| Extracted from A Topographical Dictionary of England, Samuel M. Lewis, London, 1831 |
You are Our Visitor Since Mar 2001 (counter reset)
Last updated
Please Email Additions and/or Corrections to Webmaster
The town is pleasantly situated on a gentle eminence rising out of a spacious valley, which, with the exception of an opening to the north-east, is sheltered by a chain of lofty hills richly clothed with wood, and nearly surrounded by the rivers Don, Sheaf, and Porter. Over the river Don a stone bridge of three arches was erected in 1485, and called Lady bridge, from a religious house near it, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, which was taken down, on widening the bridge, in 1768. An iron bridge of three arches has been also constructed over the same river; and, in 1828, an additional stone bridge of three arches was erected, for the purpose of affording an easier communication between the Rotherham and Barnesley roads, and the new corn and cattle markets: a bridge over the Sheaf, consisting of one arch, was rebuilt in 1769, by Edward, Duke of Norfolk. The town extends for nearly a mile from north to south, and for three-quarters of a mile from east to west, and consists of numerous streets, which, with the exception of one or two of the principal, are narrow and inconvenient: the houses, chiefly of brick, have obtained from the works a sombre appearance, and are intermixed with many of very ancient character. The chief portion is within the angle formed by the rivers, but there are considerable ranges of building on the opposite banks: considerable improvements have taken place, under the provisions of an act obtained in 1818, by which the town is partially paved, lighted with gas by a company whose extensive works are situated at Shude Hill, near the bridge over the river Sheaf, and formerly supplied with water, conveyed from springs in the neighbouring hills, by means of works, situated on Crook's moor, erected by a few private individuals, in 1782; but the supply becoming inadequate to the increasing demands of the town, a company was formed in 1829, with a capital of £ 100,000, and incorporated by act of parliament. The environs abound with beautiful scenery and pleasant walks, and are ornamented with elegant villas, inhabited by the more opulent families. The barracks, forming an extensive range of building, and, with the parade ground, occupying a large tract of land to the north-east of the town, were erected in 1794, and are pleasantly situated on the bank of the river Don; they contain accommodation for two troops of cavalry. The public subscription library, originally in Surreystreet, has been removed into a commodious room fitted up for it in the music hall, and is supported by a proprietary of two hundred members, who pay an annual subscription of £1. 1. each: connected with the establishment is a reading-room, which is well supplied with periodical works. A Literary and Philosophical Society was instituted in 1822, the members of which hold their meetings in an elegant apartment in the music hall, containing their apparatus, a collection of fossils, botanical specimens, and curiosities from the South Sea islands, and ornamented with a full-length portrait of Mr. Montgomery, the poet: the society deliver their public lectures in the saloon of the music hall. The public news-room, a neat stone building, forming part of the East Parade, recently erected, is well attended by a number of annual subscribers of £1. 6. each; and a commercial newsroom has been also established in the music hall. The mechanics' library, established in 1824, contains more than two thousand volumes, and is open every evening, under the superintendence of six of the members. Concerts are occasionally held, during the season, in the music hall, under the direction of the choral concert committee. The music hall is a spacious and elegant building, in the Grecian style of architecture, erected in Surrey-street, in 1824; it comprises on the ground-floor a room for the public library, thirty-eight feet long, and thirty-five feet wide, of which the roof is supported on pillars; a reading-room and a saloon; and a spacious room for the Literary and Philosophical Society, thirty-seven feet long, and thirty-six feet wide: the buildings also contain an elegant music-room, ninety-nine feet in length, and thirty-eight feet wide, with a well-arranged orchestra; adjoining are a handsome saloon, thirty-eight feet long, and twenty feet wide, with four recesses, two large refreshment-rooms, and housekeeper's apartments. The theatre and assembly-rooms were erected in 1762, and form an extensive building of brick, handsomely ornamented with stone, and having a central portico supporting a pediment; the theatre is generally open from October to January, and the assembly-rooms, which are elegantly fitted up, are well attended during the season. The Town's Trust has arisen from a grant made by a member of the ancient family of Furnival, about the year 1300, and consists of property in lands and tenements, shares in the river Don navigation, &c., producing about £1400 per annum, which is under the management of twelve trustees, resident in the town, elected by the freeholders, who have been lately incorporated, under the title of the “Town's Trust,” or “Sheffield Free Tenants:” the income is applied to the maintenance of Lady's bridge, the keeping in order of Barker pool, the repair of the church and the highways, the payment of the stipendiary clergy, and other charitable and public uses.
