Low Bradfield

Low Bradfield is a village within the civil parish of Bradfield in South Yorkshire, England. It is situated within the boundary of the city of Sheffield in the upper part of the Loxley Valley, 6¼ miles west-northwest of the city centre and just inside the northeast boundary of the Peak District National Park. Low Bradfield and the surrounding area is noted for its attractive countryside which draws many visitors from the more urban parts of Sheffield. At weekends the village can become quite crowded, especially when there is a match on the village cricket pitch. Low Bradfield which stands in the shadow of Agden Reservoir has a sister village High Bradfield which is located at a higher altitude, ½ mile to the northeast. The two villages are joined by the steep Woodfall Lane.

The earliest historical sign of settlement in the Bradfield area is an early to mid Bronze Age ring cairn on Broomhead Moors, three miles to the northwest of Low Bradfield. This is believed to be a ritual or burial site from over 4,000 years ago. On the ridge between Bradfield Dale and the Ewden Valley is the Bar Dike, a 492 yards long trench with a rampart on its southern side which is 10 feet high in places. The dike is believed to have marked the boundary between different Dark Ages tribes in the period following the withdrawal of The Romans from Britain.

There is evidence of Anglo-Saxon settlement within the Low Bradfield area with the discovery in 1870 of an Anglo-Saxon cross in a field near the site of the former Cross Inn not far from the village centre. It has been examined by Sheffield University's Phil Sidebottom who has compared it to similar crosses found in Staffordshire that were put up in the middle of the 10th century. He says the cross’s hammer head design confirms that it dates to just before the Norman conquest. The cross can now be seen in the nave of St. Nicholas' Church at High Bradfield.

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