Paradise Square

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).
A house on the east side of Paradise Square.
A house on the east side of Paradise Square.

Paradise Square is a Georgian square in the City of Sheffield, England. Located to the northwest of Sheffield Cathedral, the square is set on a slope and has historically been used for public meetings. The east side of the square consists of five houses built in 1736 by Nicholas Broadbent.[1] The other houses in the square were built by his son Thomas Broadbent, from 1771 to c.1790. Number 11 is dated 1787.[2] Following bomb damage in the Second World War, parts of the square were extensively restored between 1963-6 by Hadfield, Cawkwell, Davidson and Partners, when numbers 18 and 26 were largely rebuilt using materials that were salvaged from buildings elsewhere. In the mid 1980s, an early 19th century Gothic stuccoed building at number 10 was rebuilt with a Neo-Georgian facade.[3] All are now used as offices and are Grade II* listed buildings.

Notable former residents include the sculptor Sir Francis Chantrey, who had a studio here in 1802, and physician David Daniel Davis, who lived at No. 12 from 1803 to 1812.[4]

John Wesley preached in the square on a number of occasions, most notably on 15 July 1779, following which he noted in his diary: "I preached in Paradise Square, Sheffield, to the largest congregation I ever saw on a weekday".[5] The Methodist Conference commissioned a memorial to be placed in the square commemorating this event.[6] Designed by Alfred Tory it was unveiled in 1951 by J. Arthur Rank. Paradise Square was also used by the chartists in Sheffield for a number of meetings, notably in September 1838 when Ebenezer Elliott (amongst others) spoke to a crowd of 20,000 people. A similar meeting on 12 September 1839 was dispersed by troops leading to a running battle and a number of arrests.[7] Throughout the 19th century it was traditional that those standing for election to represent the Sheffield constituency in Parliament held political meetings in the square.

[edit] See also

Sheffield Outrages

[edit] References and notes

  1. ^ Nikolaus Pevsner (1959) in The Buildings of England: Yorkshire - The West Riding, Penguin, Harmondsworth, erroneously described these buildings as on the north side, which has caused much subsequent confusion.
  2. ^ Comprehensive descriptions of the listed buildings in Paradise Square can be found at the Images of England project (also [1][2][3][4]), which is run by English Heritage (accessed 12 June 2005—free registration required).
  3. ^ Harman, R.; Minnis, J. (2004). Pevsner City Guides: Sheffield.. New Haven & London: Yale University Press, pp. 113–114. ISBN 0-300-10585-1. 
  4. ^ Harman, R.; Minnis, J. (2004). Pevsner City Guides: Sheffield.. New Haven & London: Yale University Press, pp. 113–114. ISBN 0-300-10585-1. 
  5. ^ Numerous books and websites document Wesley's visit to Sheffield. An example is the Centres of Methodism website (accessed 12 June 2005).
  6. ^ Tory, Alfred: memorial plaque to John Wesley. Public Art in Sheffield. Retrieved on January 8, 2007.
  7. ^ Information on chartism in the Sheffield area can be found at the following websites: Sheffield Chartists; Chartism in South Yorkshire. Both accessed 12 June 2005.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../p/a/r/Paradise_Square_5dc9.html"