Pall of comtaminated air

[RichardB]

As early as 1841, G. Calvert Holland, a visitor to Sheffield, had noted that that most of those who could possibly afford to do so no longer wanted to live near their business premises in the centre, preferring instead o make their homes in outlying areas - hardly surprising in view of the pall of contaminates air that hung more or less permanently over the town.

"All classes, save te artisan and the needy shopkeeper", he wrote, "are attracted by the country comfort and retirement. The Attorney, - the manufacturer, - the grocer, - the draper, - the shoemaker and the tailor, fix their commanding residences on some beautiful site, and adorn them with the cultivated taste of the artist"