This town appears to have been distinguished at a very early period for the manufacture of articles of cutlery, for which the numerous mines of coal and iron in the neighbourhood rendered its situation peculiarly favourable. Chaucer, in his Canterbury Tales, mentions the “Sheffield Thwytel, or Whittel,” a kind of knife worn by such as had not the privilege of wearing a sword, for the making of which, as well as the iron heads for arrows, before the general use of firearms, Sheffield had, even at so early a period, become celebrated. From that time the principal articles manufactured were, implements of husbandry, including scythes, sickles, shears, and other sharp instruments of steel, till the middle of the last century, when considerable improvements were introduced, and great ingenuity displayed in the finer articles of cutlery. The superintendence of the trade was entrusted to twelve master cutlers, appointed at the court leet of the lord of the manor, with power to enforce the necessary regulations for its protection and improvement. In 1624, the cutlers were incorporated by an act of parliament entituled “an act for the good order and government of the makers of knives, scissors, shears, sickles, and other cutlery wares, in Hallamshire, in the county of York, and parts near adjoining;” and the government was invested in a master, two wardens, six searchers, and twenty-four assistants, consisting of freemen only, in number about six hundred. The master, who, with the other officers of the company, is chosen annually by the whole corporation, on retiring from office, nominates the senior warden as his successor, whom if rejected by the company, he nominates another member, till one is approved of by the body: the wardens are chosen by the officers of the company from among the searchers for the time being. The master, wardens, and assistants, have power to make by-laws for the regulation of the trade, and to inflict penalties for the neglect of them; and the jurisdiction of the company, which is restricted exclusively to affairs relating to the trade, extends throughout the whole district of Hallamshire, and all places within six miles of it. By an act obtained in 1814, permission is given to all persons, whether sons of freemen or not, and without their having served an apprenticeship, or obtained from the company a mark for their goods, to carry on business any where within the limits of Hallamshire. The privilege thus bestowed has been a great means of advancing the trade to its present state of perfection, by affording encouragement to men of genius from every part of the country to settle in this town; and the competition thus produced, has furnished exquisite specimens of workmanship in the finer branches of the trade, which abound in the show-rooms of the principal manufacturers, particularly in those of Messrs Rodgers and Sons, and excite the admiration of the spectator. The cutlery trade employs from eight to ten thousand persons. The principal articles are table knives and forks; pen and pocket knives of every description; scissors; razors; surgieal, mathematical, and optical instruments; engineers' and joiners' tools; scythes, sickles, and files, of which great quantities are manufactured and exported; and an endless variety of steel wares, which may be considered the staple trade of the town, though various other branches of manufacture have been subsequently introduced and carried to a high degree of perfection.
