The Old Queen’s Head, Pond Hill
I was walking through town yesterday and passed this pub, The Old Queen’s Head. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it before but according to Wikipedia it is the oldest domestic building in the city and is named after the decapitated Mary Queen of Scots.
On the outside of the building there is a carving of Spring Heeled Jack, a legendary figure of English folklore who supposedly lived in tunnels below the city and would jump out to scare people.
The period exterior contrasts starkly with the sea of modern urban development in the surrounding area, making the pub well worth a look next time you are nearby. Has anyone been inside?
The Old Queen's Head pub, Pond Hill, Sheffield
Simon
/ 6 February, 2009I’ve never been in, but I think the potential quaintness of Sheffield’s oldest domestic building is slightly marred by having a 1990s transport interchange literally joined onto it.
Moses Humberstone
/ 6 February, 2009I’ve been in a few times, usually whilst waiting for a coach at the interchange. It’s quite old fashioned inside, but no older or quainter than a lot of other pubs in a lot newer buildings. I can’t remember the name of the beer they have there, but I remember that it’s from Liverpool. I believe that the Sheffield Pagan Society meets there too!
Ian Wild
/ 6 February, 2009When I worked at SDL (In the old Dyson House opposite) I was a regular in here. The beer was good, but it wasn’t a particularly nice pub. Then again, compared to the others in the vicinity it is pretty good.
It used to have an upstairs function room, and once when we were in there a wall collapsed under the weight of water from a leak.
Once the eCampus opens I can see this pub getting pretty busy. I hope they improve the food (which was awful) as I will be working in there myself, and have been known to give a pub or two in good business if the prove themselves worthy
Ian
Ian Wild
/ 6 February, 2009@Moses – The beer was Thwaites iirc.
Simon Geller
/ 6 February, 2009It’s a decent enough pub and sells a reasonable ale if I remember rightly. Always seems a bit incongruous jammed up next to the bus station (“pity they built it so close to the bus station” or “pity they built it so close to the airport” as the american tourist saiud about Windsor Castle)
Ian Wild
/ 6 February, 2009@me I think I mean Herriott house rather than Dyson. God that was a long time ago.
parsley_sage
/ 8 February, 2009I have been in the Queen’s Head numerous times, I have also been there as part of a Ghost Walk (private party) these take place at regular intervals and the private ones (arranged by groups) end here as it is reported to also be the most haunted of Sheffield’s buildings! Anyone seen any of the ghosts?
Mike Cudzich-Madry
/ 16 February, 2009Being a Sheffielder (despite the name! – father WWII Polish RAF pilot), there is an old legend that Sheffield has a network of underground tunnels one of which used to link directly to the cellars of The Old Queen’s Head and is now bricked up. The story goes that these tunnels had their entrances outside the town walls (Sheffield didn’t become a city until the 1920′s) and they were to be used for an armed insurrection to free Mary Queen of Scots who was held for a time at Sheffield Castle and particularly at the ‘keep’ at the Manor annexe of the Castle. This latter building is still there on the fringes of the notorious Manor Council Housing Estate surrounded by council houses; it too is worth a visit.
There were press reports of workers accidently breaking into the tunnels and one story tells of two workers who followed one tunnel for a hundred yards or so where it opened into a room that had rusty armour, pole arms and swords in it; the tunnel continued out the other side but they had to turn back because of bad air. Apparently the tunnel fell in before it could be explored further.
Best regards,
Mike Cudzich-Madry
Phil Mcgowan
/ 15 May, 2012This does not surprise me at all , a great shame about this particular tunnel i hope one day it is discovered