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England Yorkshire  Sheffield

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


 * City Road 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:

Telephone: (01709) 309 100
 * Church House
 * 95-99 Effingham Street
 * Rotherham S65 1BL


 * 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


 * 

All Saints, Ecclestall:


 * Address:
 * Ringinglow Road
 * Ecclesall, S11 7PQ
 * Telephone: 07769 213 581

Christ Church, Endcliffe


 * Address:
 * Brocco Bank
 * Endcliffe, S11 8RQ
 * Telephone: 07968 980554

St Columba Crosspool


 * Address:
 * 503 Manchester Road
 * Sheffield S10 5PL
 * Telephone: 0114 267 0006

St Gabriel, Greystones


 * Address:
 * Bottom of Dobbin Hill
 * Sheffield S11 7JB
 * Telephone: 0114 266 7686

St John the Evangelist


 * Address:
 * Ranmoor Park Road
 * Sheffield S10 3GX
 * Telephone: 0114 230 1199

St Mark


 * Address:
 * Broomfield Road
 * Sheffield S10 2SE
 * Telephone: 0114 267 0362 / 0114 266 3613

St Mary

Sheffield S6 3RX
 * Address:
 * Howard Road / South Road
 * Telephone: 0114 234 5029

Non Conformists

 * Baptist
 * Calvary Christian Fellowship
 * Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
 * Full Life Church
 * Methodist
 * Presbyterian
 * Roman Catholic

Non Christian groups that meet regularly in Preston 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

 * [http://www.thestar.co.uk/ The Sheffield Star


 * The Sheffield Telegraph

Occupations
Since the major overhaul of the English Counties in 1974, Preston was chosen as the seat of Government for Lancashire. The Lancashire County Council building is located on Fishergate. This change has provided many positions for employees within the new County Government.

Preston is a major center of the British defense aerospace industry with BAE Systems, the UK's principal military aircraft design, development and manufacture supplier, having its Military Aircraft headquarters located in nearby Warton. The company has two of its major facilities located some miles on either side of the city. BAE Warton is located to the western side of the city whilst BAE Samlesbury is located to the east, over the M6 motorway. BAE Systems also operate large office facilities at the Portway area within the city and at The Strand office complex.

The Westinghouse Electric Company (formerly BNFL) Springfields nuclear processing plant also lies to the west of the city boundary at Salwick.

The city is home to Alstom Transport's main UK spare parts distribution center (formerly GEC Traction Ltd). Matalan Retail Ltd was also founded in Preston under the name Matalan Cash and Carry. Although the head office of Matalan moved to Skelmersdale in 1998, the city still has the tax office for the company.

The financial sector also has a large presence in the city with a large selection of consultancies, insurance and law firms including national debt collection agency iQor Recovery Services Ltd.

Due to Preston's location as a transport hub, sitting between the M6, M55, M65, and M61 it is also home to several freight and haulage companies.

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


 * 


 * The National Archives; Sheffield


 * Sheffield University Library Archives

Web Sites

 * wikipedia; Sheffield


 * Sheffield City Web Site