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Town Hall Engraving - take a look and help..


Sheffield History

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Here you go - thanks to Neddy for sending us this one

A fantastic engraving of one of the old Town Hall's

What information do you have or can you find on this ?

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Guest tsavo

Here you go - thanks to Neddy for sending us this one

A fantastic engraving of one of the old Town Hall's

What information do you have or can you find on this ?

Now that's interesting..

Check the clocktower on each picture. Can you see the similarity? Could this be the first Sheffield Townhall on Pinfold Street?

If it is, that engraving is a winner!! Well done for spotting it, Neddy, sterling work.

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Guest Jeremy

I think that it's Waingate/Castle Street before the old town hall there was extended/remodelled. This photo is taken from about the same angle.

Jeremy

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Thanks Jeremy

This town hall quest is very confusing

Just when you think we've cracked it and found pictures of all 4 old Town Hall's....

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The Courthouse was the former town hall, if you look at the engraving, done about 1820's, and the more modern photo that has been put on by Jeremy, you can see where it's been altered and extended, the corner facing you remains much the same.

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The engraving, available from PictureSheffield.com, have a date of 1830, which means the decade of the 1830's, the Old Town Hall had long been demolished by then, (i.e. the one near the bottom of Fargate/Church Street), the original Town Hall was wooden.

The Waingate Town Hall was built in 1808, and was much disliked almost immediately, it was enlarged in 1833, thus, we have to assume the engraving was done before the remodelling and extension that we see today.

The Waingate Town Hall was an embarrassment to the burgeoning Town of Sheffield, not the source of Civic Pride that other Northern Towns had for a Town Hall.

Indeed in "The Illustrated Guide to Sheffield and Neighbourhood" (Pawson and Brailsford 1862), out of 200 pages of text, and 92 illustrations, the Town Hall merits one paragraph (see the attachment, I've chopped it into three for ease of reading), and NO illustration.

Although, I think it's a fine building, this is one that I am surprised "made it" through the years.

Town_Hall___Waingate___really_quite_rubbish.doc

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Guest tsavo

Yep, I agree, got a bit carried away. One question though. The Pinfold St picture, circa 1750, features a cupola on the right that matches the Waingate old Town Hall. What building is that on? Surely Waingate couldn't be seen from here, even if it had been built then.

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Yep, I agree, got a bit carried away. One question though. The Pinfold St picture, circa 1750, features a cupola on the right that matches the Waingate old Town Hall. What building is that on? Surely Waingate couldn't be seen from here, even if it had been built then.

I have a Thomas Oughtibridge map -a bit raggy-mid 1700's, that shows the Town hall next to the Cathedral, there is a cupola on the top, so presume the Pinfold picture is looking up towards that.

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Guest tsavo

Thanks Neddy, just a coincidence the cupolas look so similar. The Pinfold Street pic still puzzles me. What was so important about it that it warranted an engraving?

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If you look on picture sheffield under maps, you will see a thomas oughtibridge, not very clear,but to the left of the main parish church building is what at a glance looks like a wisp of smoke, thats the cuppola.

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Guest Jeremy

One question though. The Pinfold St picture, circa 1750, features a cupola on the right that matches the Waingate old Town Hall. What building is that on?

The cupola visible in the Pinfold Street picture is St James' Church. Picture Sheffield has the same picture dated as 1850, as well as a couple of other views of the church:

From West Street

From Townhead Street

According to 'Sheffield Old and New' by J Edward Vickers, St James Church was built in 1786 and demolished in 1950.

Jeremy

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Guest tsavo

Thanks for those, Jeremy, that solves the mystery. Maybe someone had the cupola business in the town all sealed up but only used one design!

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The cupola visible in the Pinfold Street picture is St James' Church. Picture Sheffield has the same picture dated as 1850, as well as a couple of other views of the church:

From West Street

From Townhead Street

According to 'Sheffield Old and New' by J Edward Vickers, St James Church was built in 1786 and demolished in 1950.

Jeremy

And another twist on the history side, the wife's gg'ts used to have the Golden Ball shown in the Townhead photo,

1840's to 1870's

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Jeremy I an convinced you are correct, as prior to the opening of the present Town Hall in 1897 - the Town Hall was indeed the building in Waingate. Later it became the Magistrate's Court.

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