Sheffield Castle

Sheffield Castle stands in the city of Sheffield, England, and was erected by Norman lords after the Conquest of 1066.

In the decades after 1066 a wooden motte-and-bailey stronghold was raised on the riverside site. William de Lovetot is usually credited with creating that first post-Conquest castle. That timber fort did not survive the upheavals of the 13th century; it was destroyed during the Second Barons’ War in 1266.

A second, more durable phase began when Thomas de Furnival obtained a royal charter from King Henry III and work on a stone castle started in 1270. Over the following centuries the castle belonged to the Furnival family and sat beside a large park. In 1516 George Talbot, fourth Earl of Shrewsbury, constructed Sheffield Manor within the castle park.

Between 1570 and 1584 the castle and its lands held Mary, Queen of Scots, at times as a place of custody. On 26 February 1574 an earthquake damaged the apartment where she was kept. A later account written in 1707 reports that, when the castle was taken down in the years following the civil wars, a stone was found bearing an inscription claiming that Lord Furnival built the hall and lay buried beneath the wall.

The castle became a military focus in the mid-17th century. On 11 October 1642 Sir John Gell seized the town and the castle for Parliament. Royalist forces under the Earl of Newcastle took the site in April 1643 and left a garrison commanded by Sir William Savile. The castle surrendered in 1644 with Major Thomas Beaumont serving as governor, and the siege and recapture involved Major-General Crawford, Colonel Pickering and Lord Fairfax. The House of Commons ordered the fortress to be rendered untenable on 30 April 1646 and directed its demolition on 13 July 1647; extensive dismantling and razing followed. The Earl of Arundel bought the property in 1649 with the intention of restoration, but no rebuilding was carried out. After demolition the site was used as an orchard and later as a bowling green before subsequent redevelopment. Evidence recovered during excavations shows the location had earlier activity, including prehistoric and Roman finds. No drawings or plans of the castle are known to survive.