User:JeremyA/sandbox/History of Sheffield

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A 1736 map of Sheffield

The history of Sheffield, a city in

last ice age, but significant growth in the settlements that are now incorporated into the city did not occur until the Industrial Revolution
.

Following the

Sheffield Plate was discovered. The associated industries led to the rapid growth of Sheffield; the town was incorporated as a borough in 1843 and granted a city charter
in 1893.

Sheffield remained a major industrial city throughout the first half of the 20th century, but the downturn in world trade following the 1973 oil crisis, technological improvements and economies of scale, and a wide-reaching rationalisation in steel production throughout the European Economic Community led to the closure of many of the steelworks from the early 1970s onward. Urban and economic regeneration schemes, initiated in the late 1980s, have since transformed the city.

Early history

Photograph showing a moorland view. The moor is covered in heather of varying shades of brown. Stones are scattered across the moor. In the middle distance there is a rock outcrop atop a small hill. Behind it is a larger hill with a flat top.
Carl Wark, an Iron Age hill fort in southwest Sheffield

The earliest evidence of human occupation in the Sheffield area was found at

prehistoric remains found in Sheffield include a Mesolithic "house"—a circle of stones in the shape of a hut-base dating to around 8000 BC, found at Deepcar, in the northern part of the city.[2]

During the

Lodge Moor
(both suburbs of the modern city).

In the

Midlands.[4]

The

Rivelin Valley south of Stannington, close to the likely course of the Templeborough to Brough-on-Noe road. In addition there have been finds dating from the Roman period on Walkley Bank Road, which leads onto the valley bottom.[n 1] There have been small finds of Roman coins throughout the Sheffield area, for example 19 coins were found near Meadowhall in 1891,[14] 13 in Pitsmoor in 1906,[15] and ten coins were found at a site alongside Eckington cemetery in December 2008.[16] Roman burial urns were also found at Bank Street near Sheffield Cathedral, which, along with the name of the old lane behind the church (Campo Lane[n 2]), has led to speculation that there may have been a Roman camp at this site.[n 3]
However, it is unlikely that the settlement that grew into Sheffield existed at this time.

Following the departure of the Romans, the Sheffield area may have been the southern part of the

Walha, and was originally used by the Anglo-Saxons to refer to the native Britons.[n 4]

The origins of Sheffield

Black and white drawing of an elongated rectangular stone carved with geometric and spiral patterns.
Engraving showing detail of one face of the Sheffield Cross

The name Sheffield is

Norton, Owlerton, Southey, Tinsley, Totley, Wadsley, and Walkley
.

Photograph showing a rough hewn stone covered with lichen. Mounted on the stone there is an oval tablet carved with a dragon. The text reads King Ecgbert of Wessex led his army to Dore in the year A-D 829 against King Eanred of Nothumbria by whose submission King Ecgbert became first overlord of all England.
Monument in Dore commemorating King Egbert's victory

The earliest evidence of this settlement is thought to be the

King Egbert of Wessex at the hamlet of Dore (now a suburb of Sheffield): "Egbert led an army against the Northumbrians as far as Dore, where they met him, and offered terms of obedience and subjection, on the acceptance of which they returned home". This event made Egbert the first Saxon to claim to be king of all of England.[26]

The latter part of the 9th century saw a wave of

King Athelstan
.

In 937 the combined armies of

Edmund
, re-conquered the Midlands, as far as Dore, in 942, and captured Northumbria in 944.

The

Waltheof
, for some years after the conquest. The Domesday Book was ordered written by William the Conqueror so that the value of the townships and manors of England could be assessed. The entries in the Domesday Book are written in a Latin shorthand; the extract for this area begins:

TERRA ROGERII DE BVSLI
M. hi Hallvn, cu XVI bereuvitis sunt. XXIX. carucate trae
Ad gld. Ibi hb Walleff com aula...

