Sheffield
From Freepedia
| City of Sheffield | |
|---|---|
| Image:EnglandSheffield.png | |
| Geography | |
| Status: | Metropolitan borough, City (1893) |
| Region: | Yorkshire and the Humber |
| Ceremonial County: | South Yorkshire |
| Area: - Total | Ranked 129th 367.94 km² |
| Admin. HQ: | Sheffield |
| ONS code: | 00CG |
| Demographics | |
| Population: - Total (2004 est.) - Density | Ranked 3rd 516,100 1,393 / km² Metro area population: 1,811,701. |
| Ethnicity: | 91.2% White 4.6% S.Asian 1.8% Afro-Carib. |
| Politics | |
Sheffield City Council http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/ | |
| Leadership: | Leader & Cabinet |
| Executive: | Labour |
| MPs: | Clive Betts, David Blunkett, Richard Caborn, Nick Clegg, Meg Munn, Angela Smith |
- This article is about the city in England. For other uses see Sheffield (disambiguation).
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough in the north of England. Its name originates from the River Sheaf that ran through the original town. It has grown from its industrial roots to encompass a wide economic base. The population of the city is estimated (2004) at 516,100 people[1], and it is one of the eight largest English cities outside of London that form the English Core Cities Group.
The present city boundaries were set in 1974, when the former county borough of Sheffield merged with Stocksbridge Urban District and part of Wortley Rural District. This area includes a significant area of the countryside which surrounds the main urban region. Roughly a third of Sheffield is within the Peak District National Park (no other English city has a national park within its boundary), and Sheffield is generally recognized as England's greenest city, containing 150 woodlands and 50 public parks. In September 2005 it won the Entente Florale becoming the biggest city to do so.
Sheffield is largely unparished, but Bradfield and Ecclesfield have parish councils and Stocksbridge has a town council.
Contents |
Geography
- Main article: Geography of Sheffield
Sheffield is the most geographically diverse city in England[2]. The city nestles in a natural amphitheatre created by seven hills and the confluence of five rivers: Don, Sheaf, Rivelin, Loxley and Porter. As such, much of the city is built on hillsides, with views into the city centre or out to the countryside. At its lowest point the city stands just 10 metres above sea level, rising up to over 500m in some parts of the city. However, 89% of the housing in the city is between 100 and 200 metres above sea level.
With a estimated total of over 2 million trees, Sheffield has more trees per person than any city in Europe. It has over 170 woodlands (covering 28.27 km²), 78 public parks (covering 18.30 km²) and 10 public gardens. Added to the 134.66 km² of national park and 10.87 km² of water this means that 61% of the 362.38 km² that the city encompases is greenspace.
Sheffield also has more types of habitat than any city in the UK. As well as urban, parkland and woodland it has agricultural and arable land, moors, meadows and freshwater based habitats. Large parts of the city are designated as sites of special scientific interest including several urban areas.
People
People from Sheffield are called Sheffielders. They are also colloquially known to people in Barnsley, Rotherham, Dronfield and Chesterfield as "Dee-dars" (which derives from their pronunciation of the "th" in the dialectal words "thee" and "thou")[3], although the term is in decline, and is not nearly as prevalent as "Scouse" is for "Liverpudlian" or "Geordie" is for "Novocastrian". Many Yorkshire dialect words and aspects of pronunciation derive from old Norse due to the Viking influence in this region. Another (more tongue-in-cheek) possiblity for "Dee-dar" is the belief held by Chesterfielders that all that can be heard from Sheffield is the "Dee-Dah" of police sirens!
At the time of the 2001 UK census, the ethnic make-up of Sheffield's population was 91.2% White, 4.6% South Asian, and 1.8% Afro-Caribbean. Sheffield also has a large Chinese, Polish and Somalian population, and is home to a Polish consulate. In terms of religion 68.6% of the population are Christian and 4.6% Muslim. Other religions represent less than 1% each. The number of people without a religion is above the national average at 17.9% with 7.8% not stating their religion. The largest quinary group is 20-24 year olds (47,300) largely due to the large university population (53,000+).
