Old Queen's Head

This article is about a pub in Sheffield. For a similarly named pub in London, see The Old Queens Head.

The Old Queen's Head is a pub at 14 Pond Hill, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It is a 15th-century timber framed building and the oldest surviving domestic building in Sheffield.^[1] It is now Grade II* listed.^[2]

Old Queen's Head
West front of the Old Queen's Head
Location in Sheffield
Former names	The Hall at the Ponds
General information
Type	pub
Architectural style	Vernacular Tudor
Location	Sheffield, South Yorkshire
Address	40 Pond Street, S1 2BG
Town or city	Sheffield
Country	United Kingdom
Estimated completion	1475
Owner	Thwaites Brewery
Technical details
Material	timber frame
Designations	Grade II* listed
Website
The Old Queens Head

History

The Old Queens Head was built c. 1475.^[2] However, the earliest known written record of the building is in a 1582 inventory of the estate of George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury that included the furnishings of this building, which was then called "The hawle at the Poandes"^[3] or "Hall i' th' Ponds".^[2]

As a part of the Earl's estate, the building may have been a banqueting hall for parties hunting wildfowl in the nearby ponds.^[4] These ponds, which formed in the area where the Porter Brook meets the River Sheaf, are now gone, but gave rise to the local names Pond Street, Pond Hill (formerly Pond Well Hill), and Ponds Forge.

19th-century sash window on the north side of the building

By the beginning of the 19th century the building was being used as a house. In 1840 a pub called the Old Queen's Head was opened in the building next door. Sometime after 1862 the pub expanded into the former Hall i' th' Ponds.^[5] Late in the 19th century, alterations and additions were made to the rear of the building.^[2]

The Queen in the pub's current name is likely to refer to Mary, Queen of Scots, who was imprisoned in Sheffield from 1570 to 1584.

The building has been Grade II* listed since 1952. It was refurbished in 1993 when it was controlled by the Tom Cobleigh pub company. It is now controlled by Thwaites Brewery.^[6]

See also

• Listed buildings in Sheffield

References

1. Harman & Minnis 2004, p. 152.
2. Historic England. "Old Queens Head Public House (Grade II*) (1247088)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 18 June 2017.
3. Hunter 1819, p. 13.
4. Olive 1994^{[page needed]}
5. Olive 1994^{[page needed]}
6. "The Old Queens Head". Thwaites Brewery. Retrieved 18 June 2017.

Sources

• Harman, R.; Minnis, J. (2004). Sheffield. Pevsner City Guides. New Haven & London: Yale University Press. p. 152. ISBN 0-300-10585-1.
• Hunter, Joseph (1819). "The Township of Sheffield". Hallamshire. The History and Topography of the Parish of Sheffield in the County of York. London: Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mayor & Jones. p. 193.
• Olive, Martin (1994). "The Ponds". Central Sheffield. Images of England. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. pp. 31, 50. ISBN 0-7524-0011-8.
• Pevsner, Nikolaus; Radcliffe, Enid (revision) (1967) [1959]. Yorkshire the West Riding. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 456–457. ISBN 0-14-071017-5.

External links

• "The Old Queens Head". Thwaites Brewery.
• "Představuji vám The Old Queens Head". Jdeme do hospody (in Czech). Velká Británie OnlineMagazin. 15 January 2014.

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