Translated it reads:

LANDS OF ROGER DE BUSLI
Photograph showing an old stone church with a short wide tower. The view is taken from a graveyard, there is a large tomb stone in the foreground and the church is surrounded by trees.
Remains of Beauchief Abbey.
In Hallam, one manor with its sixteen hamlets, there are twenty-nine carucates [~14 km2] to be taxed. There Earl Waltheof had an "Aula" [hall or court]. There may have been about twenty ploughs. This land Roger de Busli holds of the Countess Judith. He has himself there two carucates [~1 km2] and thirty-three villeins hold twelve carucates and a half [~6 km2]. There are eight acres [32,000 m2] of meadow, and a pasturable wood, four leuvae in length and four in breadth [~10 km2]. The whole manor is ten leuvae in length and eight broad [207 km2]. In the time of Edward the Confessor it was valued at eight marks of silver [£5.33]; now at forty shillings [£2.00].
In Attercliffe and Sheffield, two manors, Sweyn had five carucates of land [~2.4 km2] to be taxed. There may have been about three ploughs. This land is said to have been inland, demesne [domain] land of the manor of Hallam.

The reference is to Roger de Busli, tenant-in-chief in Domesday and one of the greatest of the new wave of Norman magnates. Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria had been executed in 1076 for his part in an uprising against William I. He was the last of the Anglo-Saxon earls still remaining in England a full decade after the Norman conquest. His lands had passed to his wife, Judith of Normandy, niece to William the Conqueror. The lands were held on her behalf by Roger de Busli.

The Domesday Book refers to Sheffield twice, first as Escafeld, then later as Scafeld. Sheffield historian S. O. Addy suggests that the second form, pronounced Shaffeld, is the truer form,[19] as the spelling Sefeld is found in a deed issued less than one hundred years after the completion of the survey.[n 5] Addy comments that the E in the first form may have been mistakenly added by the Norman scribe.

Roger de Busli died around the end of the 11th century, and was succeeded by a son, who died without an heir. The family's lands passed to

St. Mary's at Ecclesfield at the start of the 12th century in addition to Sheffield's own parish church. He also built the original wooden Sheffield Castle, which stimulated the growth of the town.[21][8]

Also dating from this time is Beauchief Abbey, which was founded by Robert FitzRanulf de Alfreton. The abbey was dedicated to Saint Mary and Saint Thomas Becket, who had been canonised in 1172. Thomas Tanner, writing in 1695, stated that it was founded in 1183.[30] However, Samuel Pegge in his History of Beauchief Abbey notes that Albinas, the abbot of Derby, who was one of the witnesses to the charter of foundation, died in 1176, placing foundation before that date.[31]

Mediaeval Sheffield

Following the death of William de Lovetot, the manor of Hallamshire passed to his son Richard de Lovetot and then his son William de Lovetot before being passed by marriage to

William II Wickwane the Archbishop of York around 1280. In 1295 Thomas de Furnival's son (also Thomas) was the first lord of Hallamshire to be called to Parliament, thus taking the title Lord Furnivall.[34] On 12 November 1296 Edward I granted a charter for a market to be held in Sheffield on Tuesday each week. This was followed on 10 August 1297 by a charter from Lord Furnival establishing Sheffield as a free borough.[35][36] The Sheffield Town Trust was established in the Charter to the Town of Sheffield, granted in 1297. De Furnival, granted land to the freeholders of Sheffield in return for an annual payment, and a Common Burgery administrated them. The Burgery originally consisted of public meetings of all the freeholders,[37] who elected a Town Collector.[38] Two more generations of Furnivals held Sheffield before it passed by marriage to Sir Thomas Nevil and then, in 1406, to John Talbot, the first Earl of Shrewsbury.[33]

Photograph showing a timber-framed house. There are tow sections to the building at right angles to each other forming a T shape. The ground level of the building has stone walls, whereas the upper floor has wattle and daub infill.
The Bishops' House.

