Sheffield Castle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Shefeld; Sheafield

In the civil parish of Sheffield.
In the historic county of Yorkshire West Riding (Modern Authority of Sheffield, 1974 county of South Yorkshire).

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.

This site has been described as a;
Timber Castle
Masonry Castle.
The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Certain.
Masonry footings remains.

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1270 July 25.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SK35798768

Modern Map from Good for landscape form and features	Modern Map from Good for general location
Air Photo from	1st edition OS Map from

Sources of information, references and further reading

PastScape number; 314461

• Web site links
  • http://www.sheffieldmarkets.co.uk/sheffield-castle-de-furnival.php
• 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
• Journal Articles
  • 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., 1980, 'The castles and fortified houses of South Yorkshire' Archaeological Journal Vol137 p374-6
    Armstrong, A.L., 1928, Antiquaries Journal Vol8 p365-77
    Hurst, J.G., 1959, 'Medieval Britain in 1958 Post-conquest' Medieval Archaeology Vol3 p308
    Brown, R, Allen, 1959, 'A List of Castles, 1154–1216' English Historical Review Vol74 [Reprinted in Brown, R. Allen, 1989, Castles, conquest and charters: collected papers (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p249-280]
    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 (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
  • Calendar of Patent Rolls (1266-72) p447
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • 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
• Other sources and unpublished works (Theses, in-house reports and other such)
  • Butcher, L.H., archives held by Sheffield City Museum