Location
Sheffield is located at 53°23′ N 1°28′ W. Historically, Sheffield was part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and, before this, the Saxon shire of Hallamshire. This area is now part of the county of South Yorkshire, and borders on Nottinghamshire's forests and the Derbyshire Dales.
The city lies directly next to Rotherham with the M1 designating much of the border between them. Although Barnsley Metropoliton Borough also borders sheffield to the north, the town itself is a few miles further. Directly to the west of the city is the Peak District National Park and the Pennine hill range. The southern border is shared with Derbyshire. Over the past hundred years this has steadily moved south as villages have become part of the Sheffield urban area.
Districts
- Main article: Districts of Sheffield
Sheffield is made up of numerous districts that vary widely in size and history. Many of these districts developed from villages or hamlets that have become absorbed into Sheffield as the city has grown. For this reason, whilst the centre of most districts is easy to define, the boundaries of many of the districts are ambiguous. The districts are largely ignored by the administrative and political divisions of the city, instead it is divided into 28 electoral wards, with each ward generally covering 4–6 districts. The electoral wards are grouped into six parliamentary constituencies, although due to a different review cycle the ward and constituency boundaries are currently not all conterminous.
Climate
Like the rest of the United Kingdom, the climate in Sheffield is generally temperate. Between 1971 and 2000 Sheffield averaged 824.7 mm of rain per year, with December the wettest month (91.9 mm) and July the driest (51.0 mm). July was also the hottest month, with an average maximum temperature of 20.8 ˚C. The average minimum temperature in January and February was 1.6 ˚C[4].
History
- Main article History of Sheffield
The explosive growth of the settlements in the area that became the City of Sheffield in the 19th century was a product of the industrial revolution. However, the area has been occupied since at least the last ice age and the settlements that grew to form Sheffield date from Anglo-Saxon times. After the Norman conquest Sheffield Castle was built in to control the Saxon settlements and a small town developed that is the nucleus of the modern city.
By the 14th century Sheffield was noted for the production of knives and by 1600 it had become the main centre of cutlery production in England, overseen by The Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire. In the 1740s a form of the crucible steel process for making a better quality of steel than had previously been available was discovered, and at about the same time a technique for fusing a thin sheet on silver onto a copper ingot to produce silver plating was invented. The associated industries lead to the rapid growth of Sheffield during the industrial revolution. The town was incorporated as a Borough in 1842 and granted a city charter in 1893.
Industry and Economy
Sheffield has an international reputation for metallurgy and steel-making, which dates back to at least the 14th century. In 1740 Benjamin Huntsman discovered the crucible technique for steel manufacture, at his workshop in the district of Handsworth. This process had an enormous impact on the quantity and quality of steel producton and was only made obsolete, a century later, in 1856 by Henry Bessemer's invention of the Bessemer converter which allowed the true mass production of steel. Bessemer had moved his Bessemer Steel Company to Sheffield to be at the heart of the industry. Thomas Boulsover invented Sheffield Plate (silver-plated copper), in the early 18th century, and the Sheffield Assay Office, which opened in 1773, stamps precious metals with the city's crown mark. A more recent major Sheffield steel invention was that of stainless steel by Harry Brearley in 1912, and the work of Profs. F. B. Pickering and T. Gladman throughout the 1960s, '70s, and '80s was fundamental to the development of modern high strength low alloy steels.
While iron and steel have always been the main industries of Sheffield, coal mining has been a major feature of the outlying areas, and the Palace of Westminster in London was built using limestone from quarries in the nearby village of Anston.