In 1430 the 1280 Sheffield parish church building was pulled down and replaced. Parts of this new church still stand today and it is now Sheffield city centre's oldest surviving building, forming the core of

Church of St. Mary, Ecclesfield.[41]

The fourth Earl of Shrewsbury,

Elizabethan building, which may have been built to accommodate the captive queen. A room, believed to have been the queen's, has an elaborate plaster ceiling and overmantle, with heraldic decorations.[44] During the English Civil War, Sheffield changed hands several times, finally falling to the Parliamentarians
, who demolished the Castle in 1648.

The Industrial Revolution brought large-scale steel making to Sheffield in the 18th century. Much of the mediaeval town was gradually replaced by a mix of Georgian and Victorian buildings. Large areas of Sheffield's city centre have been rebuilt in recent years, but among the modern buildings, some old buildings have been retained.

Industrial Sheffield

Sheffield viewed from Attercliffe Road, c1819

Sheffield's situation—amongst a number of fast-flowing rivers and streams surrounded by hills containing raw materials such as coal, iron ore, ganister, and millstone grit for grindstones—made it an ideal place for water-powered industries to develop.[45] Water wheels were often built for the milling of corn, but many were converted to the manufacture of blades. As early as the 14th century Sheffield was noted for the production of knives:

Ay by his belt he baar a long panade,

And of a swerd ful trenchant was the blade.
A joly poppere baar he in his pouche;
Ther was no man, for peril, dorste hym touche.
A Sheffeld thwitel baar he in his hose.
Round was his face, and camus was his nose;

— 
The Reeve’s Tale from The Canterbury Tales

By 1600 Sheffield was the main centre of cutlery production in England outside of London, and in 1624 The Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire was formed to oversee the trade.[46] Examples of water-powered blade and cutlery workshops surviving from around this time can be seen at the Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet and Shepherd Wheel museums in Sheffield.

Around a century later,

A tour thro' the Whole Island of Great Britain
, wrote:

This town of Sheffield is very populous and large, the streets narrow, and the houses dark and black, occasioned by the continued smoke of the forges, which are always at work: Here they make all sorts of cutlery-ware, but especially that of edged-tools, knives, razors, axes, &. and nails; and here the only mili of the sort, which was in use in England for some time was set up, (viz.) for turning their grindstones, though now 'tis grown more common. Here is a very spacious church, with a very handsome and high spire; and the town is said to have at least as many, if not more people in it than the city of York.[47]

The Shepherd Wheel; an example of the water-powered grinding workshops that used to be commonplace in the Sheffield area.

In the 1740s

Sheffield plate.[49] In 1773 Sheffield was given a silver assay office.[50] In the late 18th century, Britannia metal, a pewter-based alloy similar in appearance to silver, was invented in the town.[51]

Huntsman's process was only made obsolete in 1856 by

Bessemer converter. Bessemer had tried to induce steelmakers to take up his improved system, but met with general rebuffs, and finally was driven to undertake the exploitation of the process himself. To this end he erected steelworks in Sheffield.[52] Gradually the scale of production was enlarged until the competition became effective, and steel traders generally became aware that the firm of Henry Bessemer & Co. was underselling them to the extent of £20 a ton. One of Bessemer's converters can still be seen at Sheffield's Kelham Island Museum
.

In 1857 the World's first football team was formed called Sheffield FC. This saw a rapid growth of football teams in the area. It was after Sheffield FC played a exhibition match in London that the Football Association was started.

