Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for SHEFFIELD

SHEFFIELD, a town, a township, a parish, and a district, in W. R. Yorkshire. The town stands at theinflux of the river Sheaf to the Don, near the confluence of the Porter, the Rivelin, the Loxley, and other streams, and at a convergence of railways from respectively Leeds, Doncaster, Worksop, Chesterfield, and Huddersfield, 2 miles N of the boundary with Derbyshire, and 45 by road, but 52 by railway, S S W of York. The river Don, with aid of a canal 4 miles long, formed in 1819, gives itnavigable communication with the general canal-system of the kingdom, and with the river-system of the Trent and the Humber; and the railways, with their numerous ramifications and connexions, give it all the advantages of a great railway centre for all England.

History.—The town takes its name from the riverSheaf. The manor is identified with the ancient Hallamshire; was held, at the Norman conquest, by Rogerde Buisli, and the widow of a Saxon Earl Waltheof; passed, in the time of Henry II., to the Lovetots; went afterwards to the Furnivals, the Nevills, and the Talbots, and, on the failure of the male hereditary line of the Talbots, passed to the Howards. A castle was built here, at some unrecorded period, by one of the Lovetots; was, for 14 years, the prison of Mary Queen of Scots; was demolished after the civil wars of Charles I.; and has leftnothing to mark or commemorate its site except the localnames of Castle-hill, Castle-green, and Castle-folds. Amagnificent manor-house was built, in the time of Henry VIII., by George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury; received Cardinal Wolsey during 12 days in 1529; occasionallyreceived Mary Queen of Scots during her detention in the castle; and has almost disappeared. The parliamentarians took possession of the town and castle, at the commencement of the civil wars of Charles I.; the royalists, headed by the Earl of Newcastle, soon dispossessedthem without a struggle; and the parliamentarians, after a brief resistance, retook them subsequent to the battle of Marston-moor. The town had become known for its"whittles" in the time of Edward III.; acquired increasing skill in ironwork and cutlery, through means of artizan settlers from the Netherlands in the time of Queen Elizabeth; began then to be famous for the manufacture of shears, sickles, knives, and scissors; and became, in 1758, the mart for silver plated goods. Itthenceforth rose rapidly in importance: it has more than quadrupled its population since the commencement of the present century; and it has always, in more recenttimes, acted a distinguished part in the various movements of national progress. A great calamity came overit in March 1864, by the bursting of a vast reservoirabout 6 miles to the N W, with the effect of destroyingmills, factories, and almost entire streets in the town, and of drowning between 200 and 300 persons. Dr. Balguy, who died in 1748, Cawthorne the theologian, who died in 1761, Bishop Sanderson, who died in 1663, Mrs. Hofland, the writer of many juvenile works, who died in 1844, Dr. Pye Smith, the author of the " Scripture Testimony to the Messiah" and other theological works, who died in 1851, were natives of the town; Dr. Short, a medical writer of the last century, Dr. Buchan, the author of " Domestic Medicine" the Rev. J. Hunter, the local historian, James Montgomery the poet, and Ebenezer Elliott the poet, were residents; Robin Hood and the sculptor Chantrey were natives of the neighbourhood; and the family of Holroyd take from the town the titles of Baron and Earl.

Site and Structure.—The town's environs possess much diversity of hill, vale, rock, slope, and running water; are studded with villas and mansions, and adorned with wood and culture; exhibit fine variety of rich close scenery; and command, from their higher grounds, charming panoramic views. The town itself stands on unequal ground, partly eminence, partly valley; and has the advantage of being swept clean by every considerable shower. Some of the old streets are small, narrow, and irregularly built; some of even the new streetsare disfigured by forges, furnaces, and other ungainly buildings; spacious squares or other large open edificed areas are totally a-wanting; and the dwelling-houses of the merchants and manufacturers are almost all in the outskirts or in the country; so that the town, as a whole, especially with its clouds of smoke, cannot be called attractive. Yet it has good shops, good public buildings, and some very fine suburbs; is well-paved, well-drained, and well-supplied with water; has undergone much recent improvement in its street-architecture; and possesses some imposing semi-public edifices, such as a stately great hotel adjoining the Victoria railway station, and the extensive premises of the Messrs. Rodgers in the renaissance style, both erected in 1861.

