Hidden castle ‘ deserves a place in history alongside Tower of London’

SHEFFIELD’S hidden medieval castle played a major role in “local, national and international affairs” and shaped the modern- day city, archaeologists investigating its past have said.

University of Sheffield archaeologists have been studying the castle since 2014, and have now pulled together all the largely unpublished archaeological work, dating back to the 1920s and including the latest dig, which started in 2018. They say the structure, which was covered by the former Castle Market that was demolished five years ago, deserves a place in English history alongside landmarks like those in Warwick, Dover and the Tower of London – and that there is strong evidence that substantial parts of the castle walls may still be intact.

The university said a new assessment of all the excavations on the site “reveals how Sheffield Castle was among the most important political and cultural centres in medieval England, home to aristocrats who played major roles in local, national and international affairs”.

The team concluded that the castle “played a major role in local, national and international affairs in the medieval era, and shaped the development and topography of modern- day Sheffield”.

Professor John Moreland, from the university’s

Department of Archaeology, said: “Sheffield is seen by most people as the Steel City, but what our research makes clear is that the city has a deep history that dates right back to the Middle Ages.

“Unfortunately, since the castle was largely destroyed following the English Civil War and multiple developments have been built on its site ever since, this rich medieval history of the city has largely been forgotten or ignored.”

MEDIEVAL WONDER: Top, construction workers digging a foundation trench next to the remains of the gatehouse of Sheffield Castle in the late 1950s; above left, a recently excavated staircase and walls; above right, shoe fragments unearthed in a dig last century.