Connected in some degree with the cutlery, but embracing a great variety of other objects, are ivory articles of every description; but the principal branches of manufacture which have more recently been established, and for which the town has obtained an unrivalled superiority, are spoons, tea and coffee pots, candlesticks, and a great variety of articles of Britannia metal, which are made in great quantities, and of every pattern; likewise silverplated goods of every kind, among which are dessert knives and forks plated upon steel, tureens, epernes, and services for the table, candelabras, icepails, urns, and a variety of similar articles, of the most elegant patterns, and of the richest workmanship, being generally known by the name of “Sheffield plate with silver edges.” The manufacture of silver plate in all its branches, from the most minute to the most massive articles, is also carried on to a considerable extent, and has obtained deserved celebrity. The most ingenious and highly-finished specimens of cutlery displayed in the principal shops in the metropolis, and in those of the principal towns in England, notwith-standing their being stamped with the venders' names, are manufactured here, and so highly are the manufactures of this town esteemed, that they are found in every market in Europe, and exported in great quantities to every part of the globe. The making of buttons and button-moulds, wire-drawing, and the refining of silver, are also carried on; and along the banks of the rivers are numerous iron and steel works, in which the heavier castings are produced, and extensive works for slitting and preparing the iron and steel for the use of the manufacturers: among the manufactured iron goods are boilers for steam-engines, stove-grates (of most elegant design and exquisite workmanship), fenders, fire-irons, and various smaller articles. There are also extensive factories for the weaving of carpets, and of horse-hair seating for chairs. In 1806, a type-foundry was established with considerable success; and another was commenced in 1818, the proprietors having purchased the business of a house in London: both these establishments are now considerable, and supply type not only to printers in the provincial towns, but to several highly respectable houses in the metropolis. The trade of the town is greatly facilitated by its advantageous line of inland navigation. The river Don was, in 1751, made navigable to Tinsley, about three miles from the town; and in 1815, a bill was obtained for enabling the proprietors of the Sheffield canal to connect the Don, at Tinsley, with the town, by means of a navigable cut, which was accomplished in 1819, forming a direct communication with the German sea. Adjoining the basin of this canal, at the eastern extremity of the town, is a commodious wharf, where vessels can load and unload under cover, and spacious warehouses and offices for the transaction of business. The basin is capable of containing more than forty vessels of about fifty tons' burden, which arrive here from Hull, York, Gainsborough, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, and Thorn, at which last place, vessels from London generally unload goods intended for Sheffield. The market was granted, in 1296, to Thomas, Lord Furnival; the market days are Tuesday and Saturday: the former, chiefly for corn, is held in the corn exchange, a handsome building, erected under an act of parliament obtained, in 1827, by the Duke of Norfolk, on the site of the Shrewsbury hospital, which has been removed. The market for butchers' meat is held in a convenient situation near Newmarket-street, at the end of which is the market for eggs, poultry, and butter: the vegetable market is on the outside of the enclosure for the butchers' meat, and consists of ranges of shops: the fruit market is held on the south side of Newmarket-street; and the fish market, in King-street, is well supplied with salt-water fish on Monday and Thursday, and with fresh-water fish every day during the season. The fairs are on the Tuesday in Trinity week and November 28th, for cattle and toys; and a cheese fair, held at the same time with the latter, has been established within the last few years, in which are sold many hundred tons of cheese from the counties of Derby, Stafford, Chester, and Lancaster. The town is within the jurisdiction of the magistrates for the district, who meet in the town hall every Tuesday and Friday, for the determination of petty causes: the October sessions for the West riding are also held here. A court is held every third week, under the steward of the manor of Eccleshall, for the recovery of debts under £5; and a court of requests every Thursday, under commissioners appointed by an act passed in the 48th of George III., for the recovery of debts not exceeding £5, of which the jurisdiction extends for several miles round the parish. The town hall, a spacious and commodious building of plain architecture, with a cupola, was erected in 1808, at the foot of the hay market, on the site of an old building, which was taken down: it contains a large and well-arranged room in which the sessions are held, and apartments for the use of the police magistrates, the commissioners of the court of requests, and for the transaction of public business; on the ground-floor is a prison for felons within the liberty of Hallamshire, with apartments for the keeper. The Cutlers' Hall, in Church-street, in which the business of that company is transacted, and their public meetings held, was erected in 1726: it is a neat and cpacious stone building, ornamented with the arms of the company well sculptured, and contains three large rooms in front for the transaction of business, and other offices; on the second floor is a spacious diningroom, elegantly fitted up, and ornamented with several well-executed portraits. In addition to an excise-office and post-office, there is also an assay-office, erected in 1773, in order to relieve the manufactures from sending their silver goods to London to receive the Hall mark.
The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry and diocese of York, rated in the king's books at £12. 15. 2½., and in the alternate patronage of Marmaduke Lawson, Esq., and Philip Gell, Esq., as representatives of Robert and William SWYFT, Esqrs., to whom the advowson was granted in the reign of Henry VIII.; the latter of those gentlemen presented in 1805. Three stipendiary clergymen, who are independent of the vicar, are appointed to assist him by twelve burgesses of the town and parish, incorporated by charter of Queen Mary, who hold certain lands and estates in trust, for the payment of the stipendiary assistants, and for the repairs of the church: they are called the “Twelve Capital Burgesses,” and hold their meetings in a room over the vestry-room of the church, vacancies in their number being filled up by vote among themselves.
