SHEFFIELD. Ill 
greatly to the romantic situation of the place. Over the 
Don is a stone bridge of five arches, called Lady’s bridge, 
built in 1485, and repaired in 1762; and over the Sheaf is 
another of one arch. The town extends about a mile from 
north to south, and above three quarters from east to west. 
Few places can boast of more handsome and regular streets. 
The houses are well built, and many of them elegant: they 
are now mostly of brick; but stone was at one time the 
only building material in use. Though the smoke of the 
numerous manufactories tends to give the town a sombre 
appearance, it is yet far from being dull, and is abundantly 
furnished with all the conveniences and elegances of life. 
The public buildings are not particularly remarkable for 
architectural beauty, and are rather calculated for utility 
than show. The principal of these are the churches belong¬ 
ing to the establishment, the town-hall, cutlers’-hall, the 
general infirmary, and assembly-room, and the theatre. 
The churches are four in numbar, viz., St. Peter’s church, 
St. Paul’s, St. James’s and the chapel of the duke of Norfolk’s 
hospital. St. Peter’s, the parish church of Sheffield, stands 
near the centre of the town, and was erected in the reign of 
Henry I. It is a Gothic building, with a spire rising from 
the middle. On the south side of the chancel is the Shrews¬ 
bury chapel, which contains four monuments to the memory 
of the earls of Shrewsbury, of the family of Talbot. At 
the entrance to the chancel are deposited the remains of 
William Walker of Darnal, in this parish, supposed to have 
been the executioner of Charles I.; “ but,” says the recent 
historian of Sheffield, the reverend J. Hunter, “ with better 
reason supposed to have been the translator of the Vindicia; 
contra Tyrannos. St. Paul’s church is an elegant modern 
building, in the Grecian style. It was beg-un in 1720, but 
not finished till 1771. St. James’s church is a more modern 
structure; it was built by subscription, and opened about 
the year 1790. The chapel at the duke of Norfolk’s hospital 
was opened in 1777. It is of an octagonal form, and 
calculated to contain a large congregation. Besides the 
churches, the town contains seven meeting-houses for Pro¬ 
testant dissenters, one for Unitarians, two for Methodists, 
one for Quakers, and a Roman Catholic chapel. The town- 
hall is a handsome new edifice, built of stone, and situated 
near the fish market-place in Castle-street. The cutlers’-hall 
is on the south side of St. Peter’s church-yard, and was 
built in the year 1726. The general infirmary is situated 
about half a mile to the west of the town. It is a large and 
commodious building, begun in 1793, and finished in a 
few years, the expence being defrayed by subscriptions and 
legacies. The situation is healthy, and the plan of the build¬ 
ing well adapted to promote the recovery of patients. Indeed 
in these points, as well as in the provision for medical aid, and 
the comfortable treatment of the patients, this institution is 
universally allowed to equal any establishment of a similar kind 
in the kingdom. The assembly-room and the theatre com¬ 
prise an elegant building in Norfolk-street, in the south part 
of the town. This was first erected in 1762, but has been 
since taken down, and rebuilt on a larger scale. The town 
■contains several other buildings deserving of notice. The 
duke of Norfolk’s hospital stands on the eastern bank of the 
Sheaf. It was founded and endowed in 1670, by Henry 
earl of Norwich, and received a considerable accession of 
property by Edward duke of Norfolk, in 1770. On the 
north side of the town is an hospital, founded by Mr. 
Thomas Hollis, merchant in London, in 1703, for poor 
•eutlers’ widows. On the north-east of the town, and near 
the banks of the Don, are the military barracks, which 
were built about the same time with the general infirmary. 