The Sheffield Industrial Museums Trust, a partnership between Sheffield City Council, Sheffield Hallam University and The Cutlers' Company of Hallamshire, has preserved key sites associated with the city's industrial heritage, some of which actually still operate ancient equipment for the public, such as the Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet and the Kelham Island Museum. Northwest of the city lies Wortley Top Forge, which was a heavy ironworks of international renown. It is a site of historical and industrial importance, contributing to Sheffield's reputation for manufacturing high-quality, precision steel goods, though actually it is located within the boundaries of neighbouring Barnsley.
The city once spearheaded the knowledge advances which gave it preeminence in steel and cutlery production, today the transfer of technology from Sheffield's universities is guaranteeing Sheffield's continuing industrial and commercial evolution, creating cutting-edge enterprises across the city. High technology businesses such as the US company Fluent, Inc., for example, have chosen Sheffield as the centre for their international operations and so has Jennic, specialists in semiconductor design for the Internet.
Insight Enterprises will invest £50m in a new European headquarters in the city resulting in 1700 jobs over the 2005-2008 period, while Boeing, through its collaboration with the University of Sheffield will be at the centre of an advanced manufacturing park on the edge of the City, home to a cluster of businesses in the advanced manufacturing sector.
Other areas of employment include call centres, the City Council, universities and hospitals. Sheffield currently produces more steel per year than at any other time in its history[5]. However, the industry is now less noticeable as it has become highly automated and employs far fewer staff than in the past.
After many years of decline there are now signs that the Sheffield economy is seeing a revival. The 2004 Barclays Bank Financial Planning study[6] 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%. An survey by Knight Frank [7] revelaved that Sheffield was the fastest growing city outside of London for office and residential space and rents during the second half of 2004. £250 million pounds has also been invested in the city during 2005. Today the economy is worth over £7 billion a year[8]
Re-generation & Devolpment
Sheffield as with most of the UK's major city's is undergoing large scale re-devolpment and juvenation. Some of the projects proposed or under construction in Sheffield are:
- Heart of the City
- includes the Winter and Peace Gardens, Millenium Galleries, Millenium Sqaure and St. Pauls Place.
- Station Gateway
- improvement of Sheffield Train station and its surroundings. Completion in 2007.
- New Retail Quarter
- Completion in 2012.
- Castlegate, Victoria Quays & Riverside Exchange
- office and business scheme. Completion in 2007.
- Lower Don Valley
- Various mixed use projects. Overall completion in 2015.
- The Moor
- Re-development of one of the key shopping districts. Completion in 2011.
As well as these large scale projects there are lots of other public works buildings and luxury condo's being built in the city and the Downtown population is set to increase from 5000 in 2005 to 15,000 by 2015.
Government
Sheffield is governed by an elected City Council. Its Constitution sets out how the Council operates, how decisions are made and the procedures which are followed to ensure that these are efficient, transparent and accountable to local people.
Some of these processes are required by the law, while others are a matter for the Council to choose. The Constitution is divided into 16 articles which set out the basic rules governing the Council's business. More detailed procedures and Codes of Practice are provided in separate rules and protocols.
The city also has a Lord Mayor. In the past, the Office of Mayor had very considerable authority, and carried with it executive powers over the finances and affairs of the Corporation. The Mayor carried out many of the duties later attached to the office of Town Clerk, and as well as presiding over the meetings of the Corporation, the Mayor also presided over the Bench of Magistrates as Chief Magistrate of the Borough Court.
The Lord Mayor's position has most recently been laid down by the Local Government Act 1972. This requires that; they shall be elected annually by the Council from among the Councillors, their term of office is for one year commencing at the Annual Meeting of Council, on the third Wednesday in May, during their term of office they shall continue to be a member of the Council, the Lord Mayor shall have precedence in all places in the district but not so as to prejudicially affect Her Majesty's Royal prerogative, and the Council may pay to the Lord Mayor for the purpose of enabling him to meet the expenses of his office such allowance as they think reasonable.