The church, erected in the reign of Henry I., and dedicated to St. Peter, is a spacious cruciform structure, with a central tower and spire, most probably in the Norman style of architecture; but it has been so altered by repairs, that, with the exception of part of the tower and spire, and a few small portions of the interior, very little of its original character can be distinguished. The chancel contains the first production from the chisel of Chantrey, a mural tablet, with the bust of the Rev. James WILKINSON, late vicar, canopied with drapery, in Carora marble, erected at the public expense, as a tribute of respect to his memory. Many illustrious persons have been interred in this church, among whom were Mary, Countess of Northumberland; Elizabeth, Countess of Lennox, mother of the unfortunate Lady Arabella Stuart; Lady Elizabeth Butler; four of the Earls of Shrewsbury; and Peter Roflet, French secretary of Mary, Queen of Scots.
St. Paul's, a chapel of ease to the vicarage, was erected in 1720, by subscription, towards which Mr. R. Downes, silversmith, contributed £1000: it is a handsome edifice in the Grecian style of architecture, with a tower surmounted by a well-proportioned dome, and a cupola of cast-iron; the interior is light, and elegantly ornamented, and contains a bust by Chantrey of the Rev. Alexander Mackenzie, with emblematical sculpture finely executed. St. James', also a chapel of ease to the vicarage, a neat structure in the Grecian style of architecture, with a campanile turret, was erected by subscription in 1788: the interior is well arranged, and the east window is embellished with a beautiful painting of the Crucifixion, by Peckett.
St. George's church, on an eminence at the western extremity of the town, containing two thousand and three sittings, of which one thousand and eleven are free, erected, in 1824, by grant from the parliamentary commissioners, at an expense of £15,129.9. is a very handsome structure, in the later style of English architecture, with a lofty square embattled tower, crowned with pinnacles: the living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Vicar.
St. Philip's church, near the infirmary, containing two thousand sittings, of which seven hundred and fifty-five are free, was erected, in 1827, by grant from the parliamentary commissioners, at an expense of £13,970. 16.: it is a neat edifice, in the later English style of architecture, with a square embattled tower, crowned with pinnacles: the living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Vicar.
St. Mary's church, of which the first stone was laid by the Countess of Surrey, in 1826, is a handsome structure in the later style of English architecture, with a tower, and a porch of beautiful design: it was erected by grant from the parliamentary commissioners, at an expense of £13,946. 11. 9., and contains one thousand nine hundred and ninety-two sittings, of which seven hundred and forty are free: the site, and the cemetery, were given by His Grace the Duke of Norfolk: the living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Vicar. There are also other churches in the townships belonging to the parish, which are noticed under their proper heads. There are five places of worship for Independents, four for Wesleyan Methodists, and one each for Baptists, the Society of Friends, Unitarians, and Roman Catholics.
The free grammar school was founded by letters patent in the reign of James L., and endowed by Thomas SMITH, of Crowland, in the county of Lincoln, with lands producing, in 1603, £30 per annum, which have been since exchanged for lands at Wadsley, producing, together with subsequent benefactions, a revenue of £175. 10.: the school is under the control of the vicar and twelve inhabitants of the town, who appoint the master, with a salary of £60 per annum: there are at present about twenty scholars on the foundation, who are gratuitously instructed in the classics. The boys' charity school, at the north-east corner of the churchyard, was established in 1706, and the present school-house, a neat and commodious edifice of stone, has been recently erected on the site of the original building: it has an income arising from a benefaction of £5000 by Mr. PARKINS, in 1766, aided by a donation from Mr. T. Hanby, which maintains six boys on the establishment, at an expense of upwards of £60 per annum, the past masters of the Cutlers' Company being his principal trustees: the whole revenue is about £284 per annum, with which, and annual subscriptions, eighty boys are maintained, clothed, educated, and apprenticed. At the opposite corner of the churchyard is a similar school, in which sixty girls are maintained, clothed, and educated, and afterwards placed out in service: a convenient school-house was erected, in 1786, at an expense of £1500. A school for reading, writing, and arithmetic, has also been established here, in pursuance of the will of Mr. William Birley, who, in 1715, bequeathed £900 in trust for the purchase of an estate, of the rental of which, one-third was to be appropriated of the rental of which, one-third was to be appropriated to the establishment of the school, one-third towards the maintenance of indigent tradesmen, or their widows, and the remainder towards the support of a minister to officiate in the chapel of the hospital. The school of industry was established in 1795, and removed to its present situation in 1815: the buildings, which are upon an extensive scale, and well adapted to their use, were erected by subscription: there are three hundred and fifty children in this establishment. A Lancasterian school for boys, established in 1809, and a similar institution for girls, established in 1815, are supported by subscription. National schools for children of both sexes are maintained in connexion with the National Society, and there are numerous Sunday schools.
