Geography of Sheffield
Sheffield has more trees per person than any city in Europe,[2] outnumbering people 4 to 1. It has over 170 woodlands covering 28.27 km2 (6,990 acres), 78 public parks covering 18.30 km2 (4,520 acres) and 10 public gardens. Added to the 134.66 km2 (33,280 acres) of national park and 10.87 km2 (2,690 acres) of water this means that 61% of the 362.38 km2 that the city encompasses is greenspace.[3]
Sheffield also has more types of habitat than any city in the UK. As well as urban, parkland and woodland it has agricultural and arable land, moors, meadows and freshwater based habitats. Large parts of the city are designated as Site of Special Scientific Interest including several urban areas.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c3/Sheffield_wide_from_Meersbrook_Park.jpg/800px-Sheffield_wide_from_Meersbrook_Park.jpg)
Location
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/EnglandSheffield.png)
Sheffield is located at 53°23′N 1°28′W / 53.383°N 1.467°W. Historically, Sheffield was part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and, before this, the Saxon shire of Hallamshire. This area is now part of the county of South Yorkshire, and borders on Nottinghamshire's forests and the Derbyshire Dales.
The city lies directly next to
The Sheffield metropolitan area includes the
Geology and mineral exploitation
The oldest rocks found in the area, formed around 320 million years ago, are of the
Carboniferous rocks in Europe generally consist of a repeated sequence of limestone and/or sandstone, shale and coal beds.[2] The Carboniferous coal beds provided much of the fuel for power generation during the Industrial Revolution. (Another natural source of fuel in the area was peat, the neighbouring peat moors having started forming around 10,000 years ago).
The South Yorkshire Coalfield, formerly in the West Riding of Yorkshire (of which Sheffield was traditionally part), was one of the chief sources of mineral wealth in the region. Several types of coal were present in the county, from bituminous (ideal for domestic heating) to "Thick Coal", of a semi-anthracitic quality, appropriate for use in iron-smelting and in engine furnaces. Associated with the Upper Coal Measures were valuable
Rivers and streams
The city of Sheffield derives its name from the
Limb Brook rises at the village of Ringinglow, flowing east to merge with the Sheaf and it was close to this point that part of the stream was diverted to provide the goit for the Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet millpond.
The source of the River Sheaf itself is the union of
Porter Brook's source is just inside the
The River Don rises in the Pennines and flows for 70 miles (110 km) eastwards, through the Don Valley, via Penistone, Sheffield, Rotherham, Mexborough, Conisbrough, Doncaster and Stainforth. The river's major tributaries are the Loxley, the Rivelin, the Sheaf, the Rother and the Dearne.
The sources of the Rivers Loxley and Rivelin lie to the north west of Sheffield, on the
The Wyming Brook is a river in the City of Sheffield. Its source is the Redmires Reservoirs near the Hallam Moors. It flows in a north-easterly direction for over 0.6 miles (0.97 km) down quite steep terrain into an underground chamber where it joins the Rivelin tunnel before it flows into the lower of the Rivelin Dams.
The River Rother rises at
Being at the confluence of several natural waterways, the development of a canal system marked an important evolution in the city's transport network, initially for commercial use and, more recently, for leisure activities. The
Natural history
Sheffield's beginnings
The village of Sheffield dates back to before the beginning of the last
The villages steadily grew around this industry. By the 18th century Sheffield had become a thriving market town and was already the country's leading cutlery producer.
Industrial revolution
With the coming of the
However, in the 1930s Sheffield City Council and public benefactors such as
Urban area
The residential areas cover the majority of the south and north-west of the city, the most affluent areas being in the south-west. A lot of the housing is post-
Large parts of the city are industrial, mainly in the
Although the vast majority of the green space is outside the main urban area, all the parkland and 14.00 km2 (3,460 acres) of woodland is within the urban area. The largest park is Graves Park at 0.83 km2, closely followed by Endcliffe Park. The largest wood is Ecclesall Woods at 1.35 km2 (330 acres).[4]
Areas
Sheffield is made up of numerous areas that vary widely in size and history. Many of these areas developed from villages or
While the majority of the areas are within the main urban area of Sheffield some of the outlying areas remain separated by rural land. The largest such area is Stocksbridge and Deepcar, which contains around 13,500 people. The rural two thirds of the city contains under 3,000 people[5].
Climate
Like the rest of the United Kingdom, the climate in Sheffield is generally
Due to the differences in altitude, the weather can be vastly different over various parts of the city. Deepcar and Stocksbridge tend to be among the first to receive snowfall and get heavier downpours.
