Sheffield Castle
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sheffield Castle was a castle in Sheffield, England, constructed at the confluence of the River Sheaf and the River Don possibly on the site of a former Anglo-Saxon long house, and dominating the early town.
The first Sheffield Castle was a wooden motte and bailey type, built for William de Lovetot in the early twelfth century. This was destroyed during the Second Barons' War in 1266, along with the rest of the town, and was replaced by a larger stone castle in 1270.
By the sixteenth century, the Earl of Shrewsbury had built the alternative residence of Sheffield Manor. The castle was badly damaged in the English Civil War and largely demolished in 1648.
An excavation led by Leslie Armstrong in 1927, prior to the construction of the Brightside and Carbrook Co-operative Society store uncovered the base of one of the gateway bastion towers, as well as part of the gateway itself[1][2]. These remains of the castle are preserved under the city's Castle Market, they are Grade II listed[3] and are occasionally open for viewing.
More recent excavations in 1999 and 2001[2] by ARCUS—Sheffield University's archaeological research and consultancy unit—revealed the castle to have been much larger than previously was thought; among the largest mediaeval castles in England[4].
[edit] References and notes
- ^ Sheffield Markets: Sheffield Castle History—Archaeological Investigations (accessed 11 March 2005).
- ^ a b Excavating the moat at Sheffield Castle. I Dig Sheffield. Retrieved on 2006-12-30.
- ^ English Heritage (1973) Remains of Sheffield Castle beneath Castle Market (also [1] and [2]), Images of England (accessed 2 January 2005).
- ^ Keys, David (May 2002). "Digging up the Past: Sheffield". History Today 52 (5): pp. 6–7.
