The modern photo was taken from the Rivelin Valley Road junction, and shows the view along Holme Lane towards Hillsborough. The old photograph shows the same view, though was possibly taken from a little further to the right, and a little further back. The 'Malin Bridge Inn' is indicated in both pictures (the current one was built on the same site as the original)

Samuel Harrison writes of the incidents connected with the Stag Inn:

'The Stag public house was situated opposite the row of houses which were destroyed at Malin Bridge. The following is a list of its occupants, who were all drowned --Eliza Armitage, aged 67; William Armitage, aged 37; his wife Ann, aged 42; five children of William Armitage; a servant named Elizabeth Crownshaw, and two lodgers, named James Frith and Henry Hall. The house was swept away, and all the inmates were drowned. The body of Mrs. Armitage was found with nothing upon it except a pair of stockings. The servant, Elizabeth Crownshaw [see grave-stone below], had been there only a few days. Her brother, Joseph Crownshaw, who lives near Wisewood Works, higher up the valley, had just got home from Sheffield when he saw the flood coming; he immediately thought of his sister at the Stag Inn, and resolved to set off to her rescue. When he had proceeded only a few yards the water knocked him down, and he fell on his back. He managed to get up again, and it was all he could do to save himself. At the back of the Stag Inn, several cottages were demolished, and in them were drowned Thomas Bates, his wife, and two children; Thomas Bullond or Bullard, and his wife; also Greaves Armitage, his wife, and two children. Greaves Armitage was brother to Mr Armitage, of the Stag Inn; so that there were twelve of this family drowned.' (GFAS)

Geoffrey Amey's version of the events:

'The stone bridge at Malin Bridge was battered and borne away, after which the flood divided into two principal courses of destruction. Just a few yards from where the Spooners died was the Stag Inn, of which little was left standing. The landlady, Eliza Armitage, an elderly widow, was drowned along with her son, William, an anvil maker of thirty-five, his wife, Ann, and their five young children; next door the younger son, Greaves (twenty-eight), who followed the same trade as his brother, died with his wife, Maria, and their two little daughters, aged three years and four months. So departed twelve Armitages in a matter of seconds. That inn also proved a death trap for Elizabeth Crownshaw, a seventeen year old domestic servant, for Henry Hall (a guest there that night) and for James Frith.' (CDDD)

In Affectionate Remembrance of ELIZA ARMITAGE AGED 67 YEARS ALSO HER TWO SONS AND THEIR WIVES AND SEVEN CHILDREN WHO WERE ALL DROWNED AT MALIN BRIDGE BY THE BRADFIELD INUNDATION, SATURDAY MARCH 12th 1864, SEVEN OF WHOM WERE INTERRED HERE MARCH 16th THOSE MARKED THUS * HAVE NOT BEEN FOUND WILLIAM ARMITAGE AGED 36 YEARS ALSO HIS WIFE ANN. AGED 42 YEARS AND THEIR FIVE CHILDREN CHARLES. AGED 11 YEARS *HENRY. AGED 9 YEARS *SAMUEL. AGED 7 YEARS WILLIAM. AGED 4 YEARS AND *MARIA. AGED 3 YEARS. GREAVES ARMITAGE AGED 28 YEARS ALSO HIS WIFE MARIA AGED 30 YEARS AND THEIR TWO CHILDREN *MARY. AGED 3 YEARS  AND  *ELIZABETH AGED 4 MONTHS  (VERSE)

In Affectionate Remembrance of HANNAH ELIZABETH, THE BELOVED DAUGHTER OF JOHN AND HANNAH CROWNSHAW, WHO WAS DROWNED IN THE INUNDATION AT MALIN BRIDGE. MARCH 12th 1864. AGED 17 YEARS. THE ROSE IN ITS BEAUTIFUL BLOOM, THE SUN'S BRIGHTEST GLORIES DECLINE: SO EARLY CAME IN TO THE TOMB, REPENT LEST THE CAST SHOULD BE THINE. THE BUSY TRIBES OF FLESH AND BLOOD, WITH ALL THEIR CARES AND FEARS: ARE CARRIED DOWNWARD BY THE FLOOD, AND LOST IN FOLLOWING YEARS. ALSO THE ABOVE NAMED JOHN CROWNSHAW, WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE JANUARY 20th 1881, AGED 67 YEARS, ALSO HANNAH RELICT OF THE ABOVE WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE AUGUST 2nd 1883, AGED 70 YEARS.