The Earl of Shrewsbury's hospital was projected by Gilbert, Earl of Shrewsbury, in 1616, and completed, in pursuance of his will, by the Earl of Norfolk, Earl Marshal of England, and the buildings erected in 1673: it is amply endowed for eighteen men and eighteen women, who have each a comfortable dwelling, ten shillings per week for each man, and eight shillings for each woman, and an allowance of coal, coats, and a gown, annually: the original buildings were recently taken down to make room for the marketplace, and the erection of the corn exchange, and a neat range of buildings, in the later style of English architecture, has been erected on the southern side of the town, in the centre of which is a chapel. Hollis' hospital was founded, in 1703, by Mr. Thomas HOLLIS, a native of the town, who, with others of his descendants, endowed it for sixteen aged women, widows of cutlers, or of persons connected with the trade, who receive each seven shillings per week, an annual allowance of coal, and a gown once in two years: a part of the funds is also applied to the support of a school. The general infirmary was first opened for the reception of patients in 1797, and, in a manufacturing town, where so many artisans are continually exposed to accidents, and their health materially injured by the processes of many of the trades in which they are employed, has been deservedly regarded as an object entitled to the most liberal patronage and support. The premises, occupying an extensive site about a mile to the north-west of the town, and guarded against the too near approach of other buildings by the purchase of thirty-one acres of surrounding land, were erected by public subscription, at an expense of nearly £20,000, including the purchase of the land: they are handsomely built of stone, and form a conspicuous ornament in the principal approaches to the town. In front of the building is a neat portico, ornamented with statues of Hope and Charity, finely sculptured, and the grounds are enclosed by an iron palisade, with a central gateway, and a porter's lodge on each side. The internal arrangements are extensive and complete, and the institution is supported by an income arising from donations and bequests, and by annual subscription. Among the principal benefactions are, £200 by the Rev. James WILKINSON, late vicar; £200 by Dr. BROWNE, under whose auspices the establishment was materially promoted; £1000 by Mrs. Fell, of Newhall; a donation of £2000, and a subsequent legacy of £500, by Francis H. SITWELL, Esq.; and £6337. 2. 10. bequeathed by the late Rev. Thomas GISBORNE, who also gave like sums to the infirmaries of Nottingham and Derby.
