[5] The Trustees were responsible for the repair of Lady's Bridge, Barkers Pool, various highways and the city's wells, and also for some charitable works.
[6] By the eighteenth century, they were contributing to major works, including the River Don Navigation and the Sheffield to Chesterfield turnpike road.
[2] In 1757, the Town Trust paid 14s6d to cricketers on Shrove Tuesday, in an attempt "to entertain the populace and prevent the infamous practice of throwing at cocks".
Meanwhile, Joseph Hunter's Hallamshire claims that the Trust initiated horse racing at Crookesmoor in the early eighteenth century.
When an election was held, the Trust interpreted "greater number of inhabitants" as referring only to freeholders, but in 1811, several non-freeholders attempted to vote.
[2] In 1818, the Trustees and the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire were empowered with setting up the Sheffield Improvement Commission, which took over the Trust's responsibility for street cleaning and lighting.
In 1851, influenced by Chartist councillor Isaac Ironside, the Council formulated a Parliamentary Bill which would have seen them absorb the Town Trust and the Church Burgesses, but dropped the provisions in the face of opposition.
[14] The Trust sponsors postgraduate scholarships at the University of Sheffield,[15] has been associated with the Chair of Pure Mathematics,[16] and is represented on its Court.