Public Buildings.—The town hall was built in 1808, and enlarged in 1833; is a spacious stone edifice; and, in 1868, was entirely renovated and converted into excellent petty and quarter-sessions courts. Police offices and cells were built near the town hall, in 1867, at a cost of £17,000. The council-hall and free library is modern. The new market-hall was built in 1851, at a cost of about £40,000, defrayed by the late Duke of Norfolk; and is abrick structure, with stone basement, in the Tuscanstyle, 296 feet long, 115 feet wide, and 45 feet high. The corn exchange, and the new hay and cattle markets, were opened in 1830. The shambles were built in 1786, and re-fronted and re-roofed in 1855-6. The cutlers hallwas built in 1833, at a cost of £6, 500; has a handsome stone front, in the Corinthian style; and was altered and enlarged in 1865, at a cost of £5, 715. The vestry-hall was built in 1857. The music-hall was built in 1823; and is a large stone edifice, in the Grecian style. The theatre-royal was built in 1773, and enlarged and re-decorated in 1855. The Adelphi theatre was built in 1837. A large casino, called the Surrey music-hall, was built in 1851, and burnt in 1865. The savings' bank was built in 1860, at a cost of about £5, 400; and is a handsome edifice, in the Italian style. The barracks occupy aspace of 25½ acres; were erected in 1854 and previous years; and have accommodation for one regiment of cavalry and one of infantry. The Victoria railway-station serves for the Great Northern and the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire railways; and is a large, convenient, and beautiful structure. The Wicker railway-station serves for the Midland line. The public baths were built in 1836; include two large swimming-baths, two tepid plunging-baths, and several suites of vapour, shower, and warm baths; and are surmounted by a largeroom, used for concerts and lectures. There are seven bowling-greens and cricket-grounds, and a large publicpark. A bridge over the Don, to connect the Atter-cliffe-road and the Park side, was erected at a cost of about £3,000. A bronze statue of Ebenezer Elliott fronts the post-office; and one of James Montgomery stands in the new cemetery. An elegant stone cross, commemorative of the visitation of cholera in 1832, stands on the Park hill. A new street from Old Haymarket to the New Midland station, and a new post-office at the street-corner, were projected in Aug. 1869.

Churches.—The places of worship, within the municipal borough, at the census of 1851, were 23 of the Church of England, with 19, 562 sittings; 10 of Independents, with 4, 486 s.; 2 of Particular Baptists, with 1, 470 s.; 2of General Baptists, with 750 s.; 1 of Quakers, with 800s.; 1 of Unitarians, with 900 s.; 16 of Wesleyans, with10, 479 s.; 5 of New Connexion Methodists, with 1, 952s.; 1 of Primitive Methodists, with 1,000 s.; 2 of the Wesleyan Association, with 670 s.; 2 of Wesleyan Reformers, with 100 attendants; 2 of isolated congregations, with 350 s.; 1 of the Catholic and Apostolicchurch, with 320 s.; 1 of Roman Catholics, with 950s.; and 1 of Jews, with 500 s. The places of worship in 1868 were 29 of the Church of England, 1 of Presbyterians, 11 of Independents, 3 of Baptists, 1 of Quakers, 2 of Unitarians, 21 of Wesleyans, 8 of New Connexion Methodists, 4 of Primitive Methodists, 7 of U. Free Methodists, 1 of Brethren, 1 of the Catholic and Apostolic church, 1 of Latter Day Saints, 2 of Roman Catholics, and 1 of Jews. A church extension society, in connexion with the Church of England, for renovating and rebuilding churches within the borough, wasformed about the beginning of 1865; and a large sum, for erecting five new Independent chapels, was begun tobe raised in 1866.

St. Peter's church is the mother church of the borough;dates from at least the time of Henry I., but retains no portion older than the time of Edward III.; has a nave of 1805; measures 240 feet in length and 130 feet inwidth; is surmounted, from nearly the centre, by a tower and crocketted spire; and includes the mortuary chapel of the Talbots, with fine altar-tombs and monuments. St. Paul's was built in 1720, and is in the Grecian style. St. James' was built in the latter part of lastcentury. St. George's was built in 1825, at a cost of £14, 819; is in the pointed style; and has a lofty tower. St. Philip's was built in 1833, at a cost of £11, 874; and is in the pointed style. St. Mary's was built in 1826, at a cost of £12, 649; is in the pointedstyle; and has a large burying-ground. St. John's was built about 1830, at a cost of £3, 500; and has a tower and spire, and a burying-ground. St. Thomas' is plain. Trinity church was built in 1848, at the expense of the Misses Harrison. St. Stephen's was built in 1857, at a cost of more than £4, 500; and is in the early decoratedstyle, and cruciform. St. Simon's was built in 1841 as a Baptist chapel; purchased for the Church of Englandin 1857, at the price of £2, 200; and altered and enlarged, with addition of a tower, in 1866, at a cost of about £2,000. St. Matthew's was built in 1855, at a cost ofabout £3, 800; and has a tower and spire. St. Jude's was built at a cost of £2, 100; and is in the early English style. Christchurch was built in 1850, at a cost of £2, 500. St. Luke's was built in 1860, at a cost of £2, 500. All Saints was built in 1867, at a cost of £7,000; and is in the geometric style, cruciform, with W tower and spire 190 feet high. St. Silas or Gillcar church was built in 1869, at a cost of £7, 500.