In 2002/3, the Gross Revenue Expenditure of £1,005 million was financed as follows[9]:
- Council Tax 13% (£139m)
- Specific Government Grants 25% (£263m)
- Council House Rents 11% (£121m)
- Fees, Charges and Other Income 10% (£106m)
- Other Financing 2% (£21m)
- Central Government Grants 39% (£405m)
Sheffield is the largest centre of the civil service outside of London with practically all the major departments represented. It also is also home to the headquaters to Natural England.
Sport
- Main article: Sport in Sheffield
Sheffield has a long sporting heritage. In 1855, a collective of cricketers joined with pupils from Collingswood School to form the world's first ever official football club, Sheffield F.C., and by 1860 there were 15 football clubs in Sheffield. There are now two local clubs in the Football League: Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday, and two major non-league sides: Sheffield F.C. and Hallam F.C. (the two oldest club sides in the world).
Sheffield also has close ties with snooker, due to the fact that the city's Crucible Theatre is the venue for the World Snooker Championships. The english squash open is also held there every year. The city also boasts the Sheffield Eagles rugby league, Sheffield Sharks basketball and Sheffield Steelers ice hockey teams. Sheffield is home to 2004 World Superbike champion James Toseland and of climber Joe Simpson.
Many of Sheffield's extensive sporting facilities were built for the World Student Games which the city hosted in 1991. They include the Don Valley International Athletics Stadium, Sheffield Arena, and Ponds Forge international diving and swimming complex, where Olympic medallist Leon Taylor trains. There are also facilities for golf, climbing and bowling, as well as a newly inaugurated (2003) national ice-skating arena (IceSheffield). The Sheffield Ski Village is the largest artificial ski resort in Europe. The city also has two indoor climbing centres. Sheffield was the UK's first National City of Sport and is now home to the English Institute of Sport (EIS).
Culture and attractions
7.2% of Sheffield's working population are employed in the creative industries, well above the national average of 4%.[10] Open Up Sheffield is an annual event over the first two weekends in May where local visual artists and fine craft workers invite the public to their studios and other venues.
Music
Sheffield has been the home of several well known bands and musicians, with an unusually large number of synth pop and other electronic outfits hailing from there. These include the Human League, Heaven 17, the Thompson Twins, Wavestar and the more industrially inclined Cabaret Voltaire. This electronic tradition has continued: techno label Warp Records was a central pillar of the Yorkshire Bleeps and Bass scene of the early 1990s, and has gone on to become one of Britain's oldest and best-loved dance music labels. Moloko and Autechre, one of the leading lights of so-called intelligent dance music, are also based in Sheffield. The city is also home to Gatecrasher One, one of the most popular nightclubs in the north of England.
Sheffield has also seen the birth of Pulp, Def Leppard, Joe Cocker, The Longpigs and the free improvisors Derek Bailey and Tony Oxley. 1998 Mercury Music Prize award winners Gomez are also connected to Sheffield as some of the founding members went to Sheffield Hallam University together. The up and coming Arctic Monkeys, touted as the "northern Libertines", the math rock band 65daysofstatic and classic rockers Firegarden are three of the most recent additions to the list. Sheffield was home to the world renowned Lindsay string quartet, who are retired from the stage in June 2005.
The city's ties with music were acknowledged in 1999, when the National Centre for Popular Music, a museum dedicated to the subject of popular music was opened. It was not as successful as was hoped, however, and later evolved to become a live music venue, then in February 2005 the unusual steel-covered building would became the students' union for Sheffield Hallam University. Live music venues in the city include the Leadmill, Corporation, the Boardwalk, the City Hall, the University of Sheffield and the Studio Theatre at the Crucible Theatre. Smaller venues supporting the local scene include The Grapes, D 'n' R (formerly Under The Boardwalk) and The Cricketers. The legendary Classic Rock Bar is now sadly demolished.
