Sheffield Historical Walks

Sheffield Winter Gardens

The Historical Walks Database for Sheffield has been updated…

Sheffield’s history can be traced back to the founding of a settlement beside the River Sheaf in the second half of the first millennium AD. Following the Normal Conquest, Sheffield Castle was built to control the Saxon settlements and Sheffield developed into a small town, roughly the size of the modern day city centre. By the 14th Century, Sheffield was well known for the production of knives and the town had become the main centre of cutlery production in England by 1600. Developments in this industry led to Sheffield Plate being discovered and subsequently the town expanded rapidly and was given city status in 1893. Steel was the major industry in Sheffield until the 1973 oil crisis and slowly many of the steelworks were closed down from the 1970s onwards. The city is now a hive of education and technology with massive regeneration ongoing in the centre.

If you’re feeling inspired, why not check out one of Sheffield’s historical walks? You might even have a chance to meet this fine fellow in his bear pit at the Sheffield Botanical Gardens!