Castle Square is the plaza at the intersection of

High Street High Street is a common street name for the primary business street of a city, town, or village, especially in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. It implies that it is the focal point for business, especially shopping. It is also a metonym fo ...

, Angel Street, and

Arundel Gate Arundel Gate is one of the main thoroughfares in Sheffield, England. It is located in the Heart of the City area of Sheffield City Centre. Arundel Gate also features a fifteen-stand bus station, including a ticket office building, completed in ...

in the

City of Sheffield The City of Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough in South Yorkshire, England. The metropolitan borough includes the administrative centre of Sheffield, the town of Stocksbridge and larger village of Chapeltown and part of the Peak Di ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. This name was given to the square in the 1960s to reflect the proximity of the square to the site of

Sheffield Castle Sheffield Castle was a castle in Sheffield, England, constructed at the confluence of the River Sheaf and the River Don, possibly on the site of a former Anglo-Saxon long house, and dominating the early town. A motte and bailey castle had been ...

, which was formerly located a short distance to the north-east.

History

Market Place

Castle Square was originally known as the Market Place (or the Shambles); markets were held on this site from 1296 (the name Market Place still applies to the short street, now pedestrianised, between High Street and Angel Street). A market cross was erected here in 1568 but was taken down in 1786, when the market moved into the new Fitzalan Market Hall that was built over part of the market square. A monument to the poet

Ebenezer Elliott Ebenezer Elliott (17 March 1781 – 1 December 1849) was an English poet, known as the '' Corn Law rhymer'' for his leading the fight to repeal the Corn Laws, which were causing hardship and starvation among the poor. Though a factory owner hims ...

was erected on the same site in 1854 and was moved to

Weston Park Weston Park is a country house in Weston-under-Lizard, Staffordshire, England, set in more than of park landscaped by Capability Brown. The park is located north-west of Wolverhampton, and north-east of Telford, close to the border with Shrop ...

in 1875, where it can still be seen. The Fitzalan Market Hall was demolished in 1930, ending nearly 700 years of market trading at this spot.

Hole in the Road

Many buildings in the vicinity of the Market Place were damaged or destroyed on the night of 12 December 1940, when German aircraft bombed Sheffield. The bomb sites were cleared but most remained empty for many years. In 1968 many old streets were cleared to make way for the new Arundel Gate, a dual carriageway road that terminated at a large roundabout built on the former market place. Underneath the roundabout a network of underpasses and shops was built (with a central area open to the sky), this formed a complex that was officially designated Castle Square but became affectionately known locally as "Oyle in t' Road" or Hole in the Road. A feature in the wall of the central area was a fish tank which contained 2000 gallons of water and usually 20 fish including carp, goldfish, bream, rudds and roaches. Although considered by many to be a major city landmark, like many constructions of its time, it did not age well and was very dilapidated by the early 1990s. It lasted from 1967 until 1994, allegedly being filled in with the rubble from the recently demolished Kelvin Flats.

Supertram (1994)

In 1994, as part of the works for the construction of Sheffield's new Supertram network, the underground portion of the Hole in the Road was filled in. The roundabout was removed and the whole area landscaped. All four lines of the Supertram system cross the square and call at Castle Square tram stop, one of five tram stops in the

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

centre.

References

External links

A history of Sheffield's Markets
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