Guest Guest Posted February 23, 2003 Share Posted February 23, 2003 A good start if you are interested in the history of Sheffield are a couple of books by local author (now deceased) J Edward Vickers; A popular History of Sheffield ISBN 0906787041 Old Sheffield Town ISBN 0906787017 I am not sure if they are still in print but am almost certain that Central Library will have copies Mo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest Posted February 28, 2003 Share Posted February 28, 2003 I always thought like Rome Sheffield was built on 7 hills with 7 rivers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sidla Posted February 28, 2003 Share Posted February 28, 2003 Just out of curiosity, I don't suppose anybody knows how Leicester got it's name? I've searched for hours, but no joy. The main river in Leicester is the Soar, so there's no connection there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crimbo Posted March 2, 2003 Share Posted March 2, 2003 Hiya 4alb my information ref sheffields name, is that the original name was escafeld, presumably from the clearing of the woodland by one of the original germanic settlers named esca, the german name for field was,and still is i believe, feld. therefore esca's feld ,obviously that's where we get our english word, field, from. its derivation is very similar to scunthorpe, scuna's thorpe (or village).in holland, denmark germany there are a lot of places ending in dorp, so it doesn't take much imagination to work out where some of our ancestors originated from you only have to glance at a map of the sheffield area ,indeed the north in general to see who put their stamp on the land, sorry for rattling on but i'm interested in this sort of thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dug Posted March 4, 2003 Share Posted March 4, 2003 With reference to the earlier posts; it is often said about the seven hills of Sheffield etc. But can anyone tell me what the seven hills are? As a keen cyclist I reckon there are more than flippin seven hills! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigantes Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 Sorry to join this conversation so late - but I was looking at local names and history of them for inspiration when I came across another explanation - I was always told the name came from field of sheeves which the river was named after as well as the settlement - but no! apparently the river was named first the settlement name comes from the "fields around the sheaf", which is nothing to do with bails of cereal crops - The Sheaf just as the Humber and the Mersey all come from ancient words (briton, celtic, etc) meaning "border" first between the Brigantes Tribe and the mob of Celts in the North Midlands and later between the Anglo Saxon Kingdoms of Northumbria and Mercia. Pick the bones out of that one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mo Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 Originally posted by "Brigantes" Sorry to join this conversation so late - but I was looking at local names and history of them for inspiration when I came across another explanation - I was always told the name came from field of sheeves which the river was named after as well as the settlement - but no! apparently the river was named first the settlement name comes from the "fields around the sheaf", which is nothing to do with bails of cereal crops - The Sheaf just as the Humber and the Mersey all come from ancient words (briton, celtic, etc) meaning "border" first between the Brigantes Tribe and the mob of Celts in the North Midlands and later between the Anglo Saxon Kingdoms of Northumbria and Mercia. Pick the bones out of that one Welcome Brigantes and happy posting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cosywolf Posted June 6, 2003 Share Posted June 6, 2003 The name didn't change from Escafeld so much as evolve, BTW. For those unfamiliar with the Saxon pronunciation, Esc is pronounced esh. Knowing that, say Escafeld very quickly lots and lots, and you get Sheffield more or less. Before all our modern demand for exact spellings, things were pretty much written down as heard, with the odd little flourish of random letters or the changing of older words into more 'modern' ones to show how learned you were. Dore was the main settlement in this area early on, and the word delightfully enough comes from a Saxon/Germanic word meaning Doorway, as it was the door between one kingdom and the next. In fact, we're very awkwardly splayed over kingdom boundaries here. This area was great for trade because of these factors. It's known that there was a fair amount of trade with 'Vikings' as well as the two main kingdoms on whose borders we sat, and even with the 'wild men' up north. As re-enactors who have to base our group on the kinds of people living in this area in the 10th and 11th centuries, we are very lucky. We call ourselves 'Anglo-Danes' and pretty much get to do/have/wear anything to do with the really quite cosmopolitan mix of people who lived and traded hereabouts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cosywolf Posted June 6, 2003 Share Posted June 6, 2003 Oh, and one more thing while I'm on the subject of old words... This is a pet annoyance of mine, so just bear with me. When you see that annoyingly twee little thing going on with YE (Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, Ye Olde Shoppe) it's not said how you think. That isn't actually a Y, it's a thing called a 'thorn' that looked like a Y. Thorns are shorthand for TH and are pronounced TH. So Ye is pronounced correctly as the. I've even seen in old documents 'Y~t' meaning 'that' and Y~y meaning they. Lecture over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crimbo Posted June 6, 2003 Share Posted June 6, 2003 Originally posted by "cosywolf" Oh, and one more thing while I'm on the subject of old words... This is a pet annoyance of mine, so just bear with me. When you see that annoyingly twee little thing going on with YE (Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, Ye Olde Shoppe) it's not said how you think. That isn't actually a Y, it's a thing called a 'thorn' that looked like a Y. Thorns are shorthand for TH and are pronounced TH. So Ye is pronounced correctly as the. I've even seen in old documents 'Y~t' meaning 'that' and Y~y meaning they. Lecture over. cosywolf, that is very interesting what you've just told us, please lecture us some more.Can you confirm that the Meers Brook was once one of the boundaries between Wessex and Northumbria, and that Dore was the site of where the Kings of those areas signed a declaration (?)of peace and actually created England as a united country? How can you authenticate any information you use, I'm not trying to be clever I'm just inerested in how these things can be proven, from what record etc.? Crimbo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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