Stainless steel was discovered by Harry Brearley in 1912, at the Brown Firth Laboratories in Sheffield.[53] His successor as manager at Brown Firth, Dr William Hatfield, continued Brealey's work. In 1924 he patented '18-8 stainless steel',[54] which to this day is probably the widest-used alloy of this type.[55]

The population of Sheffield, 1700–2001

These innovations helped Sheffield to gain a worldwide for the production of cutlery; utensils such as the bowie knife were mass produced and shipped to the United States. The population of the town increased rapidly. In 1736 Sheffield and its surrounding hamlets held about 7000 people,[56] in 1801 there were around 60,000 inhabitants, and by 1901, the population had grown to 451,195.[57]

This growth spurred the reorganisation of the governance of the town. Prior to 1818, the town was run by a mixture of bodies. The

Parliamentary borough. A municipal borough was formed by an Act of Incorporation in 1843, and this borough was granted the style and title of "City" by Royal Charter in 1893.[58]

Photograph of the Dale Dyke reservoir embankment, shortly after its collapse in March 1864

From the mid-18th century, a succession of public buildings were erected in the town.

reservoirs around the town. Parts of Sheffield were devastated when, following a five year construction project, the Dale Dyke dam collapsed on Friday 11 March 1864, resulting in the Great Sheffield Flood
.

Sheffield's transport infrastructure was also improved.

Sheffield Canal opened in 1819 allowing the large-scale transportation of freight.[61] This was followed by the Sheffield and Rotherham Railway in 1838, the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway in 1845, and the Midland Railway in 1870.[62] The Sheffield Tramway was started in 1873 with the construction of a horse tram route from Lady's Bridge to Attercliffe. This route was later extended to Brightside and Tinsley, and further routes were constructed to Hillsborough, Heeley, and Nether Edge.[63] Due to the narrow medieval roads the tramways were initially banned from the town centre. An improvement scheme was passed in 1875; Pinstone Street and Leopold Street were constructed by 1879, and Fargate was widened in the 1880s. The 1875 plan also called for the widening of High Street, but disputes with property owners delayed this until 1895.[64]

Steel production in the 19th century involved long working hours, in unpleasant conditions that offered little or no safety protection.

The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844
described the conditions prevalent in the city at that time:

In Sheffield wages are better, and the external state of the workers also. On the other hand, certain branches of work are to be noticed here, because of their extraordinarily injurious influence upon health. Certain operations require the constant pressure of tools against the chest, and engender consumption in many cases; others, file-cutting among them, retard the general development of the body and produce digestive disorders; bone-cutting for knife handles brings with it headache, biliousness, and among girls, of whom many are employed, anæmia. By far the most unwholesome work is the grinding of knife-blades and forks, which, especially when done with a dry stone, entails certain early death. The unwholesomeness of this work lies in part in the bent posture, in which chest and stomach are cramped; but especially in the quantity of sharp-edged metal dust particles freed in the cutting, which fill the atmosphere, and are necessarily inhaled. The dry grinders’ average life is hardly thirty-five years, the wet grinders’ rarely exceeds forty-five.[65]

Sheffield became one of the main centres for

Sheffield Trades Council organised a meeting in Sheffield in 1866 at which the United Kingdom Alliance of Organised Trades—a forerunner of the Trades Union Congress (TUC)—was founded.[66]

The 20th century to the present

In 1914 Sheffield became a diocese of the Church of England,[67] and the parish church became a cathedral.[68] During World War I the Sheffield City Battalion suffered heavy losses at the Somme[69] and Sheffield itself was bombed by a German zeppelin.[70] The recession of the 1930s was only halted by the increasing tension as World War II loomed. The steel factories of Sheffield were set to work making weapons and ammunition for the war. As a result, once war was declared, the city once again became a target for bombing raids. In total there were 16 raids over Sheffield, however it was the heavy bombing over the nights of 12 December and 15 December 1940 (now known as the Sheffield Blitz) when the most substantial damage occurred. More than 660 lives were lost and numerous buildings were destroyed.[71]

Following the war, the 1950s and 1960s saw many large scale developments in the city. The Sheffield Tramway was closed, and a new system of roads, including the Inner Ring Road, were laid out. Also at this time many of the old slums were cleared and replaced with housing schemes such as the Park Hill flats,[72] and the Gleadless Valley estate.

Sheffield Winter Gardens, 2005.

