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Hallun, Hallam, Escafeld or Sheffeld?


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The following article first appeared in the Transactions of the Hunter Archaeological Society, Volume 5, p61 and is reproduced here in full by kind permission of the Society. Published between 1938-1943.

( http://www.shef.ac.u...nter/index.html

the Index is reached by clicking on Publications on the left hand side)

"HALLUN" SHEFFIELD.

By F. CHARLESWORTH.

It is perhaps unnecessary to point out the historical interest and importance which would attach to Sheffield could it be shown to be identical with the Hallun of the Domesday Book. It appears possible to do this without having to question the accuracy of any material part of the Domesday record relating to the district.

From this record we have the information that Earl Waltheof had an Aula in Hallun and that Ateclive and Escafeld were formerly "Inland" thereto, indicating undoubtedly :â€"

The proximity of Ateclive and Escafeld (Scafeld) to the town of Hallun.

The area of the thaneland under Waltheof and his Saxon predecessors, probably the original Hallamshire.

The importance of the Aula. This is evident from the extent of "Inland", i.e., park and other demesne land.

In the identification of these places Ateclive is known. Adjoining and continuous with it is Sheffield Park (Escafeld). Next, on the opposite side of the small river Sheaf, at its junction with the Don, is the obvious position of Hallun.

In his book on the English Parish Church, Mr. A. R. Powys says that most of the old English parishes were formed during the Saxon period, and that they usually corresponded to the land areas held by local thanes.

The area covered by the D.B. manors of Ateclive, Escafeld and Hallun (the whole prior to the conquest evidently an undivided estate, for the Inland would be necessary to the Aula) formed the thaneland of Waltheof. This area is the same as that of the old parish of Sheffield.

As changes took place in the disposition of Waltheof's estate after his death in 1076, it is clear that the parish was constituted in Saxon times. It may once have been the parish of Hallun (or Hallum), for it would seem that the name Sheffield applied originally more to a district than to a town. However, a few years after the Domesday inquest, Hallun gave place to Sheffield; the district name superseded the town name.

It can therefore confidently be assumed that there must have been two names applied indifferently to the same place. Also that the Domesday Commissioners used one of these (Hallun) for the town, no doubt its earlier name, and the other (Escafeld) for its adjunct Sheffield Park.

As examples of towns which had more than one name, Pontefract and Tickhill may be cited. For an instance of the change of a village name to that of the district, it is not necessary to go further than Bradfield, i.e., the broad feld, once called Kirkton.

Perhaps the origin of the name Sheffield may help to elucidate the matter. On superficial grounds this is usually held to be derived from the Sheaf, but a more probable one is that it is from the feld or clearing round Hallun, which would be the Shirefeld or, in its Saxon form, Scirfeld. The pronunciation of the latter is sufficiently near to that of Scafeld to explain its spelling by the Norman scribes.

It may be added that shire in compound words has a tendency to be shortened as in “‘Sherwood" or in "Sheriff" (shire-reeve); so that its form in Sheffield (earlier Shefeld) would not be exceptional.

Hunter seems to have held the opinion that the D.B. Escafeld, instead of being, as J. D. Leader later contended, Sheffield Park, must have stood for Sheffield Town. Hunter's views have perhaps been accepted in most quarters, but the perplexities in which he was involved should be apparent to readers of Hallamshire.

This is also shown in connection with his conjecture that D.B. Grimeshou represented Grimesthorpe, Sheffield, whereas it refers to Grimethorpe, near Brierley. Had Grimesthorpe been separate from Waltheof's estate, the conclusive evidence afforded by the old parish of Sheffield would not have been available.

The length of the parish is about ten miles, with an average breadth of about three miles. The DB. Manor of Hallun is stated to be X leagues long and VIII broad. If the league be taken as equivalent to a mile there is correspondence in the lengths of manor and parish, both including Grimesthorpe. A clerical error appears to be suggested by the VIII leagues given as the breadth of the manor, which may have led to the supposition that it extended into the Bradfield area.

If the old parish of Sheffield (co-extensive with the Hallamshire estate of Waltheof) originated in the Saxon period, of which there seems no room for doubt, the identity of the Domesday Book Hallun with Sheffield naturally follows. The chief town on the estate must also have been the one from which the parish took its name. The following are supplementary items of evidence in support :

1. Thomas de Furnival made the claim

"that he and all his ancestors from the conquest of England had gallows, free warren and market at Sheffield."

This claim, presumably a valid one, carries back the holding of a market here to an early period. Tolls from markets, fairs, etc., were an important item in the revenue of mediaeval lords.

2. In 1297, the above Thomas de Furnival made an arrangement with his "Free Tenants" in Sheffield in regard to Burgery dues.

Particulars are to be found in Mr. D. Leader's book on the subject. What is indicated is that

"in the village community, founded before the Norman invasion, there arose a system of local government called the Burgery .... The fathers and founders of the town had set apart from the earliest times portions of land for public service."

The Burgery is a proof of the ancient standing of the town.

3. When the extensive alterations at Sheffield Parish Church were carried out about A.D. 1703, it was found that the east end stood on a bed of human bones so vast that they formed practically its foundation. This is clear evidence of the antiquity of the church-yard as a place of interment probably going back to pre-conquest days.

In the reign of Edward the Confessor legal status of Parish Church was given to all village or other churches where, by ancient custom, the rites of baptism, marriage and burial were performed.

