Sheffield Castle
Mary, Queen of Scots was held prisoner in this castle and its associated estates at various times during the 14 years between 1570 and 1584, alternating with other properties of George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury.
Early activity on the site is suggested by several finds including a Bronze Age flint horseshoe scraper, and in the Roman period Samian Ware and Silchester pottery,[3] discovered during excavations in the 1920s.
[5] The Domesday Book of 1086 states that, prior to the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, Waltheof II, Earl of Northumbria, had an aula (hall) in the manor of Hallam.
[8] Armstrong's description suggests that the timbers were cut down to the level of the surrounding earth, burned, and the area immediately cleared to make way for the construction of the Lovetot castle (circa 1100), some two decades after the destruction of Waltheof's aula.
The construction of the first castle at Sheffield following the Norman invasion of England is usually attributed to William de Lovetot, an Anglo-Norman Baron from Huntingdonshire.
[2][9] De Lovetot acquired the lordship of the manor of Hallamshire (including Sheffield) in the early twelfth century during the reign of Henry I.
[9] The earliest known reference to a castle at Sheffield is a return made by Ralph Murdac, sheriff of Derbyshire, concerning the wardship of Maud de Lovetot (the great granddaughter of William), dating from around 1188.
In 1266 a party of anti-monarchy barons, led by John de Eyvill, marching from north Lincolnshire to Derbyshire passed through Sheffield and destroyed the town, burning the church and castle.
[3] In 1707 a report was published stating that, when the castle was demolished in 1648, a large flat stone was found engraved I Lord Furnival; I built this castle-hall; And under this wall; Within this tomb was my burial.
According to Margaret Cavendish, Newcastle's wife: …he marched with his army to Sheffield, another market-town of large extent, in which there was an ancient castle; which when the enemies forces that kept the town came to hear of, being terrified with the fame of my Lord's hitherto victorious army, they fled away from thence into Derbyshire, and left both town and castle (without any blow) to my Lord's mercy; and though the people in the town were most of them rebelliously affected, yet my Lord so prudently ordered the business, that within a short time he reduced most of them to their allegiance by love, and the rest by fear, and recruited his army daily; he put a garrison of soldiers into the castle, and fortified it in all respects, and constituted a gentleman of quality, [Sir William Savile knight and baronet] governor both of the castle, town and country; and finding near that place some ironworks, he gave present order for the casting of iron cannon for his garrisons, and for the making of other instruments and engines of war.
[16] Some of the stone from the castle was used in the construction of the now demolished Free Grammar School of King James of England, within the town of Sheffield, in the County of York, which was built on Townhead Street in 1648.
[21] Drilling was done in the upper food court delivery yard and flag stones left in situ to mark boundaries of the castle.
The plan is dependent on raising the required funds; the council has committed £1 million to the project, and further financial support has come through a series of bids.