Two pictures of the Malin Bridge Inn, both viewed in roughly the same direction - towards Hillsborough. Only one corner of the building - that containing the chimney stack - remains standing. The illustration on the right, 'by our special artist', was captioned 'Searching for the dead at Malin Bridge' and presented in the ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS SUPPLEMENT, APRIL 2 1864.

'Nearly opposite to the Stag Inn stood the Malin Bridge Inn, better known as the Cleakum public house.' This was occupied by George Bisby, who was forty-two and doubled as innkeeper and carter; his wife, Sarah; and five of their children: all were swept to their deaths by the raging torrent. 'The ruins of this place attracted the notice of all visitors from its very picturesque and extraordinary appearance. A strong chimney stack, which formed the centre of the house, was left standing with a small portion of the walls of the building. The interior was completely exposed, the floors of the rooms were hanging down supported only at two sides, and altogether the ruins were such as to strike the mind of the visitor with wonder that the destruction should have gone so far and yet have stopped where it did. The body of Bisby and that of his eldest daughter, Teresa, who was fourteen, were found four days later at Sheffield; those of the other five Bisbys were never identified.' (CDDD/GFAS)

'The following anecdote is related in connection with the Cleakum Inn [Malin Bridge Inn]. Some days after the flood a girl named Bisby, about seventeen years of age, the only survivor of the family, she having been from home at the time of the flood, was seen near the wreck of her father's house, apparently in great distress. "With eyes red with tears, she was searching the ruins for mementoes of her lost family, gathering together teacups and saucers and other relics which overhanging stones had preserved more or less completely from destruction. Sympathising visitors clustered round her, to console her distress offering shillings and sixpences for relics not worth a straw. Apparently the poor girl cared nothing for the money, but she allowed the visitors to have their way as regarded all but a few relics to which she clung as too precious to be parted with. Brawny men were to be seen cramming saucers, cups, &c., thus purchased, into their pockets, declaring with tremulous voices their intention to preserve them as mementoes of the sad calamity, but evidently caring more about helping the poor girl in this delicate way than about the relics themselves."' (GFAS)

This family lived in a cottage near the Stag Inn (Opposite the Malin Bridge Inn) at Malin Bridge. The verse on the grave-stone is somewhat intriguing - was Annie the young child orphaned? If so, why did she not perish with the rest of her family? The ages on the stone suggest that she could have been the eldest daughter, married, and therefore not living 'at home' when the flood occurred; but if this is the case, there must have been another young child belonging to the family, who, for some reason, survived the catastrophe.

THIS STONE WAS ERECTED BY ANNIE BATES, IN AFFECTIONATE REMEMBRANCE OF HER BLEOVED FATHER, MOTHER AND THREE BROTHERS. WHO WERE DROWNED IN THE GREAT FLOOD. MARCH 12th 1864. THOMAS BATES, AGED 42. HARRIET, HIS WIFE AGED 40 GEORGE, AGED 19. TOM, AGED 11. ALSO WALTER, AGED 15. WHO IS NOT FOUND   DEAREST FRIEND WE'RE GONE BEFORE, OUR LOVE TO YOU WILL BE NO MORE: WEEP NOT FOR US, BUT PITY TAKE, AND LOVE OUR ORPHAN FOR OUR SAKE.

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7 - September - 01

Mick Armitage (e-mail)