Sheffield (city), Yorkshire Genealogy

Guide to Sheffield history, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.



History
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough in what is now South Yorkshire, England. In 2009, the UK Government changed the boundaries, and added new counties, to the ancient English county divisions. Historically just within the county of Yorkshire, and part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city.

Sheffield city is located in several folds in the hills that lead up to the Penine backbone of England. The city nestles in a natural amphitheater created by the surrounding hills and at the confluence of five rivers: the Don, the Sheaf, the Rivelin, the Loxley and the Porter. As such, much of the city is built on hillsides with views into the city center or out to the countryside. Initially the rivers were also a source of hydraulic power at the start of the Industrial Revolution.

The area that is now occupied by the City of Sheffield is believed to have been inhabited since at least the late Upper Palaeolithic period, about 12,800 years ago.

The earliest evidence of human occupation in the Sheffield area was found at Creswell Crags to the east of the city. In the Iron Age the area became the southernmost territory of the Pennine tribe called the Brigantes.

A Celtic presence within the Sheffield area is evidenced by two settlements called Wales and Waleswood close to Sheffield.

However the settlements that grew and merged to form Sheffield date from the second half of the first millennium, and are of Anglo-Saxon and Danish origin. Much of the area now known as Yorkshire had major invasions from the marauding Viking hordes.

In Anglo-Saxon times, the Sheffield area straddled the border between the kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria.

After the Norman conquest, Sheffield Castle was built to protect the local settlements, and a small town developed that is the nucleus of the modern city.

During the 1740s, a form of the crucible steel process was discovered that allowed the manufacture of a better quality of steel than had previously been possible. In about the same period, a technique was developed for fusing a thin sheet of silver onto a copper ingot to produce silver plating, which became widely known as Sheffield plate. These innovations spurred Sheffield's growth as an industrial town, but the loss of some important export markets led to a recession in the late 18th and early 19th century. The resulting poor conditions culminated in a cholera epidemic that killed 402 people in 1832. The population of the town grew rapidly throughout the 19th century; increasing from 60,095 in 1801 to 451,195 by 1901. The town was incorporated as a borough in 1842 and was granted a city charter in 1893. The influx of people also led to demand for better water supplies, and a number of new reservoirs were constructed on the outskirts of the town.

However growth created many problems, including the collapse of the dam wall of one of these reservoirs in 1864 resulting in the Great Sheffield Flood, which killed 270 people and devastated large parts of the town.

Following the major decline in the steelworking industries,attempts to regenerate the city were kick-started when the city hosted the 1991 World Student Games, which saw the construction of new sporting facilities such as the Sheffield Arena, Don Valley Stadium and the Ponds Forge complex.

Sheffield is changing rapidly as new projects regenerate some of the more run-down parts of the city. One such, the Heart of the City Project, has initiated a number of public works in the city center: the Peace Gardens were renovated in 1998, the Millennium Galleries opened in April 2001, the Winter Gardens were opened in May 2003, and a public space to link these two areas, the Millennium Square, was opened in May 2006.

Cemeteries (Civil)
There are 2 cemeteries and one crematorium in the area of Sheffield. The link follows:
 * Sheffield cemeteries and crematorium

Other useful sites follow:
 * City Road cemetery
 * Sheffield General Cemetery
 * Burngreave cemetery
 * Sheffield Cathedral

Parishes
The Sheffield Diocese, which covers the city of Sheffield, plus many surrounding towns, has more than 176 parishes. Information on these and the Diocese itself, can be found on the following address and web site:

The Diocese of Sheffield Church House 95-99 Effingham Street Rotherham S65 1BL Telephone: (01709) 309 100 Anglican Diocese of Sheffield

The following is a list of some specific churches in the city itself:

Sheffield Cathedral Church Street Sheffield S1 1HA0 Telephone: 114 275 3434 Website

All Saints, Ecclestall Ringinglow Road Ecclesall, S11 7PQ Telephone: 07769 213 581

Christ Church, Endcliffe Brocco Bank Endcliffe, S11 8RQ Telephone: 07968 980554

St Columba Crosspool 503 Manchester Road Sheffield S10 5PL Telephone: 0114 267 0006

