Sheffield Castle

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Excavations in 1927-28 on the site of Sheffield castle. A dark age hall was discovered fortified by a ditch. This was replaced circa 1100 by a timber castle. This, along with the church and most of the town, was burt down in 1265 and a stone castle was built to replace it. In 1648, following the English civil war, parliament ordered that the castle be demolished. All that remains today of this C13 castle is part of a corner tower buried in a cellar underneath the castle market. The surrounding geography, however, still marks out the site - to the north and east the castle was bounded by the rivers don and sheaf respectively. A moat was dug to protect the south and west sides, its course is (roughly) marked out today by Exchange Street and Waingate.

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Sheffield Castle

Photograph by Philip Davis. All rights reserved

 

Sheffield Castle

Photograph by Philip Davis. All rights reserved

 

Sheffield Castle

Photograph by Philip Davis. All rights reserved


 

Sheffield Castle

Photograph by Philip Davis. All rights reserved

 

Sheffield Castle

Photograph by Philip Davis. All rights reserved

 

Sheffield Castle

Photograph by Philip Davis. All rights reserved



Name Sheffield Castle 
Alternative Names Shefeld; Sheafield 
Historic County Yorkshire West Riding 
Civil Parish Sheffield 
Type Timber Castle Masonry Castle 
Confidence Certain 
Remains Masonry footings 
Listed Grade 2
Scheduled Ancient Monument No
Ordnance Survey Reference SK357876
Eastings 435790
Northing 387680
Images of England Reference458127
PastScape Reference314461
Historic Environment Record

Multi Map

StreetMaps

Books

  • Salter, Mike, 2002, Index and Amendments to Mike Salter's English Castles Books (Malvern) p10
  • Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles and Tower Houses of Yorkshire (Malvern) p89
  • Ingham, Bernard, 2001, Bernard Ingham's Yorkshire Castles (Dalesman) p22
  • Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p310 [slight]
  • King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p530
  • Renn, D.F., 1973 (2edn), Norman Castles of Britain (John Baker)
  • Pevsner, N. Revised by Enid Radcliffe, 1967, The Buildings of England: Yorkshire: West Riding (London, Penguin) p454
  • Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
  • Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England (Heinemann) Vol2 p256-259
  • Timbs, J. and Gunn, A., 1872, Abbeys, Castles and Ancient Halls of England and Wales Vol3 (London) p186-9
  • Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol3 pt2 p403

Antiquarian

  • William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/yorkseng.html#york3]
  • Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p523, 524

Journals

  • Guy, Neil, 2005, 'Sheffield Castle' Castle Studies Group Bulletin Vol18 p202-221
  • Latham, I.D. and Atkinson, S., 1994, 'An Archaeological Investigation of the Remains of Sheffield Castle' Archaeology in South Yorkshire 1993-1994 p12-16
  • Birch, J., 1981, 'The castles and fortified houses of South Yorkshire' Archaeological Journal Vol137 p374-6
  • Hurst, J.G., 1959, 'Medieval Britain in 1958 Post-conquest' Medieval Archaeology Vol3 p308 [downloadable via http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/resources.html?medarch]
  • Brown, R, Allen, 1959, 'A List of Castles, 1154–1216' English Historical Review Vol74 p249-280 [Reprinted in Brown, R. Allen, 1989, Castles, conquest and charters: collected papers (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p90-121] http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0013-8266%28195904%2974%3A291%3C249%3AALOC1%3E2.0.CO%3B2-P
  • Armstrong, A.L., 1930, 'Sheffield Castle: An Account of Discoveries made during excavations on the site from 1927-29, Hunter Archaeological Society Transactions Vol4 p7-27
  • Armstrong, A.L., 1928, Antiquaries Journal Vol8 p365-77

Primary Sources

  • Calendar of Patent Rolls (1266-72) p447
  • Rickard, John, 2002, The Castle Community. The Personnel of English and Welsh Castles, 1272-1422 (Boydell Press) [lists sources for 1272-1422] p496

Unpublished

  • Butcher, L.H., archives held by Sheffield City Museum

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of English Heritage and other individuals and organisations. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commerical purposes. I do not receive any income from this site and I fund it myself. The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others. This site is based upon the databases collated and maintained by Philip Davis who kindly gave permission for its use.