Sheffield

Wikipedia contributors · CC BY-SA · EN · 04/10/2026

Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated 29 mi south of Leeds and 32 mi east of Manchester. It is the second largest city in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the larger metropolitan borough of Sheffield, which had an estimated population of in .

The city is located in the eastern foothills of the Pennines, in the valley of the River Don and its tributaries the Loxley, Porter Brook, Rivelin and Sheaf. There are more than 250 parks, woodlands and gardens in the city, which are estimated to contain around 4.5 million trees.

Sheffield played a crucial role in the Industrial Revolution, developing many significant technologies. In the 19th century the city saw a huge expansion of its traditional cutlery trade, when processes for high-quality stainless steel and crucible steel were invented. This fuelled an almost tenfold increase in the population. Sheffield received its municipal charter in 1843 and was granted city status by in 1893. International competition in iron and steel caused a decline in these industries in the 1970s and 1980s, coinciding with the collapse of coal mining in the area. The 21st century has seen extensive redevelopment in Sheffield and its gross value added (GVA) increased by 60% between 1997 and 2015. The economy has experienced steady growth, averaging around 5% annually, which is greater than the average for the Yorkshire and the Humber region.

The city has a long sporting heritage and is home both to the world's oldest football club, Sheffield F.C., and the world's oldest football ground, Sandygate. Matches between the two professional clubs, Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday, are known as the Steel City derby. The city is also home to the World Snooker Championship and the Sheffield Steelers, the UK's first professional ice hockey team.

Toponymy

Sheffield takes its name from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city centre (albeit in underground culverts). The river's name comes from the Old English word scēað, meaning "boundary", possibly because the Sheaf once formed part of the boundary between the kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. The second element is Old English feld, meaning "open countryside", and the name thus means "open countryside near the River Sheaf". It first appears in the Domesday Book.

History

Upper Paleolithic

The area now occupied by the City of Sheffield is believed to have been inhabited since at least the late Upper Paleolithic, about 12,800 years ago. The earliest evidence of human occupation in the Sheffield area was found at Creswell Crags to the east of the city. In the Iron Age the area became the southernmost territory of the Pennine tribe called the Brigantes. It is this tribe who are thought to have constructed several hillforts in and around Sheffield.

Medieval period

Following the departure of the Romans, the Sheffield area may have been the southern part of the Brittonic kingdom of Elmet, with the rivers Sheaf and Don forming part of the boundary between this kingdom and the kingdom of Mercia. Gradually, Anglian settlers pushed west from the kingdom of Deira. A Britonnic presence within the Sheffield area is evidenced by two settlements called Wales and Waleswood close to Sheffield. The settlements that grew and merged to form Sheffield, however, date from the second half of the first millennium, and are of Anglo-Saxon and Danish origin. In Anglo-Saxon times, the Sheffield area straddled the border between the kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports that Eanred of Northumbria submitted to Egbert of Wessex at the hamlet of Dore (now a suburb of south west Sheffield) in 829, a key event in the unification of the kingdom of England under the House of Wessex.

After the Norman conquest of England, insurrection by the populace led to the devastation of the Sheffield area during the Harrying of the North and Sheffield Castle was built to control the ruined local settlements. A small town developed that is the nucleus of the modern city. By 1296, a market had been established at what is now known as Castle Square, and Sheffield subsequently grew into a small market town. In the 14th century, Sheffield was already noted for the production of knives, as mentioned in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.

Tudor and Stuart period

Cardinal Thomas Wolsey stayed at Sheffield Manor for 16–18 days in 1530 when travelling to London to stand trial for high treason. He was hosted by George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury. The cardinal was in disgrace about the annulment of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon's marriage.

From 1570 to 1584, Mary, Queen of Scots, was imprisoned in Sheffield Castle and Sheffield Manor by George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, the husband of Bess of Hardwick, Countess of Shrewsbury. The Earl is buried in Sheffield Cathedral.

Sheffield by the early 1600s became the main centre of cutlery manufacture in England outside London, overseen by the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire.

Industrial Revolution

During the 1740s, a form of the crucible steel process was discovered that allowed the manufacture of a better quality of steel than had previously been possible.

In about the same period, a technique was developed for fusing a thin sheet of silver onto a copper ingot to produce silver plating, which became widely known as Sheffield plate. These innovations spurred Sheffield's growth as an industrial town, but the loss of some important export markets led to a recession in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The resulting poor conditions culminated in a cholera epidemic that killed 402 people in 1832.

The population of the town grew rapidly throughout the 19th century; increasing from 60,095 in 1801 to 451,195 by 1901. The growing population led to the construction of many back-to-back dwellings that, along with severe pollution from the factories, inspired George Orwell in 1937 to write: "Sheffield, I suppose, could justly claim to be called the ugliest town in the Old World". The Sheffield and Rotherham railway was constructed in 1838, connecting the two towns.

The town was incorporated as a borough in 1842, and was granted city status by letters patent in 1893. The influx of people also led to demand for better water supplies, and a number of new reservoirs were constructed on the hills to the west of the town. The collapse of the dam wall of one of these reservoirs in 1864 resulted in the Great Sheffield Flood, which killed 270 people and devastated large parts of the town.

Heavy industries and metallurgy

Sheffield has an international reputation for metallurgy and steel-making. The earliest official record of cutlery production, for which Sheffield is particularly well known, is from 1297 when a tax return for 'Robert the Cutler' was submitted. A key reason for Sheffield's success in the production of cutlery lies in its geographic makeup. The abundance of streams in the area provided a source of water power and the geological formations in the Hope Valley, in particular, provided sufficient grit stones for grinding wheels. In the 17th century, the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire, which oversaw the booming cutlery industry in the area and remains to this day, was established and focused on markets outside the Sheffield area, leading to the gradual establishment of Sheffield as a respected producer of cutlery. This gradually developed from a national reputation into an international one.