St Gabriel, Greystones Bottom of Dobbin Hill Sheffield S11 7JB Telephone: 0114 266 7686

St John the Evangelist Ranmoor Park Road Sheffield S10 3GX Telephone: 0114 230 1199

St Mark Broomfield Road Sheffield S10 2SE Telephone: 0114 267 0362 / 0114 266 3613

St Mary Howard Road / South Road Sheffield S6 3RX Telephone: 0114 234 5029

Non Conformists

 * Baptist
 * Calvary Christian Fellowship
 * Christ Church, Fulwood
 * Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
 * Eastern Orthodox
 * Full Life Church
 * Jehovah's Witness
 * Methodist
 * Presbyterian
 * Rock Christian Center
 * Roman Catholic
 * Seventh Day Adventist

Non Christian groups that meet regularly in Sheffield include:


 * Buddhist
 * Hindu
 * Jewish
 * Muslim
 * Sikh

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The following link provides access for Sheffield:


 * Births, Marriages, and Death Records for Sheffield
 * Ancestry.com
 * Yorkshire BMD records

Local Histories

 * Sheffield history
 * Sheffield City Histories
 * A History of Sheffield by David Hey
 * A History of Sheffield Steel by Geoffrey Howse

Maps and Gazetteers

 * Mapquest; Sheffield
 * Maps of the World; Sheffield
 * oldmapsonline; Sheffield
 * Sheffield City Council Gazetteer
 * genuki Sheffield Gazetteer

Newspapers

 * The Sheffield Star
 * The Sheffield Telegraph

Occupations
For many years Sheffield was preeminent in the manufacture of stainless steel products. Sheffield steel was synonymous with the finest flatware and tableware in the world. This has now long gone, with cheap imports from Asia taking all but the highest quality flatware away.

After many years of decline, the Sheffield economy is now going through a strong revival. The 2004 Barclays Bank Financial Planning study revealed that, in 2003, the Sheffield district of Hallam was the highest ranking area outside London for overall wealth, the proportion of people earning over £60,000 a year standing at almost 12%. A survey by Knight Frank revealed that Sheffield was the fastest-growing city outside London for office and residential space and rents during the second half of 2004. This growth is still accelerating.

Sheffield still has an international reputation for metallurgy and steel-making. Further innovations continue, with new advanced manufacturing technologies and techniques being developed on the Advanced Manufacturing Park by Sheffield's universities and other independent research organizations. Organizations located on the AMP include the Advanced Manufacturing Research Center (AMRC, a research partnership between the Boeing Company and the University of Sheffield), Castings Technology International (CTI), The Welding Institute (TWI), and William Cook Group. Employers such as Forgemasters, founded in 1805, and the sole remaining independent steel works in the world, dominates the north east of Sheffield around the Lower Don Valley. The firm has a global reputation for producing the largest and most complex steel forgings and castings and is certified to produce critical nuclear components, with recent projects including the Royal Navy's Astute class submarines. The firm also has the capacity for pouring the largest single ingot (570 tonnes) in Europe and is currently in the process of expanding its capabilities.

Sheffield is a major retail center, and is home to many High Street and department stores as well as designer boutiques. The main shopping areas in the city center are on The Moor precinct, Fargate, Orchard Square and the Devonshire Quarter. This sector provides major employment to many in the city and surrounding towns.

Sheffield also has a unique District Energy system that exploits the city's domestic waste, by incinerating it and converting the energy from it to electricity. It also provides hot water, which is distributed through over 25 miles (40 km) of pipes under the city, via two networks. These networks supply heat and hot water for many buildings throughout the city. These include not only cinemas, hospitals, shops and offices, but also universities (Sheffield Hallam University and the University of Sheffield), and residential properties. Energy generated in a waste plant produces 60 megawatts of thermal energy and up to 19 megawatts of electrical energy from 225,000 tonnes of waste.

Societies

 * Sheffield and District Family History Society
 * Rootsweb Yorkshire Genealogy
 * Genuki for Yorkshire
 * Yorkshire Family History Societies

Archives

 * Sheffield City Archives 52 Shoreham Street Sheffield S1 4SP Website


 * The National Archives; Sheffield


 * Sheffield University Library Archives

Web Sites

 * wikipedia; Sheffield
 * Sheffield City Web Site