Sheffield history

Sheffield history

Sheffield: the city

Sheffield, which is in South Yorkshire, is the fourth largest city in England and is so named because of its origins in a field on the River Sheaf that runs through the city.

The area that is now the City of Sheffield has been occupied since at least the last ice age, but the settlements that grew to form Sheffield date from the second half of the 1st millennium, and are of Anglo-Saxon and Danish origin. After the Norman conquest, Sheffield Castle was built to protect the local settlements, and 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, and by 1600 it had become the main centre of cutlery production in England, overseen by The Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire. From 1570 to 1584 Mary, Queen of Scots was held as a prisoner in Sheffield Castle and Sheffield Manor.

Sheffield: the University

The University of Sheffield is a leading research university, located in Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England. It is ranked within the World's top 100 Universities and constantly ranked amongst the top 20 universities in Britain.

Notable alumni include: Nicholas Liverpool, the current President of Dominica, pioneering English pilot Amy Johnson, film director Stephen Daldry and David Blunkett Member of Parliament and former Home Secretary.