The Presbyterian church in Hanover-street, is recent and handsome, and has a fine spire. The Attercliffe Independent chapel was built in 1863, at a cost of £2, 300; the Garden-street Independent chapel in 1867, at a cost of £2,000. The Glossop-road Baptist chapel was built in 1869, at a cost of £5, 500. The Cherryhill Wesleyan chapel was built in the same year, at a cost of £3,200. The Glossop-road New Connexion Methodist chapel was built in 1863, at a cost £3,8 00; and is in the Italian style. The Sutherland-road Primitive Methodist chapel was built in 1867, and contains 1,200 sittings. The Hanover-street U. Free Methodist chapel is a recent edifice, very large and fine. The Catholic and Apostolic church in Victoria-street, was built in 1851; and is in the early English style, with two small towers and a spire. St. Marie's Roman Catholic church was built in 1850, at a cost of £8,000; and has a tower and spire 200 feet high. St. Vincent's Roman Catholic church was built in 1856, at a cost of £3,700.-The general cemetery was formed in 1836, at a cost of £13,000, and enlarged afterwards at a further cost of £12,000; comprises up-wards of 14 acres, tastefully laid out and planted; and contains two chapels, the one in the Doric style, the other in the decorated English style, with lofty tower and spire. Brightside-Bierlow cemetery was formed in 1860, at a cost of £5,400; comprises about 27 acres; and has two chapels, in the early English style.

Schools and Institutions.—The public day -schools, within the borough, at the census of 1851, were 42, with 9,333 scholars; the private day-schools, 180, with 6,284 s.; and the Sunday schools, 63, with 14,919 s. The increase of schools till 1868, though no reliable data for it have been obtained, may be presumed to have been at least proportionate to the increase of population. The grammar-school was founded in 1603; stood originally near the top of Townhead-street; was rebuilt in 1842 in Charlotte-street; is a handsome stone edifice; and has an endowed income of nearly £200. The collegiate school was built in 1835, at a cost of nearly £10,000; is a spacious edifice, in the pointed style; and affords education in two departments, classicaland commercial. The central national school was built in 1832, and is attended by about 260 boys and 340 girls. St. George's schools were built in 1845, at a cost of about £4,000; are in the Norman style; and have accommodation for 1,200 children. Sixteen or more other schools are connected with the parish churches; ten or more are dissenting; three are Roman Catholic; three are Lancasterian; one is ragged; and four are endowed. The boys' and the girls' charity schools were built in 1825 and 1786, at costs of £1,250 and £1,500; educate, clothe, lodge, and board 100 poor boys and 60 poor girls; and are supported by endowments, subscriptions, and collections.

The Church of England educational institute was erected in 1861, at a cost of £2,000; and has about 500 pupils. The Wesleyan college was built in 1838, at a cost of £15,000; stands on a plot of 6 acres, tastefully laid out; is a splendid edfice, with a Corinthian portico; contains accommodation for about 250 boarders; and is affiliated with the university of London. The New Connexion Methodist training-college for ministers was built in 1863, at a cost of £4,400. The Young Men's Christian Association was established in 1855; and has a newsroom, library, and classes. The medical school was built in 1794, and enlarged in 1841; and is connected with the university of London. The mechanics' institution dates as an institution from 1832, as a building from 1847. The people's college maintains evening classes. The school of art dates as an institution from 1841, as a building from 1857; and was erected at a cost of £7,200. The athenæum dates from 1846; was removed in 1858 to other premises, purchased and refitted at a cost of £3,500; serves as a clubhouse; and has a newsroom and a large library. The Sheffield club occupies a handsome building, and has 260 members. The literary and philosophical society was established in 1822, and has a valuable museum in the music-hall. The Sheffield library was established in 1771, and has upwards of 50,000 vols. The free library was established in 1855; and contains about 18,000 volumes. The law library was formed in 1836. The botanic garden was formed in 1836, at a cost of £18,000; and comprises about 18 acres, beautifully laid out.

