The Quarry Clubs
The River Porter created many quarrying opportunities on its way from the Peak to the centre of Sheffield and in the
1920’s three uneconomic quarries within a mile of each other were converted into tennis clubs. The popularity of tennis
increased dramatically after WWI and these three quarry owners obviously saw the potential for alternative revenue
from the sites, most of which had conveniently flat floors. In alphabetical order they became Brincliffe, Hangingwater,
and Highcliffe tennis Clubs
Brincliffe, big ambitions?
Brincliffe Edge stone had been quarried for centuries to produce grindstones and, later, many of the gravestones in the
General Cemetery. The first Brincliffe Club was on Cemetery Rd in Sharrow from about 1883 to no later than 1901
when it succumbed to pressure for middle-class housing near the City Centre (see item 002 in Downloads, Historical).
Some twenty years later the name was resurrected for this new club on a site that eventually became what is now
Baldwin’s Omega Restaurant. It is unlikely there was any continuity in terms of the management of the two clubs or
whether previous members re-joined and this is unlikely given the
availability of alternatives within a short distance. There are on-line
references to a rifle range in the quarry during WWI, and by 1922 when
the new club was formed the site had already been used for land fill, the
current carpark of the Omega being allegedly some 20’ above the quarry
floor.
‘Lawn Tennis & Badminton’ in 1926 credited a Mr J.W.Shaw with having
turned ‘an old quarry into lawn tennis courts. I well remember him taking
me over what was then (c.1920) a huge tract of waste. Since then he has
waved a magic wand….’, and called it ‘……one of the best equipped clubs
in the county - nine excellent hard courts, with a spacious and wellequipped clubhouse. The latter has good dressing-rooms, luncheon and
tea rooms, as well as a very fine ball-room……’
In 1911 John William Shaw lived in Arnold house, demolished long ago &
marked ‘x’ on the 1950 photo’, and was still there in 1939, his son having
exactly the same name. The back garden became what is now the garden area to the rear of Baldwin’s. He must have
seen the potential from day one for his nearby catering business in creating a tennis pavilion with a ballroom, not
normally an essential requirement for a tennis club. The advert is from the Sheffield Daily Telegraph in March 1939.
The photo shows the layout essentially as it had been from 1922. The entrance from Psalter Lane is included bottom
right. The clubhouse, rather pretentiously referred to as Brincliffe Hall, was what is still the core of the Omega
restaurant, identifiable by the pitched roofs, and was considerably larger than the 1887 Hallamshire clubhouse.
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The number and types of courts is a little speculative.
The 1924 YLTA handbook records six grass, four hard
courts, but nine hard courts only are referred to in the
1926 LT & B article; were the grass converted to hard or
were there nine hard anyway and the grass out of
commission or ignored, this being a hard court
tournament? Eric Renshaw remembers the post WWII
layout of three shale in Area 2, and two in Area 1 but
with a space for another, and abandoned courts
probably in Area 3, more made-up ground. Grass courts
were common at this time and were likely laid on the
only part of the quarry site, Areas 5 and 6, not to have
been quarried, being further from the cliff, reasonably
level to start with, and natural ground. Area 6 is hardly
large enough for three courts so maybe Area 4 was
used; that is today a very level lawn and the evidence
of a stepped terrace in the photo between it and the
clubhouse suggest to me that these were their grass
show courts with a proper viewing area. Piles of what
could be grass endorse this view. Hope you’ve followed
that! Whatever the truth there is the possibility of up
to seventeen courts which might or might not have all
been in use at any one time. For comparison
Hallamshire Club eventually and probably quite early in
its history, boasted eighteen courts. Areas 1 and 2
together now make up the Baldwin’s car park.
There are many newspaper reports of public and
private functions in Brincliffe Hall, sometimes referred
to as a Pavilion, before and after WW2 when it had
again been taken over by the military for use as a rifle
range. The example alongside from the SDT in June
1939 shows that maybe we’re not less inhibited than
our parents or grandparents after all, and remember
this is in the same space that we hold our (the Sheffield & District Lawn Tennis Association) annual awards evening at
Baldwin’s Omega. (The cartoons are probably in the wrong order). This commercial success must have been the cause of
the creation of a separate tennis clubhouse in what, it is believed from maps, was originally a quarry building. This was
certainly in use for the post WW2 club, fitted out with changing rooms, kitchen and clubroom and featured external
steps onto a flat roof as a viewing area over the courts; this is the building that faces car drivers as they leave the
Omega car park by the ramp going to Psalter Lane.
A member from the 50’s, Eric Renshaw, whose wife once won the club singles title, has provided the delightful sketch
illustrating the five-court post war club (reproduced on the next page) and the b/w photos in the montage that follows.
The club survived until 1962 having won league honours in 1926, 1928, 1938(2), 1954 & 1956. Commercial
considerations for the site as a whole then prevailed, the many local and competing clubs presumably preventing
membership reaching the levels required to make the whole site viable once again as a club.
At the start of this investigation initial vague references to ‘some club’ where Baldwin’s is soon became ‘some club!’ It
was serious competition for Hallamshire but whereas the land of the latter had no commercial value – the City had since
1887 resented it’s being in the way of their Jubilee Park (Endcliffe) and would surely not have allowed any other use
than as part of the park – that wasn’t the case for the Brincliffe Hill site.
Many thanks to ex SDLTA President Audrey Stanton for being the portal into all this, and to Eric Renshaw now of South
Staffordshire for his memories, sketch, and b/w photos without which this document wouldn’t have been worthwhile.
Also to Andy Lusis as usual for his research of publications providing details of the early club.
Don’t miss the following three pages.
John Andrews 2015
(See appendix page 6 updating this information)
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4
A 1935 map and a modern view appear on the next page.
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Looking North
Looking South
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Appendix November 2015
New information and photographs have come to light from various sources, mainly Eric Renshaw, but also the British
Newspaper Archive and past copies of the Yorkshire LTA handbook. The first scene is probably from the Club’s annual
tournament in 1927 and amongst other things shows the stepped and covered viewing area, at the right hand side of
the building, for spectators on what I believe were the three grass show courts (area 4 in the aerial shot); the following
shows this in more detail. The 1930 YLTA handbook confirms the club did by then have fourteen hard and three grass
courts. The ‘presentation party’ page 7 includes, on the left, the S&D Secretary of the time, Ernest Hampson, a truly
remarkable administrator for both Sheffield and Yorkshire tennis over many years. (Never heard of Carl Brisson? Me too
but Google him.) The following two photos from 1956 on pp 7 & 8 show the roof of the clubhouse in use, the Omega
behind, and a view from there over the top six hard courts, now the Omega car park. The last photo of the Shaws is
believed to be between 1925 and 1935.
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The club creator and his son – running a pre-war tournament?