How the markets helped shape Castlegate

The Castlegate we know today was largely shaped by plans made almost a century ago.

In the early 20th century, Sheffield Corporation was looking at ways to expand and modernise the city’s markets. The existing market and slaughterhouse facilities around Castle Hill were increasingly seen as in need of renewal, leading to the Sheffield Corporation Act of 1901, which transferred control of the city’s markets to the council.

The plans were interrupted by the First World War, and it was not until the 1920s that the redevelopment began to take shape.

A Sheffield Corporation plan from November 1922 shows the scale of the proposals. It included plans to widen Waingate and Exchange Street, as well as a new road running between Blonk Street and Waingate. Land was also set aside for a new market, which would become Castle Hill Market.

The changes would transform the area around the site of Sheffield Castle.

During the late 1920s, construction began on Castle Hill Market. The new road was also taking shape, eventually becoming Castlegate and linking Waingate with Blonk Street Bridge.

The redevelopment changed the streets around the market as well as the market itself. Waingate was widened and buildings along its frontage were redeveloped, creating much of the layout that would remain familiar for decades.

Among the buildings incorporated into this changing streetscape was the Bull & Mouth pub, now 42 Waingate and the future home of Sheffield Live!. A plan from the 1920’s shows the Bull & Mouth Hotel standing on the eastern side of Waingate, alongside the Anvil Inn and Rose and Crown.

By 1930, the new market was ready to open. The Fitzalan Market closed on 24 April, with its traders transferring to Castle Hill Market, which opened the following day.

The market became a major part of life in the area. Further changes followed over the following decades, eventually leading to the construction of Castle Market in 1959 to accommodate traders from the Norfolk Market Hall.

The markets remained at Castlegate for much of the 20th century, but eventually moved away from the area. In 2013, Sheffield’s markets were relocated to the Moor and the Castle Market buildings were demolished.

Now the area is changing once again.

The former Castle Market site is being transformed into a new public park, with archaeological work uncovering parts of Sheffield Castle and plans to open up the River Sheaf.

Nearly a century after Sheffield began reshaping Castle Hill for a new generation of markets, Castlegate is being reshaped once more, this time bringing the city’s much older history back into view.