This city, Sheffield, is known in England as The Steel City. Not only was it the kingdom's biggest producer of heavy steels for industry and construction, it was also famous for the manufacture of steel cutlery. Even today, the city's ice hockey team is known as The Steelers and Sheffield United football club are nicknamed The Blades. Good quality cutlery is still produced here but heavy steel production has almost gone.
I could make a whole blogpost about Sheffield's steel industry but I want to write about something else today - Sheffield Castle which existed long before the burgeoning of the steel industry.
There are around four thousand old castles in England. Some are in a fine state of repair but many are in ruins. Some are just mounds with moats around them and others, like Sheffield Castle, were razed to the ground leaving little evidence of their existence behind.
It was a big and strategically important castle, covering some four acres at the confluence of two rivers - The Sheaf and The Don. It began its life as a simple "motte and bailey" castle soon after the Norman invasion in 1066 but by medieval times it had grown into a huge stone stronghold with residential buildings and barracks within. It was the very gateway to the north of England.
Mary Queen of Scots was detained there in the late sixteenth century and at Manor Lodge in nearby forested hunting grounds. However, less than a hundred years later, the castle was no more. Having accommodated Royalist forces during The English Civil War, Parliament in London decided that the great fortress should be razed to the ground and that process began in earnest in 1649.
Within a few months, six hundred years of history was almost obliterated. I say "almost" because some of the castle's foundations remain to this day and following the demolition of several city centre buildings - including The Castle Market - archaeologists have scoured the castle site finding many fascinating objects and learning more about the castle's development since the Norman mound was first raised up above the two rivers.
It is tantalising to think that Sheffield Castle would have been a tourist attraction today and it would also have reminded Sheffielders that their city has a history that goes back much further than the age of steel. Co-incidentally the imagined Sheffield Castle at the top of this post was portrayed by the late Kenneth Steel (1906-1970) - a native Sheffield artist.
The city of Bietigheim, just a few km north of Ludwigsburg, has an ice hockey team called The Steelers.
ReplyDeleteI believe my sister and I have walked past or seen signs for where Sheffield Castle once was, during our last visit to Sheffield some years ago.
It would be a great tourist attraction nowadays, that's for sure!
Knowing the history of a place (or at least some bits of it) matters to me; it enhances my visit or, in the case of my hometown, the experience of living there.
I am still sorry that we were away when you came here. I would have loved to walk with you, visit Chatsworth House and invite you to our house for tea. I believe your city centre hotel was very close to the site of Sheffield Castle.
DeleteWhenever I'm in England, I never tire of touring old castles. We never had enough time in history to build such things out of stone. All ours were made of wood and are all long gone.
ReplyDeleteP.S. We have a city in our state by the name of Sheffield but I just checked and it wasn't named after your city as so many in our state are. Instead it was named after the surname of the best friend of the town founder.
But that man's name - Sheffield - would have emerged in relation to this city. In the past, people didn't really have surnames. They might be Edward de Sheffield or Peter de York etc.. I have visited a Sheffield in New Zealand.
DeleteI am just trying to imagine how it would be if, say, the Maya had continued to live in the giant city states of so long ago, still inhabiting and having even built on to the places we know as ruins instead of the jungle overtaking them. There is so much to be discovered in those places and with the new technology, LIDAR, they are far more successful in their explorations. I imagine that LIDAR is being employed in and around your ancient places too.
ReplyDeleteAs to the crucifix- Tom Robbins, the author, said once that if Jesus had been a contemporary of ours, people in the future would be wearing little electric chairs around their necks as jewelry.
I've never been able to shake that image.
LIDAR is an amazing facility. It has revealed a lot of secrets about the Angkor Wat region of Cambodia.
DeleteThank you for such an informative and interesting post about Sheffield Castle. I've always loved castles. During a 4 month backpacking trip through Europe in the mid 80's, I went on a boat cruise down the Rhine River. We stopped in Bacharach, Germany where our accommodation for the night was in a castle called Burg Stahleck. Being a youth hostel, the sleeping arrangements were far from elegant. There were rows and rows of bunk beds in one big dark room. Even so, as I was falling asleep that night I remember being completely in awe of the fact I was sleeping in a castle.
ReplyDeleteA great experience for a young woman who had come from a country with no castles.
DeleteYou (and Google) have educated me today. I now know what a "motte and bailey" castle is. I had never seen that term before.
ReplyDeleteIt was the simplest form of castle, favoured by Te Normans as they took charge of England.
DeleteIt is a lovely painting but I wonder how accurate it is. I suppose certain walls can be worked out easily.
ReplyDeleteI understand he did some research before coming up with that image. It is not entirely fanciful.
DeleteI envy you the long, long history of your country and so many interesting places and events you live in close proximity to. Just two or three hundred years ago there was nothing here but wilderness and a very sparse Native American population. A Native American population of whom very little trace is left, sadly. At least in this part of the country.
ReplyDeleteOne day I will visit England. It's on my bucket list of things to do in the next ten years or so. Of course, that's if this damn Covid plague ever ends!
If you do get here and I am still alive you can stay in our house for two or three nights and I will make you a nice Sunday roast if you happen to be here on Sunday. This also applies to Gregg if he is with you.
DeleteI never knew Sheffield had a castle.
ReplyDeleteWell you do now old chap! Actually it is just the ghost of a castle - the space where it once stood.
DeleteI love looking at castles. When I was little, well, younger, I'm still short, I used to want to live in one and be a princess, but now all I think about is who would do all the cleaning and how draughty they probably are. I still like to look at them though.
ReplyDeleteYou would have had servants to do the cleaning and just by clicking your fingers they would light your fire.
DeleteThose roundheads were so destructive!
ReplyDeleteThey may have had reason to be.
DeleteInteresting information YP. I didn't know that Sheffield had a castle, even though Mary Queen of Scots was detained there for a time. No idea how accurate the painting is, but from your description it was an imposing building, what a tragedy that it was demolished after such a short life.
ReplyDeleteThe castle evolved over six hundred years. I wouldn't call that a short life Carol but it would have been almost a thousand years old by the end of this century.
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