Joseph Mountain from Uppleby 1833-1893 & the Victoria Gardens, Totley, Sheffield

 

Joseph Mountain, from Easingwold  was assuredly one of the great pioneers in the development of a greater Sheffield, possibly not so much with the end in view so much as for his personal well-being

He was responsible for The Victoria Gardens at Totley were at one time a significant pleasure ground to rival Manchester's Belle Vue. There were 14 acres and included a menagerie, ballroom, boating lake and more.

For more details  on his life story see the Totley History Group 

http://www.totleyhistorygroup.org.uk/people-of-interest/joseph-mountain/

Fate hit Joseph Mountain very hard during a stormy life, which ended in May 1893 at Totley Rise from the third stroke which he had had within the space of eight days. He was assuredly one of the great pioneers in the development of a greater Sheffield possibly not so much with the end in view so much as for his personal well-being. He was a very great purchaser of land, a very shrewd man, a very extensive builder and wealth beyond the ordinary was with him when like a bolt out of the blue, all was changed. Quite unexpectedly land values fell away very alarmingly in the town itself and also in all surrounding districts so that inevitably the pioneer suffered greatly. He was part owner of the Farnham estates in the Rotherham district but those who were also associated with him had nothing like his vision and, following on purchase of the estate refused to proceed with a desirable development of the property. The result was that when land values dropped greatly and as an inevitable result local trade also fell away the estate was unproductive and a dead weight. So, with an overload of trouble in every direction he was compelled to file his own petition but at the first meeting of his creditors his discharge was granted. The well remembered pleasure gardens, the Victoria Gardens as they were known, were laid out by him and opened at Whitsuntide in 1882 with menageries and wonderful schemes for attracting the Sheffield people but Totley was too far away from the town in those days. The vision was allright but it came thirty years too soon. He was in the council in 1873, Alderman six years later, then defeating W J Clegg by 25 votes to 24, and in 1881 was nominated as Mayor but failed to secure election. He was sixty years old when he died.