Playing a crucial role in the Industrial Revolution, the city became an industrial powerhouse in the 18th century, and was dubbed "Steel City". Many innovations in these fields have been made in Sheffield, for example Benjamin Huntsman discovered the crucible technique in the 1740s at his workshop in Handsworth. This process was rendered obsolete in 1856 by Henry Bessemer's invention of the Bessemer converter. Thomas Boulsover invented Sheffield plate (silver-plated copper) in the early 18th century.

Stainless steel was invented by Harry Brearley in 1912, bringing affordable cutlery to the masses. The work of F. B. Pickering and T. Gladman throughout the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s was fundamental to the development of modern high-strength low-alloy steels. Further innovations continue, with new advanced manufacturing technologies and techniques being developed on the Advanced Manufacturing Park, situated just over the boundary in the borough of Rotherham, by Sheffield's universities and other independent research organisations. Organisations located on the AMP include the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC, a research partnership between Boeing and the University of Sheffield), Castings Technology International (CTI), The Welding Institute (TWI), Rolls-Royce plc and McLaren Automotive.

Forgemasters, founded in 1805, was the sole remaining independent steel works left in the world and dominates the north-east of Sheffield around the Lower Don Valley. The firm has a global reputation for producing the largest and most complex steel forgings and castings and is certified to produce critical nuclear components, with recent projects including the Royal Navy's Astute-class submarine submarines. The firm also has the capacity for pouring the largest single ingot (570 tonnes) in Europe and is currently in the process of expanding its capabilities. In July 2021 Forgemasters was bought outright by the UK Ministry of Defence for £2.56 million, with the intention of investing a further £400 million over the next decade. The decision was based on the important role Forgemasters plays in the construction of the UK nuclear submarine fleet as well other vessels for the Royal Navy.

While iron and steel have long been the main industries of Sheffield, coal mining has also been a major industry, particularly in the outlying areas, and the Palace of Westminster in London was built using limestone from quarries in the nearby village of Anston.

In 1880 ten men from Sheffield were part of a group of 47 men who had attended a fancy-dress ball in Hulme, Manchester, but they were tried for soliciting sex between men. Described by historian Lauren Wells as the 'Sheffield Ten', men from the city had their addresses published in local news.

Second World War

Blitz

The Great Depression hit the city in the 1930s, but as international tensions increased and the Second World War became imminent, Sheffield's steel factories were set to work manufacturing weapons and ammunition for the war effort. As a result, the city became a target for bombing raids, the heaviest of which occurred on the nights of 12 and 15 December 1940, now known as the Sheffield Blitz. The city was partially protected by barrage balloons managed from RAF Norton. More than 660 people died and many buildings were destroyed or left badly damaged, including the Marples Hotel, which was hit directly by a 500-pound bomb, killing over 70 people.

Post-Second World War

In the 1950s and 1960s, many of the city's slums were demolished, and replaced with housing schemes such as the Park Hill flats. Large parts of the city centre were also cleared to make way for a new system of roads. In February 1962, the city was devastated by the Great Sheffield Gale; winds of up to 97 mph killed four people and damaged 150,000 houses, more than two-thirds of the city's housing stock at the time. Increased automation and competition from abroad resulted in the closure of many steel mills. The 1980s saw the worst of this run-down of Sheffield's industries, along with those of many other areas of the UK. The building of the Meadowhall Centre on the site of a former steelworks in 1990 was a mixed blessing, creating much-needed jobs but hastening the decline of the city centre. Attempts to regenerate the city were kick-started when the city hosted the 1991 World Student Games, which saw the construction of new sporting facilities such as the Sheffield Arena, Don Valley Stadium and the Ponds Forge complex.

21st century

Sheffield is changing rapidly as new projects regenerate some of the more run-down parts of the city. One such, the Heart of the City Project, with £470 million investment, has initiated a number of public works in the city centre: the Peace Gardens were renovated in 1998, the Millennium Gallery opened in April 2001, the Winter Gardens were opened in May 2003, and a public space to link these two areas, the Millennium Square, was opened in May 2006. Additional developments included the remodelling of Sheaf Square, in front of the refurbished railway station: the square contains "The Cutting Edge", a sculpture designed by Si Applied Ltd and made from Sheffield steel. Recent development known as the 'Heart of the City' includes the restoration of the listed Leah's Yard complex.

Sheffield was particularly hard hit during the 2007 United Kingdom floods and the 2010 'Big Freeze'. Many landmark buildings such as Meadowhall and the Hillsborough Stadium flooded due to being close to rivers that flow through the city. In 2010, 5,000 properties in Sheffield were identified as still being at risk of flooding. In 2012 the city narrowly escaped another flood, despite extensive work by the Environment Agency to clear local river channels since the 2007 event. In 2014 Sheffield Council's cabinet approved plans to further reduce the possibility of flooding by adopting plans to increase water catchment on tributaries of the River Don. Another flood hit the city in 2019, resulting in shoppers being contained in Meadowhall Shopping Centre.

Source and attribution

Adapted from “Sheffield” by English Wikipedia contributors. Main paragraphs and sections are retained; tables, reference markers and technical markup are omitted. This is an encyclopedic adaptation, not a personal review. Original revision and contributor history ↗. Text is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗. Check current visitor access, tickets and transport with the relevant operator.