Sharrow is a suburb of
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...
located directly southwest of
Sheffield city centre
Sheffield City Centre (referred to locally as simply Town) is a district of the Sheffield, City of Sheffield and is covered partly by the City ward, Sheffield, City ward of the City of Sheffield. It includes the area that is within a radius of ...
. The district lies within the
Nether Edge and Sharrow ward of the City.
Sharrow Ward's
back to back terraced housing
In architecture and city planning, a terrace or terraced house ( UK) or townhouse ( US) is a form of medium-density housing that originated in Europe in the 16th century, whereby a row of attached dwellings share side walls. In the United State ...
in ''Little Sheffield'' was redeveloped in the 1970s to provide modern, high density accommodation for the area's
working class
The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...
population. During the 1980s, cultural, economic and social tensions contributed to a general decline of the district.
With the economic resurgence of Sheffield in the late 1990s, Sharrow has benefited from considerable inward investment both in improved housing stock and through development of local initiatives such as the small business enterprise unit at
Sheffield United F.C.
Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...
's
Bramall Lane
Bramall Lane is a association football, football stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which is the home of Sheffield United F.C., Sheffield United.
The stadium was originally a cricket ground, built on a road named after the Bramal ...
ground in nearby
Highfield.
Until June 2004 Sharrow was also the name given to one of Sheffield's electoral wards which included Sharrow proper and a number of surrounding districts. This diverse ward contained 17,897 people in the 2001
UK Census
Coincident full censuses have taken place in the different jurisdictions of the United Kingdom every ten years since 1801, with the exceptions of 1941 (during the Second World War), Ireland in 1921/Northern Ireland in 1931,https://www.nisra.gov. ...
subdivided as follows:
* White: 69.0%
* Asian: 16.3%
* Black: 7.5%
* Chinese or other: 4.2%
* Mixed: 3.0%
This diversity is celebrated by some with the Sharrow Festival, a multi-cultural, multi-arts event showcasing local talent and fostering a spirit of pride in the local community. The annual Sharrow Lantern Carnival is the other cultural highlight in the area, and is held in April.
History
Sharrow Ward was urbanized between 1830 and 1850 when ''Little Sheffield'', a village and adjunct to the main town of
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...
was redeveloped to cope with the rapidly increasing growth in population. Separated from Sheffield town by the "uninhabited, barren, gorse-covered, Sheffield Moor".
[Reminiscences 18th century Sheffield by R E Leader] Industry here was based on water-power provided by
Porter Brook
The Porter Brook is a river which flows through the City of Sheffield, England, descending over from its source on Burbage Moor to the west of the city to its mouth where it joins the River Sheaf in a culvert beneath Sheffield railway statio ...
with water-wheels at
Sharrow Mill (Sharrow Vale Road), Sharrow Forge (Napier Street), and Bennetts’ Wheel (Vulcan Works). The latter two mill-dams and Broomhall Cornmill dam off Ecclesall Road were drained and filled-in around 1870 providing land for houses, schools, and new industries.
The Parish Church of St Mary's, Bramall Lane, was built in 1826 with the help of a government grant to provide churches for "impoverished industrial workers". Originally a
Chapel of Ease
A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently.
Often a chapel of ea ...
to
Sheffield Cathedral
The Cathedral Church of St Peter and St Paul, Sheffield, more commonly known as Sheffield Cathedral, is the cathedral church for the Church of England diocese of Sheffield, England. Originally a parish church, it was elevated to cathedral st ...
standing in open fields, 22 years later, in 1848, St Mary's became a parish in its own right. Sharrow and St Mary's was part of Poor Law Union (PLU)/Reg. District of Ecclesall Bierlow.
In 1836 the
General Cemetery was opened in Sharrow on the site of a former stone quarry. Lying between Cemetery Road, which runs from Sharrow Head to the bottom of The Moor, and
Sharrow Brook.
Bramall Lane
Bramall Lane is a association football, football stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which is the home of Sheffield United F.C., Sheffield United.
The stadium was originally a cricket ground, built on a road named after the Bramal ...
was named after the Bramall family, file and graver manufacturers. The Bramalls owned "The Old White House" on the corner of Bramall Lane and Cherry Street.
References
Links
* https://web.archive.org/web/20071217050248/http://www.stmarys-church.co.uk/church/history/
* http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/boundary_map_page.jsp?first=true&u_id=10030330
{{Districts of Sheffield
Suburbs of Sheffield