Sheffield's traditional manufacturing industries (along with those of many other areas in the UK), declined during the 20th century.[73]

The building of the

Sheffield One
aim to regenerate the whole of the city centre.

On 25 June 2007,

flooding caused millions of pounds worth of damage to buildings in the city and led to the loss of two lives.[76]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to JeremyA/sandbox/History of Sheffield.

References

Notes
  1. ^ For example, an early Roman lamp was found at 354 Walkley Bank Road in 1929.[13]
  2. ^ Addy 1888, pp. 36–37 suggests two alternative derivations for the name Campo Lane: that it may refer to a field in which football was played, or that it is derived from the Norse kambr meaning a ridge.
  3. ^ The Roman finds near Stannington and at Bank Street are discussed in Hunter 1819, pp. 15–18.
  4. Clarendon Press. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help
    )
  5. ^ The deed is transcribed in Hunter 1888, p. 28.
  6. ^ See Transport in Sheffield for a more detailed history of Sheffield's transport infrastructure.
  7. ^ Descriptions of the routes that the turnpike roads followed can be found in Leader, R.E. (1906). The Highways and Byways of Old Sheffield. A lecture delivered before the Sheffield Literary and Philosophical Society. (transcription)
References
  1. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2005.05.002. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help
    )
  2. doi:10.1017/S0079497X00015024. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help
    )
  3. ^ Addy 1888, pp. xliii–lxxiii
  4. ^ a b Hey 2010, pp. 6–7
  5. ^ "The Celtic Tribes of Britain: The Brigantes". WWW.Roman-Britain.ORG. Retrieved 2006-12-30.
  6. ISBN 0-333-66282-2
    .
  7. ^ Addy 1888, pp. 268–269
  8. ^ a b c Hunter 1819, chapter 2
  9. ^ May, Thomas (1922). The Roman Forts of Templebrough Near Rotherham. Rotherham: H. Garnett and Co.
  10. ^ Leader, R.E. (1906). The Highways and Byways of Old Sheffield. A lecture delivered before the Sheffield Literary and Philosophical Society (transcription)
  11. ^
    ISBN 0-520-23218-6
    .
  12. JSTOR 297711
    .
  13. JSTOR 297347. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help
    )
  14. ^ Addy 1888, p. 249
  15. ^ Walford, Edward; Cox, John Charles; Apperson, George Latimer (1906). "Notes of the Month". The Antiquary. XLII (November). E. Stock: 406. Retrieved 2008-12-20.
  16. Sheffield Star
    . Sheffield Newspapers Ltd. 2008-12-13. Retrieved 2008-12-20.
  17. ^ Cox, Tony (2003). "The Ancient Kingdom of Elmet". The Barwicker. 39: 43.
  18. ^ Goodall 1913, pp. 253–254
  19. ^ a b Addy 1888, pp. xxviii–xxxiv
  20. ^ Goodall 1913, p. 138
  21. ^ a b c Vickers 1999, part 1
  22. ^ Goodall 1913, pp. 199 & 287
  23. ^ "Monument No. 314520". Pastscape. English Heritage. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  24. ISBN 1843060442
    .
  25. ^ "Stone cross shaft". The British Museum. Retrieved 2005-02-18.
  26. ^ "The House Of Wessex". English Monarchs. Retrieved 2007-04-05.
  27. ^ "Viking words". British Library. Retrieved 2007-04-05.
  28. ^ Goodall 1913, pp. 85–86 & 312–313
  29. ^ Cockburn, John Henry (1931). The battle of Brunanburh and its period elucidated by place-names. London, Sheffield: Sir W.C. Leng & Co., Ltd.
  30. ^ Tanner, Thomas (1695). Notitia monastica: A short history of the religious houses in England and Wales.
  31. ^ Pegge, Samuel (1801). History of Beauchief Abbey.
  32. ^ Hunter 1819, p. 26
  33. ^ a b Hunter 1819, p. 31
