A major excavation of the site of Sheffield’s castle has begun and will be the first significant archaeological dig in the area for over two decades. The castle is thought to have been built between the 11th and 12th Century and was demolished at the end of the Civil War in the 17th Century. A team from Wessex Archaeology will excavate eleven trenches across the site to try to piece together its origins and history.
An exhibition that charts the history of protests and activism in Sheffield, from 1794 to the present day, is on display at The Millennium Gallery. The exhibition, titled Protest Lab, invites visitors to contribute by adding their own stories to the collection. The project is funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation Collection Fund and will be on display until the end of May. Baillor Jalloh reports for Sheffield Live!
A new not-for-profit café has opened on Chapel Walk. Nothing unusual about that but this café focuses on celebrating the diverse range of Sheffield sports and sporting clubs and exploring their history and heritage. Sporting Sheffield stocks products from Goalsoul, a local company with a huge range of football-inspired art and apparel. There is also merchandise from Sheffield Football Club and Hallam Football Club, as well as other sports products and artefacts. Simon Thake reports for Sheffield Live!
As part of Sheffield’s Off the Shelf Festival of Words, Girl Gang collective and promoter Sheffield Girl collaborated for a music-themed weekend. The event included discussion about women’s contribution to the Sheffield music scene and a participative display to generate a timeline of the history of women in Sheffield music. Shamaan Freeman-Powell reports for Sheffield Live!
Local historian Lloyd Powell is seeking to raise public awareness of Sheffield Castle and its role in local history. At a packed meeting at the United Reformed Church, organised as part of the Off the Shelf literary festival, Powell explained the building and later destruction of Sheffield Castle and where some of the ruins can be found today. Powell is a member of the Friends of Sheffield Castle, a voluntary group that aims to protect and promote the archaeological site. Simon Thake reports for Sheffield Live!
Members of the public joined Sheffield Live! presenter Calvin Payne for a guided ‘drainspotting’ tour of the pavement features of Sheffield. Participants walked from Walkley Library to Broomhill via Crookesmoor to see examples of Sheffield’s historic pavement features, tramway remnants, Victorian company names and dates, 19th century anti-Cholera measures, early telephone and electricity installations, among other interesting and unique pieces of local history. The event was organised as part of the national ‘Heritage Open Days’ held every September with some 40,000 volunteers across England organising 5,000 events to celebrate history, architecture and culture.