12th Century

The Green Estate site was once at the centre of the Great Sheffield Park – a 2,500 acre medieval deer park. Bess of Hardwick and George Talbot lived here in Tudor Times and built the beautiful Sheffield Manor Lodge, which you can still visit to this day. Mary, Queen of Scots was sent by Queen Elizabeth I to live in captivity with Bess and George for around 14 years. Other notable visitors to Sheffield Manor Lodge included Henry VIII’s chancellor Cardinal Wolsey, who was on his way to stand trial for high treason in London.

20th Century

Over time, the area has been home to a nationally-acclaimed pottery ‘Manor Ware‘ and one of the first colliery villages. In the 1930s, the area was urbanised and Garden City Estates were built to house the coal and steelworkers. Following the industrial decline into the 1980s and early 1990s, poorly constructed housing was demolished, and poverty and unemployment was rife. With a lack of investment and opportunity, people became disillusioned with the system, which can be heard by people from the Manor Castle ward in the documentary ‘On the Manor‘ set in 1987.

In a 1995 newspaper article, Roy Hattersley MP unfairly labelled the area as ‘the worst estate in Britain’. This triggered action which helped bring much needed regeneration funds into the area, resulting in the setting up of Manor and Castle Development Trust.

The Trust worked with Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust to set up a small two-person Environment and Heritage project with the idea of ‘regenerating the derelict heritage buildings and landscape’. Sue France and Brett Nuttall, founders of The Green Estate, set a culture of ‘social’ and ‘enterprise’ right from the beginning by investing in the assets to benefit local communities.

Manor Oaks House, before and after

Over 20 Years of The Green Estate

The Green Estate was formally incorporated in 2003, soon becoming one of the early adopters of the Community Interest Company constitution. The team joined forces with other partners to design and test innovative solutions to social, economic and environmental challenges.

One example was the development of Pictorial Meadows with Professor Nigel Dunnett and Professor James Hitchmough from the University of Sheffield. Originally designed to transform tricky brownfield sites, increase biodiversity, reduce antisocial behaviour and bring joy to local residents, The Green Estate now trades Pictorial Meadows Seed Mixes and Wildflower Turf across the UK and into the EU.

The Green Estate has had much success over the years and now manages over 42 hectares of land in S2. Where there was old derelict buildings considered a liability, there is now £9 million-worth of heritage facilities. Where there was no-go wasteland with burnt-out cars and antisocial behaviour, there is now Green Flag Award-winning parklands, beautiful urban meadows, Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems and a circular economy green recycling unit. Where there was stigma, abandonment and disillusionment, there is now innovation, partnership and hope.

We now stand on the shoulders of giants by continuing to balancing ‘social’ and ‘enterprise’ whilst using our incredible legacy to find innovative solutions to social, economic and environmental issues in S2, Sheffield, South Yorkshire and beyond.

Find out more about our history from our Board Director Miranda Plowden and more about who we are today here.