They form a noble pile of building, with a fine esplanade 
in front. The rooms are of a proper size, and conveniently 
arranged; and the whole structure is well adapted for the 
accommodation of troops. The free grammar-school was 
erected in 1649- Near it is a writing school for poor boys; 
and here are also two charity schools, one for boys and an¬ 
other for girls. A large market-place, with extensive and com¬ 
modious shambles, and other accommodations, was formed 
and finished in 1786. The works of the Sheffield gas-light 
Company, erected in 1819, form a highly creditable ad¬ 
dition to the public buildings of Sheffield. They stand 
near the Sheaf bridge; and not far from them, the basin, 
warehouse, and wharfs of the new canal from Tinsley, opened 
in 1819, present a further example of the public spirit of 
the inhabitants of Sheffield, having been finished at an im¬ 
mense expense. Sheffield can also boast of two of the 
first schools in the kingdom, on Bell and Lancaster’s systems. 
The former provides instruction for 450 boys and 450 girls; 
the latter for 700 boys and 600 girls. 
Sheffield has been long noted for its manufactures, for 
which it is well adapted by its situation, the neighbourhood 
abounding in coals and iron, and the river Don affording an 
extensive navigation through different parts of the kingdom. 
The staple manufactures are those of hardware, which are 
very various and extensive, and constitute indeed the chief 
support of the town, and the great source of its opulence and 
prosperity. They comprise two great divisions, viz., those of 
cutlery and plated goods; and these branch out into 
numerous ramifications, each of which constitutes a distinct 
business, though some manufacturers carry on several of 
them together. To the first division belong the trades of 
making edge-tools, combs, cases, buttons, fenders, files, 
anvils, joiners’ tools, lancets, forks, hafts, ink-stands, nails, 
pocket-knives, pen-knives, razors, snuffers, common scissars, 
fine scissars, saws, scythes, and hay and straw knives, 
sickles, sheers, awl-blades, bellows, &c.; and also the 
refining of steel. The trade of plated goods comprises an 
endless variety of articles, such as tea-urns, coffee-pots, 
sauce-pans, tankards, cups, candlesticks, and other pieces of 
table furniture, &c. The latter manufactures are wholly 
confined within the town, but those of cutlery goods are 
also carried on in all the villages and hamlets in the 
neighbourhood, to the distance of seven miles. Besides these 
manufactures, there are in the town and its vicinity, several 
extensive foundries for iron, brass, and white metal. In 
1625, the master manufacturers of Sheffield were in¬ 
corporated under the title of the “ Company of Cutlers of 
Hallamshire,” the name of the district or liberty in which 
the town is situated. This corporation is governed by a 
master elected annually, six searchers, and 24 assistants, 
and is the only body of tradesmen incorporated in the town. 
It contains at present about 600 members. Sheffield appears 
to have been noted so early as in the 13th century, as a staple 
for iron manufactures; and Chaucer, who wrote in the reign 
of Edward III. mentions the “ Sheffield whittle” in one of 
his poems. For several centuries, however, its trade was 
inconsiderable, consisting almost entirely of sheath knives, 
scissars, sickles, and scythes; and it was not till the year 
1750, that the town began to make any great figure as a 
manufacturing place. In that year, Mr. Joseph Broadbent 
opened a direct trade with the continent, the business of the 
town having been previously confined entirely to Great 
Britain; and in 1751, the Don was rendered navigable to 
within three miles of the town, which gave new facilities 
both to foreign and domestic intercourse. The navigation, 
as already intimated, is now complete to the verge of the 
town. Soon after this, Mr. Thomas Bolsover began to plate 
brass and copper buttons with silver; and in 1758, the 
silver plating manufactory was begun on an extensive scale, 
by Mr. Joseph Hancock. Since that time the town has 
advanced rapidly in population and wealth, and the progress 
of luxury and improvement has kept pace with its increasing 
prosperity. In 1760, a stage coach to London was set up, 
and a coffee-room was begun in 1765. A bank was opened 
in 1770. About the year 1786, the first steam-engine 
grinding wheel was opened. In 1793, the first hackney 
coach was set up. 
The origin and remote history of Sheffield are unknown : 
in former times it was distinguished for its castle, a strong 
fortress, situated on the north-east of the town, near the con¬ 
fluence of the two rivers, and supposed to have been built 
during the reign of Henry III. This castle descended from 
the 
