Darnall is a suburb of eastern

Sheffield Sheffield is a 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 historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. ...

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 ...

. Darnall is approximately east-north-east of Sheffield city centre.

History

Darnall was initially a small hamlet usually included with

Attercliffe Attercliffe is an industrial suburb of northeast Sheffield, England on the south bank of the River Don. The suburb falls in the Darnall ward of Sheffield City Council. History The name Attercliffe can be traced back as far as an entry i ...

. William Walker, a resident of the settlement, is one of several people rumoured to have been the executioner of

Charles I of England Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. He was born into the House of Stuart as the second son of King James VI of Scotland, but after ...

. A hall, known as

Darnall Hall Darnall Hall was a large hall that was constructed in 1723 in Darnall, Sheffield, England. The house was constructed by Samuel Staniforth (1698-1748) as a residence for himself and his wife Alethea Macro, daughter of Thomas Macro of Bury St Edmu ...

was built by the

Staniforth Staniforth is an English surname, a variation of the name "Stanford". Old English surnames were in particular a description of one's profession such as "Smith" or "Thatcher" or described an area in which one lived. The name of Stanford is believ ...

family in the centre of Darnall in 1723; in 1845 this became a private "

lunatic asylum The lunatic asylum (or insane asylum) was an early precursor of the modern psychiatric hospital. The fall of the lunatic asylum and its eventual replacement by modern psychiatric hospitals explains the rise of organized, institutional psychiatr ...

". Darnall had a population of 10,672 in 2011. The Darnall New Ground was laid out for

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

in the 1820s. Although only used for a few years before being replaced by a ground at Hyde Park, it was described as the finest in England. Holy Trinity church, the first in Darnall, was built in 1840, followed by a hospital in 1855 and a school in 1875. By the mid-nineteenth century, it was a centre for

farming Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peopl ...

and

coal mining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

, and was known for its amateur

greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around a track. There are two forms of greyhound racing, track racing (normally around an oval track) and coursing; the latter is now banned in most countries. Tr ...

. Industry was also important, with the Don Glass Works established around 1793, augmented by the

Darnall Works The Darnall Works is a former steelworks in the Darnall area of Sheffield in England. The only remaining large complex of crucible furnaces, the works opened in the 1835 and were frequently extended and adapted until the late 20th century. Some ...

steel foundry from 1835. In the later 19th century, the area was built up to house

steelworker Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

s working in the large

foundries A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

of the Lower Don Valley.

Darnall railway station Darnall railway station is on the Sheffield to Lincoln Line and was built in 1849 to serve Darnall, a community about from the centre of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, and which later became a suburb of the city. As of March 2020, Da ...

was built on the

Sheffield to Lincoln line Sheffield is a 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 historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and ...

to serve the suburb. Unemployment grew as the foundries shut or laid off many employees from the 1970s on, and the area is now one of the poorest in the city. A mix of council housing, 1880s steelworkers cottages, small terrace housing and 1930s private semi-detached houses make up the accommodation within the Darnall area.

Demography

Demographic changes over the years have reduced the population with a consequent reduction in the number of school-age children in the district. There are two primary schools in the area, High Hazels Academy and Phillimore Community Primary School. Secondary level schools outside the area provide education for children aged over 11 years. Darnall has a large

immigrant Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, ...

community, including many

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

s (primarily of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

i and

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mo ...

i origin). The suburb has several

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

Business and commerce

In 2003, Morrisons supermarkets pulled out of the district after over 20 years being a significant local hub for the local community, relocating to a new purpose-built store two miles away in

Catcliffe Catcliffe is a village and civil parish on the north-west bank of the River Rother in South Yorkshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 2,108. It is in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham, approximately sout ...

Sport and leisure

High Hazels Park High Hazels Park is a 20-hectare parkland area in Darnall, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Since the 19th century, Darnall has been a centre of the coal and steel industry in Sheffield. High Hazels House, located in the park, was built in ...

is the major open space in this area of the city. Darnall was represented in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football compet ...

during the 1920s by Darnall Welfare.

Notable people

* Cecil Marsh, professional footballer * Charles Mozley, artist and art teacher *

Charles Peace Charles Peace (14 May 1832 – 25 February 1879) was an English burglar and murderer, who embarked on a life of crime after being maimed in an industrial accident as a boy. After killing a policeman in Manchester, he fled to his native Shef ...

, notorious 19th-century murderer and burglar * Thomas Staniforth, Lord Mayor of

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

from 1797 to 1798 *

Samuel Staniforth Samuel Staniforth (26 February 1769 – 5 April 1851) was an English slave-trader, merchant and politician originally from Liverpool. Staniforth was the son of Thomas Staniforth and Elizabeth Goore. The family was a prominent family from Darna ...

, Lord Mayor of Liverpool from 1812 to 1813, son of the above named

Gallery

File:Darnall cricket ground.jpg, A cricket match at Darnall in the 1820s File:1893 coal strike.jpg, Striking coal miners in 1893 in Darnall

References

Notes

Citations

Sources

* *

External links

Sources for the history of Darnall
Sheffield City Council's Libraries and Archives {{Districts of Sheffield Suburbs of Sheffield