The general infirmary was built in 1794, and enlarged in 1841. The public hospitaland dispensary was built in 1834, and enlarged in 1858. Shrewsbury hospital was founded in 1616, and rebuilt in 1827; is a handsome edifice, with a chapel in the pointed style; gives lodging and maintenance to 20 poor men and 20 poor women, and a weekly allowance to 20 out-pensioners; and has an endowed income of £1,801. Hollis' hospital was founded in 1703; gives salaries to various ministers and school-masters, and a weekly allowance to 16 alms-women; and has an endowed income of about £700. Four charities, called the Deakin institution, Hanbey's charity, Hadfield's charity, and the Licensed Victuallers' asylum, have funds to the amount of about £10,200, £8,000, £3,000, and £2,500; and expend the interest chiefly on alms-people. The Withers' charity, founded by Miss Withers in 1861, has a capital of £10,000. A town trust originated in a grant of the third Lord Furnival, in 1297; yields now about £2,247 a year; and is used chiefly for public improvements. A sum of about £2,000 a year is distributed by the Church burgesses in paying the three chaplains in St. Peter's church, and for other purposes.

Trade and Manufactures.—The town has a head post-office,‡ five sub-post offices,‡ about twenty receiving post-offices or postal pillar-boxes, several telegraph stations, five banking offices, and five chief inns; and publishes two daily and three weekly newspapers. Markets are held on Tuesdays and Saturdays; and fairs, on Whit-Tuesday and Whit-Wednesday, and on the last Tuesday and Wednesday of Nov. The old staple trade of iron-working and cutlery continues to be prominent; derived steady aid, till the era of the steam-engine, from amplitude and diffusiveness of local water-power; derives aid now from abundance of coal and great facility of communication; has, in recent times, undergone great expansion and improvement, in result of progressive ingenuity and invention; is carried on, in all departments, and in multitudes of kinds, from the smallest articles to the largest; and keeps Sheffield, along with Birmingham, in the foreground of all iron-working and cutlery towns. Steel-working, iron-founding, brass-founding, engine-making, and especially the manufacture of Britannia metaland plated wares, also are considerable; and the production of armour-plates and ordnance-projectiles was, not long ago, introduced. The persons employed, within the borough, at the census of 1861, in the making of surgical instruments, were 38 males under 20 years of age, 82 males at 20 years and upwards, 5 females under 20 years, and 6 females at 20 years and upwards; in the manufacture of arms, 15 and 80 m. and 12 and 7 f.; in the making of engines and machines, 109 and 539 m.; in spindle-making, 26 and 56 m.; in needle-manufacture, 3 and 17 m. and 2 f.; in scissors-making, 230 and 859 m., and 138 and 193 f.; in tool-making and dealing, 247 and 1,161 m.; in file-making, 1,130 and 3,215 m. and 214 and 375 f.; in saw-making, 235 and 997 m.; in cutlery-working, 894 and 2,400 m. and 78 and 106 f.; in blade-making, 401 and 1,396 m.; in knife-making, 1,216 and 3,728 m.; in razor-making, 139 and 678 m.; in employments akin to tool-making and cutlery-working, 204 and 841 m. and 102 and 221 f.; in watch-making, and employments akin to it, 36 and 171 m.; in coal mining, 286 and 835 m.; in glass-manufacture, 28 and 76 m. and 4 and 8 f.; in employments on gold and jewellery, 339 and 939 m. and 293 and 264 f.; in employments on plated ware, 39 and 113 m; in employments akin to the two preceding, 30 and 110 m. and 4 and 5 f.; in brass-founding, 115 and 285 m.; in wire-making, 38 and 86 m.; in wire-working, 9 and 32 m.; in employments akin to the three preceding, 219 and 571 m. and 239 and 285 f.; in iron-manufacture, 370 and 1,208 m. and 2 f.; in nail-manufacture, 4 and 28 m. and 12 and 30 f.; in boiler-making, 22 and 70 m.; in steel-manufacture, 576 and 1,582 m.; in screw-cutting, 35 and 32 f.; in other employments on iron and steel, 316 and 963 m. and 8 and 10 f. The value of steel manufactured in 1859, was nearly £2,000,000.

