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The hunting lodge belonging to Waltheof, the Earl of Huntingdon was there at the time of the Norman Conguest but has long gone although there are many others round about as the hunting is very good and people still shoot the grouse today. It was in the village of Hallam, which adjoined the Roman road, known as Long Causey, leading from Buxton to Sheffield to Wattling Street (near Robin Hood's well) and was easily approached from that road. (It is close to Hathersage)

This is a short extract from the "Incunabula of Sheffield History" by T. Walter Hall.

"Hallam Head is well above the 900 feet contour-line and other parts of the manor of Hallam rise to 1450 feet, where they join the Peak of Derbyshire. The manor of Hallam also has hills on its north and north-east. Hallam had extensive moors of heather, ling and bilberry which covered its western half; and in addition, it had more than four square miles of woodland, in later years known as Fulwood.

Hallam Head and the village of Hallam were surrounded by moors and woods; and Rivelin Firth encroached on the manor of Hallam from the north, where in the 17th century some of the finest timber in England was to be found. It is said of Rivelin Firth, that a squirrel could travel from tree to tree for seven miles in a straight line without going to ground. In these woods of Hallam and Rivelin was much game; at Fulwood Booth, two miles west of Hallam Head, the earls of Shrewsbury had their deer-pastures.

The grouse- moors in Hallam were and yet are extensive and they occupied the western half of the manor, spreading for many miles over the county boundary into Derbyshire. The manor of Hallam, in the days of Waltheof, would make a strong appeal to the sporting instincts of the Saxon noble, who was devoted to the pleasure of the chase; it could give him what he priced more than a palace; it gave him the sport, with horse and hound with falcon and hawk, that he loved; and it seems probable that in no other part of his vast estates in England, could earl Waltheof get such variety of accessible sport, where all he could wish for as a sportsman surrounded the village of Hallam, in which his aula stood.

The site of this village had the great advantage of adjoining a Roman road, the Long Causey already mentioned, which coming from Templeborough and beyond, passed through Attercliffe and Sheffield along Hallam Gate to Hallam Head; thence over the bleak Stanage Edge near Hathersage (Robin Hood's Cave), 1450 feet high, to Brough and Buxton (Royal Forest). Hallam had twenty-nine ploughlands, worked by 232 oxen; these cultivated lands would be assart, which had been cleared of trees thicket or heather and also ridded of stone.

The existence of the ploughlands would find employment for a considerable population, tenants of the manor, who would owe suit of court and services to their lords. Hallam had about eight acres of meadow. Of the three adjoining manors, there can be no doubt that Hallam was the most important; and that before 1161 the shire of Hallam had evolved, absorbing Hallam, Attercliffe and Sheffield, along with other manors. For the Saxon earl, the great attraction of Hallam was doubtless its splendid moors, which provided such excellent sport for hawking, the ancient sport of kings princes and nobles, in which the squires yeomen and retainers were permitted to join.

In the days of Waltheof, the moors of Upper Hallam and Derwent would provide both red and black grouse, partridges, herons, curlews and hares for falcon and hawk; and the deer, red, fallow and roe, the wild boar, the wolf, the fox, the badger and perhaps the otter would be hunted with horse and hound. These facilities for sport would make this manor most attractive, as it is probable that in Saxon times there were few manors south of Hallam, that could boast a grouse- moor of any size, except perhaps on the Welsh border extending into Malbanc Forest and in Devon; but, with all its attractions for Waltheof, we have no reason to think that Hallam was a fitting home for a great Saxon earl; on the contrary it presented no advantages as the site of a palace, a castle or a hall befitting the dignity of a powerful Saxon noble; and these Waltheof as earl of Northumberland possessed in other parts of England. We have no evidence that Waltheof ever made Hallam his permanent home; but with sixteen berewicks and twenty-nine ploughlands, he would require a manor-house, where his halimote or court could be held and the business of the manor transacted; and where he might from time to time entertain his friends, when they came to visit him at what we may perhaps properly describe as his hunting seat, a form of residence not unknown, in those days, as to which we have reliable evidence.

The Golf Course was "common-land" for the use of the villagers.

Thank you nybor edoh. I notice Walter T Hall mentions that the Earl of Shrewsbury was the local landowner around Hallam and Loxley and this is something I have never investigated but perhaps now may be the time to do it. I don't suppose you know anything about him do you?

Waltheof was early (Conquest) and that is the period Walter Hall was talking about. I was thinking about Robert of Bellême, 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury who belonged to the house of Montgomery with connections in Wales. He seems an interesting character. I wondered who administered Hallam for him, this was in the days of Henry I, when he made quite a commotion and was exiled and I hear stories of Robin Hood killing his Lord. I have often wondered who that might be, probably someone put there by Belleme? I would love to know more.

P.S. Something has clicked in my memory and I am sure it was an early Belleme who plotted against the Conqueror and he involved Waltheof at a wedding feast, and it Waltheof's confession to the Conqueror that led to his beheading?