  34. ^ Cokayne, George Edward (1890). Complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant. Vol. 3. London: George Bell & Sons. p. 406.
  35. ^ Hunter 1819, pp. 38–39
  36. ^ Charter to the Town of Sheffield, 10 August 1297
  37. ^
    ISBN 1850754314
    .
  38. Webb, Sidney; Webb, Beatrice
    (1963). The Manor and the Borough. Volume 2. Archon Books. p. 202.
  39. ^ Harman & Minnis 2004, pp. 45–56
  40. ^ Harman & Minnis 2004, pp. 4–7
  41. ^ Pevsner, Nikolaus; Radner, Enid (1967). Yorkshire: The West Riding (2nd ed.). Yale University Press. pp. 189–191.
  42. ^ "Tudor monuments". Sheffield Cathedral. Retrieved 2007-04-12.
  43. ISBN 0563487143
    .
  44. ^ "Turret House 150m west of Manor House ruins". Images of England. Retrieved 2007-03-23.
  45. OCLC 173078495
    .
  46. ^ Binfield & Hey 1997, pp. 26–39
  47. A tour thro' the Whole Island of Great Britain. London: G. Strahan. (transcription
    )
  48. JSTOR 3105143
    .
  49. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/53918. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  50. ^ Binfield & Hey 1997, p. 185
  51. ^ Taylor, John (ed) (1879). The Illustrated Guide to Sheffield and the Surrounding District. Sheffield: Pawson and Brailsford. p. 288. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)
  52. ^ Carnegie, David (1913). "Chapter XIV: The Evolution of the Bessemer Converter". Liquid Steel: Its Manufacture and Cost. London: Longmans, Green, and Co. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  53. ^ "Harry Brearley 1871–1948". Tilt Hammer. Retrieved 2006-12-30.
  54. JSTOR 768852
    . Retrieved 2009-07-20.
  55. ^ "Steel". Encyclopædia Britannica. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. 2008.
  56. ^ Thomas, John (1830). Local Register and chronological account of occurrences and facts connected with the town and neighborhood of Sheffield. Sheffield: Robert Leader. p. xi.
  57. ^ United Kingdom Census data. See, "Sheffield District: Total Population". A Vision of Britain Through Time. Great Britain Historical GIS Project. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
  58. ^ "History of the Lord Mayor". Sheffield City Council website. Retrieved 14 May 2005.
  59. ^ Leader, Robert Eadon (1901). Sheffield in the Eighteenth Century. Sheffield: Sheffield Independent Press. pp. 84 & 341.
  60. ^ Ritchie, Robert (1846). Railways; Their Rise, Progress, and Construction. London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans. p. 18.
  61. ^ Vickers 1999, p. 17
  62. ISBN 1-901945-21-9
    .
  63. ISBN 1-85794-040-7
    .
  64. ISBN 0-7524-0011-8
    .
  65. The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844
    . London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd.
  66. ^ "Events that led to the first TUC". TUC website. Retrieved 2006-12-03.
  67. ^ "Homepage of the Anglican Diocese of Sheffield". Retrieved 2006-12-30.
  68. ^ "History". Sheffield Cathedral website. Retrieved 2006-12-30.
  69. ^ "The Sheffield City Battalion: 12th (Service) Battalion, York & Lancaster Regiment". Retrieved 2006-12-30.
  70. ^ Vickers 1999, p. 20
  71. ^ Taylor, Evans & Fraser 1996, p. 321
  72. ^ Vickers 1999, p. 21
  73. ^ Lambert, Tim. "A Brief History of Sheffield". Retrieved 2008-10-29.
  74. ^ Taylor, Evans & Fraser 1996, pp. 144–147
  75. ^ "FISU History". International University Sports Federation. Retrieved 2007-03-12.
  76. ^ "Two die in Sheffield flood chaos". BBC News Online. BBC. 2007-06-25. Retrieved 2009-07-21.
Bibliography


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