Attractions
- See also: Listed buildings in Sheffield
Sheffield has two major theatres, the Lyceum Theatre and the Crucible Theatre, and four major art galleries, including the modern Millennium Galleries and the Site Gallery which specialises in multimedia.
The city also has a number of other attractions such as the Sheffield Winter Gardens and the Peace Gardens. The Botanical Gardens currently undergoing a £6.7 million pound restoration. There is also a city farm in Graves Park that is open to the public. The city also has several museums, including the Sheffield City Museum, the Kelham Island Museum, the Sheffield Fire and Police Museum, Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet and Shepherd Wheel.Victoria Quays is also a popular canalside leisure and office quarter.
Media and film
The films The Full Monty, Threads, and Whatever Happened to Harold Smith? were based in the city (indeed, Threads depicted it being destroyed in a thermonuclear war with the Soviet Union!). F.I.S.T. also included several scenes filmed in Sheffield. Sheffield's daily newspaper is the Sheffield Star, complemented by the weekly Sheffield Telegraph. The BBC's Radio Sheffield, and the independent Hallam FM and sister station Magic AM broadcast to the city. The Sheffield International Documentary Festival, the UK's leading documentary festival, has been run annualy since 1994.
Universities
Sheffield has two universities, the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University. The two combined bring 45,000 students to the city every year, including many from the Far East. As a result of its large student population, Sheffield has many bars, cafes, clubs and shops as well as student housing to accommodate them.
Famous Sheffield people
Main article List of famous residents of Sheffield
Famous residents of Sheffield include:
- Gordon Banks, England footballer
- Sean Bean, actor
- Richard Bentall, clinical psychologist
- David Blunkett, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, former Home Secretary
- Antonia Byatt, novelist
- Bruce Chatwin, writer
- Jarvis Cocker, lead singer of Pulp
- Joe Cocker, singer
- Sebastian Coe, Olympic champion and MP
- Richard Coyle, actor and comedian
- Margaret Drabble, novelist
- Malcolm Elliott, professional cyclist
- Naseem Hamed, boxer
- Roy Hattersley, leading politician
- Patrick McGoohan, actor
- Michael Palin, actor and travel presenter
- Helen Sharman, astronaut
- Peter Stringfellow, club owner and celebrity
- Michael Vaughan, England cricket captain
- Clinton Woods, professional boxer
Shopping
Sheffield is a major retail centre, home to many High Street and department stores as well as designer boutiques. The main city centre shopping areas are on The Moor precinct, Fargate, Orchard Square and the Devonshire Quarter. Department stores in Sheffield City centre include John Lewis, Marks and Spencer, Atkinsons, Castle House, Co-op and Debenhams. Sheffield's main market is the Castle Market built above the remains of the castle.
Shopping areas outside the city centre include the Meadowhall shopping centre and retail park, Ecclesall Road, London Road, Hillsborough and the Crystal Peaks shopping centre. There are also several retail parks around Crystal Peaks.
In a 2005 survey on spending potential Meadowhall came 16th with £977 million while Sheffield city centre 18th with £953 million[11]. Meadowhall came second in out of town shopping centres behind Bluewater. In a 2004 survey on the top retail destinations Meadowhall was 20th while Sheffield was 35th[12]. In both cases Sheffield is unique in being the only major city to have a shopping centre above the city centre in the lists.
Transport
Motorways and roads
The M1 motorway links Sheffield southwards to London and northwards to Leeds.The M18 links Sheffield to Doncaster, Robin Hood Doncaster Sheffield Airport and the Humber ports. Meanwhile, the A57 and A61 roads run east-west and north-south through the city centre. The Sheffield Parkway connects the city centre with the motorways. An outer ring road relieves congestion in the east of the city, and an inner ring road due to finally be completed over the next few years will allow traffic to avoid the city centre. Congestion is a problem, particularly during rush hours in the west of the city.
