Report on the Town of Sheffield; with a Description of the Proposed Boundary

by L. B. Allen & L J. Chapman

The Parish of Sheffield consists of six Townships; viz. Sheffield, Ecclesall Bierlow, Brightside Bierlow, Nether Hallam, Upper Hallam, and Attercliff-cum-Darnall; it contains nearly 22,000 acres, and a Population of 91,692 Inhabitants, by the Census Of 1831.

The Town, strictly speaking, is nearly contained within the Township of-Sheffield; but what may be considered a part of it extends into parts of the Townships of Ecclesall Bierlow, Brightside Bierlow and Nether Hallam. It contains a Population of 59,011 Inhabitants.

The Town is exceedingly thriving, and the perfection to which the manufacture of Hardware has been carried, and the consequent demand for it, have made it one of the most important Towns of the Kingdom, while the regular increase of building indicates a further improvement. The average rate of wages is stated to be 18 s. a week for the common workman; and all, with the exception of those who are in the silver trade, are in regular employ; at the same time the poor are well off, and the rates low.

The Town bears marks of an adequate police, of good internal management and steady improvement. When the last Census was taken, 266 Houses were building; and the average number of new Houses built during the last three years is said to have been 500 each year. Two Acts of Parliament have been passed for the regulation of the Police of the Town and lighting it with gas, both in the year 1816; by the former, the operation of the Act was confined to a circle drawn three-quarters of a mile from the Parish-church: these limits include a great portion, but not the whole, of the Town. Neither of these Acts gives a power of extending this circle.

The environs of the Town are occupied, to an unusual extent, by mills, factories and buildings, belonging to and inhabited by persons having a direct interest in the staple manufacture of the Town.

Taking all these matters into consideration, and placing Sheffield in the first class of Boroughs, we consider that every latitude in point of space should be allowed to it. The whole of Upper Hallam, however, the nature and extent of which is wild and dreary, with a Population scanty in the extreme, may, we think, be excluded, as well as that portion of Ecclesall Bierlow which lies to the west of a road from Ecclesall Bierlow Chapel to the River Sheaf; we shall thus shut out nothing which, as it appears to us, ought to be included, and leave a district ample and spacious to answer every demand which the increasing prosperity of the place may require.

We recommend, therefore, that the Borough of Sheffield shall consist of the whole of the several Townships of Sheffield, Attercliff-cum-Darnall, Brightside Bierlow, and Nether Hallam ; and also all such parts of the Township of Ecclesall Bierlow as are situate on that side of the Line next hereinafter described, on which the Town of Sheffield is situate; (that is to say)

Map showing the proposed boundary

From the point (A) on the River Rivelin, at which the Boundary of the Township of Upper Hallam meets the Boundary of the Township of Nether Hallam, Southward, along the Boundary of the Township of Upper Hallam to the point (B) in Smith Wood, at which the same leaves the Boundary of part of the Township of Nether Hallam; thence, Eastward, along the Boundary of the said part of the Township of Nether Hallam to the Bridge (C) on the Upper Dore Road, over the Porter Brook, near the South-eastern corner of Endcliff Wood; thence alone, the Upper Dore Road to the point (D), at which the same is joined, opposite, Ecclesall Chapel, by a Road which leads by Holt House into the Lower Road to Dore and Totley; thence along the said Road from the Upper Dore Road to the Easternmost point (E), at which the same joins the Lower Road to Dore and Totley; thence in a straight Line to the nearest point (F) on the River Sheaf.

Table exhibiting the Condition of the Town and Proposed Borough

	Population, 1831	Occupied houses	Houses worth £. 10	Assessed Taxes			Rate Payers
				£.	s.	d.
Sheffield	59,011	13,504	2,085	12,605	6	1	20,784
Beyond the Town -	31,646	7,090	2,298
	90,657	20,594	4,383

Summary of all the information relative to Sheffield, laid before Parliament since March 1831

1.--Limits proposed contain the Townships of Sheffield, Attercliff-cum-Darnall, Brightside Bierlow, Nether Hallam and a considerable part of Ecclesall Bierlow.

2.--Population:

	1821	1831
Of the Township of Sheffield	42,157	59,011
Of the rest of the Parish, excluding Upper Hallam	22,100	31,646
Total	64,257	90,657

3.---Number of Houses:

	1831	Houses worth £.10 a year
In the Township of Sheffield	13,504	2,085
In the rest of the Parish, excluding Upper Hallam	7,090	2,298
Total	20,594	4,383

4.--Amount of Assessed Taxes:

	1828			1829			1830
	£.	s.	d.	£.	s.	d.	£.	s.	d.
By the Parish -	12,240	7	2¼	12,407	11	3	12,605	6	1

5.--Number of Houses and Buildings rated to the Relief of the Poor, Twenty Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty-Four in the Parish of Sheffield.