The high ground of the Peak District to the west of Sheffield usually shelters the city from high winds in the prevailing direction, meaning the city is usually spared the worst impacts of intense storms in other areas of the country. In certain circumstances however, if the winds align perfectly with the river valleys, Sheffield can actually be disproportionately affected, as was the case with the Great Sheffield Gale in 1962; four people died and 150,000 houses in the city suffered damage.[5]
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Avg high °C (°F) | 5.5 (41.9) | 6 (42.8) | 8.5 (47.3) | 12 (53.6) | 15 (59) | 18 (64.4) | 19.5 (67.1) | 19 (66.2) | 17 (62.6) | 13 (55.4) | 8 (46.4) | 7 (44.6) | 12 (53.6) |
Avg low temperature °C (°F) | 1.5 (34.7) | 2 (35.6) | 3 (37.4) | 4.5 (40.1) | 6.5 (43.7) | 10.5 (50.9) | 12.5 (54.5) | 12 (54.5) | 10.5 (50.9) | 7.5 (45.5) | 4.5 (40.1) | 2 (35.6) | 6.5 (43.7) |
Source: J. W. Baggaley, Director of Museums, Sheffield City Council |
Pollution
The pollution problem was at its most severe in the 1960s, when Sheffield was one of the most polluted cities in Europe. Since that time, due to council measures started in the 1950s and an increase in efficiency in the steel industry, it has improved greatly. In a 2005 survey Tinsley (48 parts per billion (ppb) of oxides of nitrogen (NOx)) still came 9th in a ranking of the UK pollution hotspots, while the city centre (43 ppb of NOx) remained above the government's recommended level of 21ppb NOx. [7]
It is, however, important to evaluate several aspects of air pollution, and especially to take into consideration overall average values, rather than localized peak values sometimes cited. The UK National Air Quality Information Archive offers almost real-time monitoring "current maximum" air pollution measurements for Sheffield (City Centre and Tinsley districts) as well as many other UK towns and cities.
The European Commission's COST Action C11 (COST- European Cooperation in Science and Technology) cites, in its conclusions on "Case studies in Greenstructure Planning" involving 15 European countries:-
" Sheffield is fortunate to have one of the strongest green structures of any city in the UK. This green structure, which at its core is linked by watercourses, underlies the City. The effectiveness of the river system as the core of the green structure is supplemented by: the agricultural area, the moorland, the woodlands and water features which lie outside the built-up area. The public open spaces within the built-up area and extensive private gardens, which cover much of the surface of the City outside its core area, are also linked to this system ",
and
" All the features of the green structure in effect work together to make the City more environmentally sustainable: for example, together they act as a sponge to reduce flash flooding; they support a relatively high level of biodiversity, particularly because of the extent of the gardens and the existence of the natural corridors along the rivers; the valleys drain cooler air down from the hilltops towards the city centre and the industrial areas beyond, improving air quality and also temperatures in the summer in the built-up core ".
Green belt
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5f/Sheffield-Green-Belt.svg/400px-Sheffield-Green-Belt.svg.png)
Sheffield is within a
The green belt surrounds the
A subsidiary aim of the green belt is to encourage recreation and leisure interests,
References
- ^ a b "A Short History of Sheffield" (PDF). Sheffield City Council. Sheffield City Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 August 2019. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
- ^ Stanley, 426.
- ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 932.
- ^ a b Addy, Sidney Oldall (1888). A Glossary of Words Used in the Neighbourhood of Sheffield. Including a Selection of Local Names, and Some Notices of Folk-Lore, Games, and Customs. London: Trubner & Co. for the English Dialect Society. pp. xxix–xxx.
- ^ Eden, Philip. "THE SHEFFIELD GALE OF 1962" (PDF). Royal Meteorological Society. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
- ^ a b "Green Belt Review". www.sheffield.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 22 March 2018. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
- ^ a b "Adopted Sheffield Local Plan". www.sheffield.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 22 March 2018. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
- ^ "Green belt statistics - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk.
- ^ "Case Study—Sheffield, UK". Greenstructures and Urban Planning. (Accessed 27 September 2005)
- ^ Trees & Woodlands in Sheffield Sheffield City Council (Accessed 11 August 2006)
- ^ Greenstructure and Urban Planning European Cooperation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research (Accessed 11 August 2006)
- ^ Oxford Tops UK Air Pollution List research by Calor Gas Ltd. (Accessed 2 September 2006)
- ^ Sheffield averages (1971–2000). The Met Office. (Accessed 27 September 2005)
- ^ Neighbourhood profiles Population figures for Sheffield districts. (Accessed 27 September 2005)
- ^ Council website Information of parkland and woodland. (Accessed 30 September 2005)