Some history:
The earliest settlement of Sheffield is the
Iron Age fortification at Wincobank, approximately 2.5
miles to the north east of the city. This
fortification is believed to be constructed by an
ancient
British tribe as a defense against the
Romans. In 1150, a Norman
baron by the name of
William de Lovetot built a wooden
castle where the Don and Sheaf rivers connect. The castle was
replaced by a stone one in 1270, but that was destroyed 378 years later, after the
civil war.
In 1516, the 4th
Earl of Shewsbury built a country house a couple miles to the south-east of
the castle, calling it Manor Lodge. The Turret House there was added later, housing
Mary Queen of Scots after she fled to
England to escape imprisonment in 1568. Not many
old buildings are still standing in Sheffield, but the oldest is believed to be the Old Queen's Head
on Pond Hill, which was first documented in 1582.
Sheffield has been a prime area for metal trades for hundreds of years because of it's central
location to
iron ore,
oak, and fast flowing streams. Shepard's Wheel was used as far back as
1584 for sharpening knives and edge tools until 1930. The Cutlers Company of Hallamshire was opened
in 1624.
Scythes and other small tools were made at the Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet, which
was built in the 18th century. The city also gave birth to Crucible steel and Sheffield Plate,
leading to a huge
boom in the late 1700/early 1800's.
Since the middle of the 19th century, Sheffield has grown to become the world's largest
steel
manufacturing center.
Alloy steels were invented here, and the invention of stainless
steel in 1913 caused a huge boost to the already immense
cutlery industry. Sheffield was not
largely affected by the 'green' movement for cleaner industries around the world in the 60's and
70's, which caused the closing of mills worldwide. The city, however, has the Avesta
Sheffield's Shepcote Lane factory, with a 500 000 tonnes of high quality
stainless steel per year
capacity, making it the largest in
Europe and
North America.
Sheffield is also called "The National City of Sport" for a very good reason;
soccer (or football,
depending on where you live) was given birth to here. Other famous things given birth to from here
include:
The Full Monty,
Def Leppard and child's rubber ball.
There is currently (at time of writing) a projected population of 531.4k people living in
Sheffield.
The majority of this w/u is based off of http://www.sheffieldcity.co.uk