It is not improbable that there was a Saxon church here. The existence in Sheffield of the shaft of a Saxon cross (now in the British Museum), which may reasonably be supposed to be the cross pulled down in the parish churchyard in 1570, accords with the foregoing.

4. In the unsettled times preceding the Norman conquest, it may be taken for granted that wherever an Aula or residence of nobility existed, a position of defence would be sought. The site at the junction of Don and Sheaf would commend itself. It also had the advantage of occupying a central position on the estate.

5. The results of excavations on the castle hill, 1927-29, are described by Mr. A. Leslie Armstrong, F.S.A., who found undeniable evidence of the remains of a large building of Saxon date, such remains being in all probability those of Waltheof's Aula.

(The report is available in full Here)

Other sites suggested for the Aula are Stannington, Crookes and Hallam Head, but their claims in no way compare with those of Sheffield. They lack tangible evidences and any logical explanation as to why the town of Hallam, supposed to have existed there, so completely disappeared from historical records. This town at the time of the Domesday inquest (1080 to 1086), while showing the disastrous effects of a foreign invasion, was still of outstanding importance in the district, some fifteen years after the revengeful ravages by the Conqueror in 1069.

(The case for the Aula being at Stannington, made by S.O.Addy MA can be found Here)

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Cracking stuff, Thank you on behalf of all at SH. Interesting bit about Escafeld being the Park.

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(The report is available in full Here)

A description of how to bung a dirty great big URL beneath the word 'Here' might be useful for the newer members, possibly the older and gnarlier members, i.e. me.

I'm kind of proud to state that I have forgotten more stuff than I ever knew and that I'm now well overdrawn at the Bank of Remembering-thingies.

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A map,

It has been argued that the disappearance of the village, and the proximity of the name Burntstones suggests that Hallam was a victim of William's 'Harrying of the North'. David Hey discounts this as the 'Harrying' was further north, (and he doesn't believe there was a village of Hallam there!)

I came across this today, and wondered if it might suggest another source for the name.

In the Sheffield Manorial records for October 1633, there's an entry which refers to a property described as 'a messuage or tenement, commonly called the head fire house, a barn, a garden and two small crofts...'. T.Walter Hall, the compiler has added a footnote which says

"Firehouse was sometimes used to mean the place or room where the fire burnt in the house; see Oxford Dictionary and Addy's 'Waltheof' page 182; but here a separate building is referred to, which may have been used in connection with a beacon on Barncliffe, at Hallam Head."

If a beacon was sited there, could it have been the cause of the 'burnt stones'?

Discuss!

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It has been argued that the disappearance of the village, and the proximity of the name Burntstones suggests that Hallam was a victim of William's 'Harrying of the North'. David Hey discounts this as the 'Harrying' was further north, (and he doesn't believe there was a village of Hallam there!)

I came across this today, and wondered if it might suggest another source for the name.

In the Sheffield Manorial records for October 1633, there's an entry which refers to a property described as 'a messuage or tenement, commonly called the head fire house, a barn, a garden and two small crofts...'. T.Walter Hall, the compiler has added a footnote which says

"Firehouse was sometimes used to mean the place or room where the fire burnt in the house; see Oxford Dictionary and Addy's 'Waltheof' page 182; but here a separate building is referred to, which may have been used in connection with a beacon on Barncliffe, at Hallam Head."

If a beacon was sited there, could it have been the cause of the 'burnt stones'?

Discuss!

If I remember right T. Walter Hall was basing his theory on an old Fairbanks survey which was marked with a road labelled something like "road to Hallam" and pointing to the area in question. The present Hallam Primary School and playing fields are built in the marked area and as far as I know nothing was found. Also the Barncliffe Stoop marked on his map is actually located a little to the west, on the top of the rise, where you would expect it to be.

On old 18th century maps the "Long Causeway" road to Redmires appears to leave the present course at around the top of Crimicar Lane, swerve over the present day golf course and rejoin the present road near Lodge Lane. Perhaps this was to avoid the boggy area in the dip by the Lodge Moor shops.

HD

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If I remember right T. Walter Hall was basing his theory on an old Fairbanks survey which was marked with a road labelled something like "road to Hallam" and pointing to the area in question. The present Hallam Primary School and playing fields are built in the marked area and as far as I know nothing was found. Also the Barncliffe Stoop marked on his map is actually located a little to the west, on the top of the rise, where you would expect it to be.

On old 18th century maps the "Long Causeway" road to Redmires appears to leave the present course at around the top of Crimicar Lane, swerve over the present day golf course and rejoin the present road near Lodge Lane. Perhaps this was to avoid the boggy area in the dip by the Lodge Moor shops.

HD

I've just been looking at a map dated 1772 by Thomas Jeffreys in David Hey's Historic Hallamshire and noticed that the loop of the old road over the golf course is joined in the middle by a road from Bingley Lane on the other side of the valley. This other road is shown as running in a slow S curve up over the crags (marked as New Millstone Edge).

The present Lodge lane has two hairpin bends in it unlike the road marked, I don't think its an in-accuracy as all the other roads shown are shown more or less correct. The road as it is marked would cross the River Rivelin just about where the little packhorse bridge is 'so I suppose that figures. does anyone know of any more maps published at around the same time. There is still a bit of the loop over the golf course existing as a very wide ramp like path just west of the Blackbrook.

HD

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