The Borough.—Sheffield was made a parliamentary borough in 1832, and a municipal borough in 1843; sends two members to parliament; is divided into 9 wards and governed by a mayor, 14 aldermen, and 42 councillors; and is a seat of quarter-sessions, a bankruptcy court, and a county-court, and a polling place. The police force, in 1867, comprised 245 men, at an annual cost of £13,480. The crimes committed, in 1867, were 458; the persons apprehended, 386; the known depredators and suspected persons at large, 462; the houses of bad character, 197. The corporation income is entirely derived from rates. The limits of the borough, both parliamentarily and municipally, coincide with those of the parish. Acres, 22,830. Real property, in 1860, £566,525 of which £12,710 were in mines, £840 in quarries, and £24,307 in gasworks. Amount of property and income tax charged in 1863, £53,113. Rated property in 1867, £567,686. Electors in 1833, 3,308; in 1868, 9,136. Pop. in 1851, 135,310; in 1861, 185,172. Houses, 38,052.

The Parish.—S. township contains the older and central portions of the town, and comprises 3,208 acres. Real property, in 1860, £295,121. Pop. in 1851, 83,447; in 1861, 87,718. Houses, 17,964. The parish contains also the townships of Brightside-Bierlow, Attercliffe-cum-Darnall, Ecclesall-Bierlow, Nether Hallam, and Upper Hallam; is, as already noticed, conterminate with the borough; and is ecclesiastically divided into the sections of St. Peter, St. Paul, St. James, St. George, St. Philip, St. Mary, St. John, St. Thomas, Trinity, St. Stephen, St. Simon, St. Matthew, St. Jude-1st, St. Jude-2d, St. Mark, St. Michael, All Saints, Attercliffe, Brightside, Darnall, Dyers-Hill, Ecclesall-Bierlow, Fulwood, Gillcar, Heeley, Hollis-Croft, and Pitsmoor. Twelve of the livings are vicarages, and the other livings are p. curacies, in the diocese of York. Value of St. Peter, £500; of each of the three chaplaincies in St. Peter's, £400; of St. Pauland St. John, each £300;* of St. George, St. Philip, St. Mary, and the two St. Judes, each £300; of Trinity, £150;* of St. Stephen, £170; of St. Matthew, £200; of St. James, £160; of St. Simon, £100; of St. Mark, £150; of St. Michael, £200. Patron of St. Peter, alt. Mrs. Thornhilland A. Lawson, Esq.; of the chaplaincies in St. Peter's, the Church Burgesses; of St. Paul, St. James, St. George, St. Philip, and St. Mary, the Vicar of Sheffield; of St. John, St. Thomas, and St. Simon, Trustees; of Trinity, Misses Harrison; of St. Stephen, H. Wilson, Esq.; of St. Matthew and the two St. Judes, alternately the Crown and the Archbishop. The other livings are noticed in the articles on their own localities.

The District.—The poor-law district excludes Eccles-all-Bierlow, Nether Hallam, and Upper Hallam townships, but includes Handsworth parish; and is divided into the sub-districts of West S., North S., South S., S.-Park, Brightside, Atterclifffe, and Handsworth. Acres, 10,590. Poor rates in 1863, £60,311. Pop. in 1851, 103,626; in 1861, 128,951. Houses, 26,625. Marriages in 1863, 1,989; births, 5,555,-of which 386 were illegitimate; deaths, 4,403,-of which 2,417 were at ages under 5 years, and 27 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 18,439; births, 49,361; deaths, 33,084. The places of worship, in 1851, were 17 of the Church of England, with 16,083 sittings; 11 of Independents, with 4,646 s.; 4 of Baptists, with 2,220 s.; 2 of Quakers, with 890 s.; 1 of Unitarians, with 900 s.; 14 of Wesleyans, with 8,128 s.; 3 of New Connexion Methodists, with 1,126 s.; 1 of Primitive Methodists, with 20 s.; 2 of the Wesleyan Association, with 670 s.; 1 of Wesleyan Reformers, with 40 attendants; 2 undefined, with 350 s.; 1 of the Catholic and Apostolic church, with 320 s.; 1 of Latter Day Saints, with 60 s.; 1 of Roman Catholics, with 950 s.; and 1 of Jews, with 500 s. The schools were 34 public day schools, with 7,951 scholars; 130 private day schools, with 4,534 s.; 55 Sunday schools, with 11,873 s.; and 12 evening schools for adults, with 837 s. The workhouse is in Kelham-street; and, on 30 May 1868, had 886 inmates.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a town, a township, a parish, and a district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Sheffield CP/AP       Sheffield RegD/PLU       Yorkshire AncC
Place: Sheffield

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