The Angel Inn - Sheffield 1657 - 1940
The Angel - 15 Angel Street. The Angel was even older than the Kings Head having been in existence since 1657. An article in The Sheffield Star dated 25th February gave a brief history of a notable Sheffield landmark that was situated on the corner of Angel Street and Bank Street
"...(The Angel's) first real claim to fame came in 1760, when it became the terminus for the first regular mail stage coach service between Sheffield and London. The coach was fancifully described as 'a flying machine on steel springs' which completed the hazardous journey in a mere six days. Travel in those days was a problematic affair - the adverts warned journeys would be completed "if God permits". Overnight stops on the way up to Sheffield included St Albans, Northampton and Nottingham. Later the time to the capital was reduced to three days, then 26 hours, and finally to just 16 hours before the railway made the service largely redundant.
Original prices for the trip were £2.2s (£2.10) - or £153 in today's money, leaving twice a week at 5am. The coach traveling north linked with a service to Leeds.
The A - Z of Sheffield Public Houses by Michael Liversidge adds the following information. Confirming that the original Inn was built in 1657 he then states that it was demolished and replaced by a new Angel in 1816. One notable feature was a terracotta angel by Rossi that adorned the front of the Inn.
He also confirms that it was a Samuel Glanville who was the landlord at the time of the first coach services to London
The following is from the Manchester Mercury dated Tuesday 21 May 1771 and advertises a "new machine" that would be used on the route to Buxton and beyond.
On Tuesday the 21st of May 1771
A NEW MACHINE, Three Times a Week, To and from Manchester, Buxton, and Sheffield,
Will set out from the Spread Eagle in Salford Manchesterr, and from the Angel Inn, in Sheffield, every Tuesday Thursday, and Saturday Morning, at Six o’Clock These coaches meet at Buxton. and each return the same day.
And at Mancbester they join the Liverpool Coach, which goes through Warrington to Liverpool, three times a week, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, returns Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, from each place at seven o’clock in the morning.
At Sheffield there are STAGECOACHES, and cheap Conveyances to Chesterfield, Mansfield, Noltingham. Newark and Lincoln, and from these towns at stages to London ; also from Sheffield to Wakefield. Leeds, Harrogate, York, Scarborough, Hull,
Inside passengers to and from Manchester and Sheffield 13s. Buxton 7s —141b. wt of Luggage allowed, all above to paid for; Children on Lap Half price; Outside passengers to and from and Sheffield and Manchester 8s Buxton 4s
Note All Goods and Game, going or coming, the Public may depend on being deivered with the greatest Care and Expedition —lt is requested, that all Goods may be brought in Time, and the Carriage paid for them. For the greater expedition there will he several Changes ot horse on the road The Proprietors will not be accoutable for Money, Plate, Watches, Jewels, Rings, Writings, Glass, China, unless entered as such, and paid for accordingly.
Performed if GOD permit,
JOHN SWAINE at the Spread Eagle Salford
SAMUEL GI.ANVII.LE at the Angel Inn Sheffield
JOHN JONES, at the George Inn Warrington.
At the above Inns are good accommodation for Travellers; plus coaches for jobs to any part of England There are stationed at Liverpool several NEW PACKET BOATS betwixt there and Dublin
13s £57
8s £35
7s £31
4s £17.50
By the time of its heyday in the early 1800s the inn saw stage coaches also arriving from and departing to Birmingham, Doncaster, Carlisle, Hull, Manchester and Edinburgh - the interchange of its time.
But the Angel also played another important role in the life of the growing metropolis. Sheffield still had in the early 19th century no proper theatre, with the townsfolk relying instead on groups of strolling players. Handbills surviving from the time show that some of this entertainment was available at the Angel. It was certainly an important meeting place - with a hall and courtyard both for meetings and balls, somewhere to see and be seen.
So central was the hotel to the city's social life that in 1815 it was the venue of the official dinner to celebrate victory at the Battle of Waterloo. Doubtless the fare that night was something special.
A more typical dinner menu of the time boasted baked foul, cold ham, Yorkshire pudding, loin of roast mutton and gooseberry pie - all for 1s.6d (7 and a half pence).
The A - Z of Sheffield Public Houses by Michael Liversidge adds the following information. Confirming that the original Inn was built in 1657 he then states that it was demolished and replaced by a new Angel in 1816. One notable feature was a terracotta angel by Rossi that adorned the front of the Inn.
He also confirms that it was a Samuel Glanville who was the landlord at the time of the first coach services to London
By the 1850s the Angel was a family-run business and was officially being termed a hotel, which at its peak contained 55 bedrooms. And by 1899 the landlord of the day was consciously reflecting his hostelry's glorious past with the creation of a large stained glass window depicting the first stage coach to leave for London.
The Angel's final years were less distinguished. During the First World War the building was taken over by the Ministry For Pensions - and it lost its drinks licence, which never was to return. Worse was to follow in 1934, when the company running the reopened hotel was put in the hands of receivers and it was forced to close.
In its final days the Angel was the headquarters of Sheffield's special constables - before its day of destiny with the Luftwaffe in December 1940
After the war the site was derelict for many years before it became the site of the ABC Cinema.
It opened on 17th May 1961 but it did not last even 30 years closing on 28th January 1988. The cinema was demolished in 1989 to make soon after to make way for a prestigious retail development. Needless to say the site remained a temporary car park until the construction of a non-descript chain hotel in 2003.
NOTE
Tthe following information I obtained from the excellent Sheffield
History Forum
Angel - 15 Angel Street 1657 1940 List
of Licencees
Samuel
Glanville 1760 (died 14th July 1803, aged 83
1779 - 1809 Samuel Peech
1822 Thomas Walker
1828 Edward Hancock
1833 Edward Hancock (1837)
1837 Edward Hancock
1841 Frederick Wilkinson
1845 William Walker
1846 Frederick Wilkinson
1849 Frederick Wilkinson
1851 Frederick Wilkinson
1852 Frederick Wilkinson
1854 Frederick Wilkinson
1856 Frederick Wilkinson
1861 Frederick Wilkinson
1862 Frederick Wilkinson
1871 John North
1881 Tom Harry Thompson
1893 John Chambers
1901 Paul Roder
1905 Paul Roder
1911 Mrs Mary Robinson
Obituary,
with Anecdotes, of Remarkable Persons - Aged 70, after a life of great activity,
utility, and enterprise, Mr. Samuel Peech, who had kept the Angel inn, at
Sheffield for the last 30 years, and was well known throughout the kingdom as a
considerable coach-proprietor and post-master.
Additional :9th October 1809 At Sheffield, far advanced in age, Mrs Peech,
relict of Mr Samuel P. of the Angel inn there, whom she survived only a few
weeks.
Sources
Manchester Mercury dated Tuesday 21 May 1771
The A - Z of Sheffield Public Houses by Michael Liversidge
This page was last updated on 28/01/22 16:53