Metro
The city has a tram system, known as the "Sheffield Supertram", operated by Stagecoach. It was opened in 1994. It currently runs from the city centre out to Hillsborough, Halfway and Meadowhall. There are also plans to extend it to other parts of South Yorkshire.Bus
There is also a sizable bus infrastructure, the hub of which is the Pond Street bus station and Archway Centre. Other bus stations lie at Meadowhall and Hillsborough. A flury of new operators were created after privatisation in the 1990s. However they all gradualy amalgamated and now the only major bus operator is First Mainline owned by First Group.
Train and rail
Sheffield once had two mainline railway stations, Sheffield Victoria station on the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway, and Sheffield Midland station on the Midland Main Line. The former is now demolished, but the latter is still a major station on the British rail network. There is another major rail station at Meadowhall and four smaller suburban stations at Chapeltown, Darnall, Dore and Woodhouse.
Air
The closest international airport to Sheffield is Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield, located 18 km from the city centre. The Airport opened on April 28 2005 with the first flight to Palma de Mallorca. It replaced Sheffield City Airport opened in 1997, which is now closed to commercial airliners. Manchester International Airport, Leeds Bradford International Airport and Nottingham East Midlands Airport all lie within a one hour's drive of Sheffield.
Cycling
Sheffield is a great city for cycling. Although hilly, it is compact and has few major trunk roads running through it. It is on the Trans-Pennine Trail, a National Cycle Network route running from Southport in the north west to Hornsea in the East Riding, and has a developing Strategic Cycle Network within the city. Sheffield is close to the Peak District National Park, an area of outstanding natural beauty popular with both on and off-road cyclists.
Twin cities
Sheffield is twinned or has close links with the following cities:
- Bochum, Germany
- Anshan, China
- Donetsk, Ukraine
- Esteli, Nicaragua
- Pittsburgh, United States
- Kawasaki, Japan
- Kitwe, Zambia
References
- ^ Mid-2004 population estimates. National Statistics. (Accessed 26 September 2005)
- ^ "Case Study—Sheffield, UK". Greenstructures and Urban Planning. (Accessed 26 September 2005)
- ^ Alexander, Don (2001). Orreight Mi Ol': observations on dialect, humour and local lore of Sheffield & District. Sheffield: ALD Design and Print. ISBN 1901587185
- ^ Sheffield averages (1971–2000). The Met Office. (Accessed 24 September 2005)
- ^ Govenment News Network (Accessed 23 October 2005)
- ^ Sheffield City Council Statement of Accounts 2002/2003
- ^ "Wealth hotspots 'outside London'". BBC News. (Accessed 7 July 2004)
- ^ Sheffield 'hotbed' for investment BBC News (Accessed 17 October 2005)
- ^ Make It in Sheffield Economy worth (Accessed 26 October 2005)
- ^ Sheffield City Council Statistics, 2004
- ^ [http://www.caci.co.uk/msd.asp?url=lsp-retailfootprint.htm CACI survey}} retail rankings (Accessed 5 October 2005)
- ^ Expirian Website 2 march 2004 press release on retail rankings (Accessed 5 October 2005)
External links
- Sheffield City Council Website
- BBC South Yorkshire
- Sheffield Today Site (News from the "Sheffield Star" Newspaper)
- Pedal Pushers, The Sheffield Cycle Campaign
- Sheffield Forum
- Sheffield One - Information on redevelopments
Guides
| Districts of England - Yorkshire and the Humber | Image:England flag large.png |
| Barnsley | Bradford | Calderdale | Craven | Doncaster | East Riding of Yorkshire | Hambleton | Harrogate | Hull | Kirklees | Leeds | North Lincolnshire | North East Lincolnshire | Richmondshire | Rotherham | Ryedale | Scarborough | Selby | Sheffield | Wakefield | York | |
| Administrative counties with multiple districts: North Yorkshire - South Yorkshire - West Yorkshire |
Categories: South Yorkshire | Cities in England | Sheffield | Cities in Yorkshire | Local government districts in South Yorkshire
