Sheffield, Yorkshire Genealogy

England Yorkshire  Yorkshire Parishes  West Riding  Sheffield

Parish History
The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £12. 15. 2½.; net income, £500; patrons, P. Gell and A. Lawson, Esqrs. The tithes were commuted for land and annual payments in 1791. The vicarage-house is at the corner of St. James' street, and the glebe-land in its vicinity is covered with buildings. Three stipendiary clergymen, with an income of £400 per annum each, are appointed to assist the vicar, by a body called the "Twelve Capital Burgesses:" this body was incorporated by charter of Queen Mary, and holds certain lands and estates in trust, for the payment of the assistant ministers, the repairs of the church, and the relief of the needy poor. The church was erected in the reign of Henry I., and is a spacious cruciform structure, with a central tower and spire; but the edifice has been so altered by repairs, that, with the exception of part of the tower and spire, and a few small portions of the interior, very little of its original character can be distinguished. The chancel contains the first production from the chisel of Chantrey, a mural tablet with a bust of the Rev. James Wilkinson, late vicar, canopied with drapery, in Carrara marble, erected at the public expense. Many illustrious persons have been interred in the church, including Mary, Countess of Northumberland; Elizabeth, Countess of Lennox, mother of the unfortunate Lady Arabella Stuart; Lady Elizabeth Butler; four earls of Shrewsbury; and Peter Roflet, French secretary of Mary, Queen of Scots.

Seal of the Twelve Capital Burgesses. St. Paul's chapel was erected in 1720, by subscription, towards which Mr. R. Downes, silversmith, contributed £1000. It is a handsome edifice in the Grecian style, with a tower surmounted by a well-proportioned dome, and a cupola of cast-iron; the interior is light, and elegantly ornamented, and contains a bust by Chantrey of the Rev. Alex. Mackenzie, with emblematical sculpture. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £136; patron, the Vicar. St. James' chapel, a neat structure in the Grecian style, with a campanile turret, was erected by subscription in 1788; the interior is well arranged, and the east window is embellished with a beautiful painting of the Crucifixion, by Peckett. The living is a perpetual curacy, also in the Vicar's gift; net income, £160. St. George's church, on an eminence at the western extremity of the town, erected in 1824, by the Parliamentary Commissioners, at an expense of £14,819, is a very handsome structure in the later English style, with a lofty embattled tower at the west end, rising to the height of 139. feet, and crowned with pinnacles. The interior is handsomely finished, and contains about 2000 sittings, 1000 of which are free; the large altar-piece is an admirable representation of Christ Blessing Little Children, painted and presented by Mr. Paris in 1831. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £365; patron, the Vicar. St. Philip's church, near the infirmary, was erected in 1827, by grant from the same commissioners, at an expense of £13,970, and is a neat edifice in the later English style, with a square embattled tower: the living is a perpetual curacy; patron, the Vicar; net income, £135. St. Mary's church, in Brammall-lane, of which the first stone was laid by the Countess of Surrey, in 1826, is also in the later English style, with a square tower, and a porch of elegant design. The exterior is enriched with a profusion of grotesque heads and other ornaments: the interior is well arranged; the nave is separated from the aisles by ranges of light clustered columns, which support the lofty and richly-groined roof. This church was erected by grant from the commissioners, at an expense of £12,650; the site and the cemetery being given by the Duke of Norfolk. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £350; patron, the Vicar. St. John's church, on Park-hill, was erected by subscription in 1837, on a site of three acres presented by his grace, at a cost of nearly £4000; it is a neat edifice, with a tower surmounted by a slender spire, and contains 1200 free sittings: the living is in the gift of Trustees. Five church districts have been formed in Sheffield under the act 6th and 7th Victoria, cap. 37, namely, Eldon, Holliscroft. Dyers-Hill, Moorfields, and Carver-Street: the incumbency in each is in the alternate gift of the Crown and the Archbishop of York. The district of Eldon, formed in 1846, comprises 45 acres, and contains a population of 5273; it is bordered by the GIossop or Manchester road on the north, and by the Chesterfield road on the south. The church is dedicated to St. Jude, and is a neat edifice, capable of a

Brightside,

Pitsmoor

Wicker

Brightside-Bierlow

Fulwood

Crookes

Ecclesall-Bierlow - 1784

Attercliffe - 1694

Darnall - 1844

Heeley - 1848

In the town are eleven places of worship for various denominations of Methodists, six for Independents, and one each for Baptists, Quakers, Roman Catholics

Parish Records
This ancient parish was created before 1813. Church of England records began in 1560 for Sheffield, Cathedral Church of St. Peter and St. Paul.