Hallamshire

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Map showing the approximate area of Hallamshire as described in the 14th century (red shaded area) overlaid on a map of the modern ceremonial county of South Yorkshire.

Hallamshire (or Hallam) is the historical name for an area of South Yorkshire, England, in the current city of Sheffield.

Little is known about the early history of this district. Historically, the term shire would simply mean the district appropriated to some city, town, or castle, and didn't necessarily refer to a county. Hallamshire could therefore be assumed to be the district associated with a town ("vill") called "Hallam", although there is no known record of such a town's existence.^[1]

The exact boundaries of this historic district are unknown, but it is thought to have covered the parishes of Sheffield, Ecclesfield, and Bradfield—an area roughly equivalent to those parts of the present-day borough the City of Sheffield that lie to the west of the rivers Don and Sheaf that are within the boundaries of the ancient county of Yorkshire (later descriptions also include Brightside and the parish of Handsworth).^[2].

[edit] History

[edit] Anglo-Saxon Hallamshire

In Anglo-Saxon times, Hallamshire was in the border district between the Kingdoms of Northumbria and Mercia. The Domesday book states that the manor of Hallam ("Halum") included sixteen hamlets or settlements and had existed before the 1066 Norman conquest of England as part of the lands owned by Waltheof, the Earl of Huntingdon, who had an aula or hall located in this district. Some historians have suggested that Sheffield was the location of Waltheof's aula, stating as evidence that the Domesday book asserts that the manor of Sheffield had once been inland of the manor of Hallam—that is, land reserved for the Lord of the manor. Indeed, an early 20th century excavation at the site of Sheffield Castle found evidence of an Anglo-Saxon building on the site^[3]. However, other historians have concluded that the Domesday book specifically excludes Sheffield as the site for the aula, noting that it describes Hallam and Sheffield as separate manors, and states that Waltheof's aula was in the manor of Hallam^[4]. Alternate sites have been suggested in and around the Rivelin valley, but it is unlikely that the location of the aula will ever be unequivocally identified^[5]. As the principal settlement in the district, the area around the aula may have been destroyed by the harrying of the North in the winter of 1069–1070, and its location forgotten.

Sheffield and Attercliffe, although once parts of the manor of Hallam, were separate manors at the time of the Domesday survey.

[edit] After the Conquest

Waltheof initially submitted to William I and was allowed to keep his lands. He took part in a failed uprising to support the 1069 invasion by Sweyn II of Denmark and Edgar Ætheling (including an attack on York), but then once again submitted to the William and was granted Judith, the King's niece, to marry. However, after taking part in a conspiracy against William in 1075 Waltheof was executed.

Initially, Judith retained his lands (including Hallamshire), but after Judith refused a second marriage to the Norman knight Simon Saint Liz, William confiscated much of her lands and handed them to her eldest daughter Maud, who then married Saint Liz in Judith's stead. After the death of Saint Liz, Maud married David, the heir to the crown of Scotland, and the Waltheof's lands and Earldom were passed to him.

It is possible that Hallamshire was exempted from this transfer and remained in Judith's hands. The Domesday book states that the manor of Hallam was held by Roger de Busli "of the Countess Judith". The exact nature of the arrangement between Judith and de Busli is unknown, however there is evidence that such an arrangement may have continued for a number of centuries—an inquisition following the death of Thomas de Furnival in 1332 found that his ancestors had held the manor of Sheffield "of the King of Scotland", paying a yearly service of two white greyhounds.

During the 12th century, William de Lovetot acquired most of the land within the Sheffield area including the old manors of Hallam, Sheffield, and Attercliffe. He had his castle constructed in Sheffield, establishing the town as the dominant settlement within Hallamshire. Sheffield gained a large parish, and a larger manor which encompassed most of Hallamshire—the subsequent history of the district being part of the History of Sheffield.

[edit] Present day Hallam

Hallam has come to mean, broadly speaking, that area of Yorkshire in the foothills of the Peak District and southwest of the River Don. The region includes much of western Sheffield, and the parish of Bradfield. Suburbs and villages within this area include Bradfield, Broomhill, Crookes, Fulwood, Hillsborough, Loxley, Stannington, Strines, and Walkley.

A number of institutions, companies, and Public Houses use the "Hallam/shire" name to reflect their association with the Sheffield area :

• The Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire is a trade guild of steelworkers, founded in 1624 and based in Sheffield.
• Sheffield Hallam is a Parliamentary constituency in western Sheffield, demographically one of the wealthiest such constituencies in Britain.
• Hallamshire was a Parliamentary constituency from 1885 to 1918
• The Diocese of Hallam is a Roman Catholic diocese in England, covering South Yorkshire, northern Derbyshire and northern Nottinghamshire. Its mother church is the Cathedral Church of St Marie in Sheffield.
• Royal Hallamshire Hospital is a large hospital in the Broomhill district of Sheffield.
• Sheffield Hallam University is one of the two universities in the City of Sheffield. Created when Sheffield City Polytechnic became a university in 1992, it took the name Hallam to distinguish it from the pre-existing University of Sheffield.
• Hallam FM is a local radio station which broadcasts in Sheffield, Doncaster, and Barnsley.
• The Hallam Line is a railway line that runs from Sheffield to Leeds via Barnsley.
• Hallam F.C. is one of the oldest football clubs in the world.
• The Hallamshire Lodge, freemasons lodge at Tapton Hall, Sheffield

[edit] Connection to Robin Hood legend

The small village of Loxley, now a suburb of western Sheffield, lies within Hallamshire. A 1637 survey by John Harrison of the estates in or near Sheffield belonging to the Earl of Arundel states that a place called little Haggas croft in Loxley Firth contained 'the foundacion of an house or cottage where Robin Hood was born'.^[6] Antiquarian Joseph Hunter—writing in 1819—reaffirmed this local tradition, stating that Loxley Chase has 'the fairest pretensions to be the Locksley of our old ballads, where was born that redoubtable hero Robin Hood.'^[7] In many legends Robin Hood is said to have been a displaced son of the lord of Hallamshire, who at this period in history resided at his manor at Loxley.^{[citation needed]} This also ties in with the traditional idea of Robin Hood being related to Scottish nobility, if not distantly, because the lords of Hallamshire were descendants of the early medieval kings of Scotland through the Earl of Huntingdon.

[edit] See also

• History of Sheffield
• History of Yorkshire
• List of hundreds of England and Wales

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] References and notes