Origin of Sheffield name

[lazarus]

The name Sheffield came about through the compilation of the Domesday Book. When King Williams army were victorious at the batle of Hastings, William sent French Scribes to every part of England to find out just what he had won.

Its said that when these scribes arrived in what is now Sheffield and when the villagers were asked in broken English as to the name of the village they answered Escafeld but the French just wrote down how the name sounded to them which was SCEFFELD.

True or false its a story I like to believe.

 

[saxon51]

Originally posted by markham

Sheaf (sceaf) = boundary. This refers to the river which separated mercia from northumbria in this area.

Field (feld) = clearing forming settlement.

SC pronounced SH in Old English.

Settlement by the Boundary = SHEFFIELD

 

I still stick to my explanation from an earlier post.

 

The sheffield coat of arms depicts a 'sheaf' of wheat, and a 'sheaf' of arrows because there's no other way of depicting the word 'SHEAF' - the original Saxon word for 'Boundary' (The River Sheaf = River boundary)

[Nigel Womersle]

Escafeld is also the Anglo-Saxon reference for Ecclesfield.

 

 

 

Ecclesfield is referred to in The Domesday Book as Ecclesfelt.

[Plain Talker]

On a similar subject, was there a river that ran past Millhouses Park? It's been 55 years since I used to go there with my mam and Dad. Is it still as nice?

 

it was the Sheaf that runs through Millhouses, and used to feed the paddling pools there. Sadly, the Lido is long gone (see elsewhere on the forum for that!)

 

it's not really got quite as many facilities, these days, but it's still a pleasant little park to stroll around, or play in

 

I don't remember where Eccleshall Road ended, was it around Norton? The mists of time time sure cloud the memory!!

 

ecclesall road starts at "town", and heads out to hunters bar and endcliffe park, andup the hill to banner cross, where it becomes ER South, and it runs up toward whirlow. it's on the opposite hillside to Norton. you can look across the sheaf valley toward norton, and you can see the massive water tower on the top of the hill, near(ish) graves park, built in 1961 (iirc) to serve Gleadless Valley it's a big landmak as you look across the city.

[sandie]

As a Sheffielder born and bread I have read all the replys with intrerest, very dissapointed with the way the Racial aspect came in, when the question was to do with the name of Sheffield. As I was born in the early 50's and left Sheffield in the 70's and revisited and worked in the town untill the 90's the people I grew with and still in contact with have not a Raciest thought.

 

I have to say this Sheffield folk are the most genuine and understanding people in England.

 

The origin of where the name came from is important and the replies are great, but Sheffielders have a pride of their town,The Steel and the Cutlery Industry is known world wide.

 

When I was away from Yorkshire people used to say where do you come from Sheffield was the reply, where is that? the answer was next time you eat your dinner the knife you use says "Made in Sheffield" and the roast beef you eat on a Sunday is called "Yorkshire Pudding" so Sheffield is in Yorkshire, the conversation then was changed. Are there other people who have said this from Sheffield

[TonyRevitt]

Interesting topic about hills. A couple of questions. Would the area around the old cinema 'The Forum', (at the top of the hill coming from Herries road viaduct, where the road from Southey hill joins it) be classified as a hill, or just an extension of another hill? Also, when I was a kid, my grandmother lived on Loxley View Road, just about the highest point in Crookes. I remember at the end of Loxley View Road, I could look DOWN on Stannington. Would this be classified as one of Sheffield's hills?

As a point of interest, I lived on Browning Road, at the top. While Grenoside was higher than where I lived, I remember that the top of Foxhill Road, which leads into Grenoside, was at the same elevation as the village of Grenoside. Is/was Grenoside actually considered to be part of Sheffield? BTW, I have always understood that Sheffield was built on and around seven hills. On a similar subject, was there a river that ran past Millhouses Park? It's been 55 years since I used to go there with my mam and Dad. Is it still as nice? I don't remember where Eccleshall Road ended, was it around Norton? The mists of time time sure cloud the memory!!

 

There was a river that ran the length of Millhouses Park, never did know the name of it though, it was mostly on the boundary of the park between the park and the railway line. Just by the boating pond it crossed the path and ran past the bathing pool and in fact part of the flow was diverted into the pool as a continuous feed and bleed system, hence the freshness of the millhouses pool and it only froze over on the severest of winters, I think it was the summer of 1947 the pool was packed to capacity because it was about the only cool place in Sherffield to swim.

[Plain Talker]

There was a river that ran the length of Millhouses Park, never did know the name of it though, it was mostly on the boundary of the park between the park and the railway line. Just by the boating pond it crossed the path and ran past the bathing pool and in fact part of the flow was diverted into the pool as a continuous feed and bleed system, hence the freshness of the millhouses pool and it only froze over on the severest of winters, I think it was the summer of 1947 the pool was packed to capacity because it was about the only cool place in Sherffield to swim.

 

see my comment about the river in post 84, here:- http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showpost.php?p=1817692&postcount=84

 

I spent many a happy hour paddling in that river, getting sodden wet through, and getting played hell with off my mother.

[Tyranna]

The Old English name of Sheffield is 'Escafeld'; Brigantes and Cosywolf, I see, have pretty much covered the details of the origin of the name already. Perhaps the first major settlement in the Sheffield area was the Iron Age hillfort at Templeborough, near Meadowhall.

 

BTW, the Yorkshire Iron Age tribe 'Brigantes', did their name by any chance become the origin of the medieval term 'Brigands'?