The Sheffield Planting Company was formed in August 1823 by a group of Sheffield businessmen, who between them subscribed £5,750 as initial capital. Allotments of land had been made to Charles Brookfield, the principal shareholder, under the Hathersage Enclosure Award (a process which started in 1808 and was finalised in 1830) and the sum of £2,228 9s 6d was paid for the land, with the remainder of the capital being spent on fencing, drainage and planting.

By 1830 the company was beginning to receive an income when Benjamin Eyre, the woodman was ordered to send 500 poles to Sheffield for sale, a process which was repeated at regular intervals, and sales were then held every Monday at the Plantation of poles obtained by thinning the trees. However, this income was not sufficient and in 1831 a further call of £2 10s per share was made in order to clear the company's indebtedness to its bankers.

Relations between the company and the Duke of Rutland, who held adjoining land, appear to have not always been good. In 1831 the company turned down a request by the Duke to drive a road through the plantation from Longshaw to Grindleford Bridge Road, and in 1844 the permission for the Duke to use a footpath from Longshaw to Yarncliffe was withdrawn. In 1833 the Duke diverted a watercourse to make a fish pond which was 'materially injurious to the Plantation' and a request was made through the Duke's agent, Mr D'Ewes Coke, that the water be 'restored to its ancient channels'. This was done.

There seems to have been some disagreements over the management of the plantation and in 1833 a Mr Richard Surtees, woodman to Earl Fitzwilliam and Lord Wharncliffe, was commissioned to give his opinion about the state of the plantation and make any suggestions regarding its improvement. He reported that he was satisfied with the methods being adopted, and stressed the importance of regular pruning and thinning, stating that woods which were left to grow too thick led to loss to the property.

By 1840 regular dividends were being paid to shareholders, although a dividend of £1 per share voted in 1850 was never paid due to lack of funds and the resolution was rescinded in 1851.

In 1854 the Duke of Rutland requested the 'sole privilege of shooting in the Longshaw Plantation' at a rent of £10 per annum and this was granted to him. However, by this time the committee were considering the sale of the plantation and offered it to the Duke, but failed to reach an agreement at that time. In 1855 they contemplated disposing of the plantation at a public auction, and later that year sold the land to the Duke for the sum of £3,300.

Sources

• Sheffield Planting Company Minute Book - Sheffield Archive, Bradbury Collection No 314
• A Descriptive Catalogue of Charters and Manorial Records relating to lands in Tankersly, Fanshawe Gate, Dinnington & Longshaw compiled by T Walter Hill