Several extensive charitable benefactions have been made for the benefit of the inhabitants. Mr. Thomas HANBY left £8000, of which the interest of £3000 was for the benefit of the boys' charity school, and that of the remaining £5000 for distribution among the poor and creditable housekeepers, members of the church of England, and not under fifty years of age, two-thirds of the number to be men, and one-third women; the nomination is in the Master and Wardens of the Cutlers' Company, the past masters, the vicar and churchwardens, and the Town's Trust. Mrs. Eliza PARKINS bequeathed £10,000, one-half of which is appropriated to the support of the boys' charity school, and the interest of the remainder divided annually among such poor persons as the vicar, the three assistant ministers, and the churchwardens, shall select. Mrs. Mary PARSONS bequeathed £1500 to be invested in the funds, and the proceeds annually divided among forty-eight aged and infirm silver-platers; Mr. John KIRBY left £400, the interest of which is annually divided between two poor widows; and Mr. Joseph HUDSON, of London, gave £200 in trust to the Cutlers' Company, to divide the proceeds annually among sixteen of the most needy file-makers: there are also various other charitable bequests for distribution among the indigent; a humane society for recovering persons apparently drowned; a society for ameliorating the condition of the poor, and various others. The neighbourhood, which is rich in mines of iron and coal, abounds also with quarries of excellent stone, some of which, especially that at Grimsthorpe, contain many admirable specimens of calamites; and the coal shale and iron-stone have beautiful impressions of various vegetable productions. On Spital Hill, near the town, was an hospital, founded in the reign of Henry II., by William de LOVETOT, and dedicated to St. Leonard, of which there is no vestige; and of the ancient manor-house, in which Cardinal Wolsey and Mary Queen of Scots were confined, the ruins can but faintly be traced. In 1761, two thin plates of copper were ploughed up on a piece of land, called the Lawns, each containing an inscription commemorating the manumission of some Roman legionaries, and their enrolment as citizens of Rome. From the prevalence of iron-ore, the waters of Sheffield have a slight chalybeate property. The Rev. Dr. Robert SAUNDERSON, Regius Professor of Divinity in the University of Oxford, and Bishop of Lincoln; the Rev. Mr. BALGUAY, Prebendary of North Grantham in the Cathedral Church of Salisbury, and an eminent disputant in the Bangorian controversy, were natives of this place: and CHANTREY, the celebrated sculptor, was born at Norton, a village about three miles from the town. Sheffield gives the titles of baron and earl to the family of Holroyd.
ATTERCLIFFE, a chapelry in that part of the parish of Sheffield which is in the southern division of the wapentake of Strafforth and Tickhill, west riding of the county of York, 1½ mile (N.E. by E.) from Sheffield, containing, with the hamlet of Darnall, 3172 inhabitants. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry and diocese of York, endowed with £400 private benefaction, £400 ro yal bounty, and £300 parliamentary grant, and in the patronage of the Vicar of Sheffield. The chapel is dedicated to the Holy Jesus. A new church, in the later style of English architecture, was erected in 1822, at the expense of £11,700. 5., defrayed by a grant from the parliamentary commissioners. Here is a Sunday school, with an annual income of £13. 9. 6., also four alms houses.
BRIGHTSIDE-BIERLOW, a township in that part of the parish of Sheffield which is in the northern division of the wapentake of Strafforth and Tickhill, West riding of the county of York, 3 miles (N.E.) from Sheffield, containing 6615 inhabitants. A school at Grimesthorpe was established about 1762, and rebuilt, with a dwelling-house for the master, in 1802; it is endowed with £5. 10. per annum, for which the master teaches twelve children.
DARNALL, a hamlet in that part of the parish of Sheffield which is in the southern division of the wapentake of Strafforth and Tickhill, West riding of the county of York, 2-1/4 miles (E.) from Sheffield. The population is returned with the chapelry of Attercliffe.
ECCLESALL-BIERLOW, a chapelry in that part of the parish of Sheffield which is in the southern division of the wapentake of Strafforth and Tickhill, West riding of the county of York, 3½ miles (S.W.) from Sheffield, containing 9113 inhabitants. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry and diocesc of York, endowed with £200 private benefaction, £400 royal bounty, and £1700 parliamentary grant, and in the patronage of the Vicar of Sheffield. Here is a free school endowed with £11 per annum.
NETHER HALLAM, a township in that part of the parish of Sheffield which is in the southern division of the wapentake of Strafforth and Tickhill, West riding of the county of York, 2 miles (W.) from Sheffield, containing 3200 inhabitants. A school-room was erected many years ago at Upper Keely, by subscription among the inhabitants, who also purchased land towards its support; the annual income, including the proceeds of £150 bequeathed by Thomas Chapman in 1801, is about £18, for which sum eighteen children are instructed. Another school-room was erected by subscription in 1791, with a dwelling-house for the master; it is partly supported by means of a bequest of £100 from William Roncksley, in 1723, and partly from land allotted under the enclosure act in 1794; thirty children are taught to read in the school.
UPPER HALLAM, a township in that part of the parish of Sheffield which is in the southern division of the wapentake of Strafforth and Tickhill, West riding of the county of York, 3-3/4 miles (W.S.W.) from Sheffield, containing 1018 inhabitants.
Combs &c. of Sheffield, Yorks
Combs &c. of Yorkshire
Combs &c. of England