|
Where is Made In Sheffield?
Where is Made In Sheffield?
To be or not to be Made In Sheffield? That is the question.
Setting a boundary for where Sheffield should begin and end
is not as easy task. But for the purposes of the Made in Sheffield
web site we have decided to include all areas with a Sheffield
(or 'S') postcode. This area, including Barnsley, Mexborough, Rotherham,
Chesterfield, Worksop, Castleton and Penistone, may seem larger than the
area usually associated with Sheffield but, historically speaking,
it is very apt.
In Anglo-Saxon times, Sheffield was the capital
of Hallamshire - the most southerly shire of Northumbria. (In modern
terms, Hallamshire nestles in the south corner of the old West Riding, on
the boundary of Yorkshire and Derbyshire.) The Company of Cutlers in
Hallamshire was the body responsible for granting trade marks, allowing
Freemen of the Company to operate as independent cutlers.
In the 1624 Act of Incorporation, the Company of
Cutlers was given jurisdiction over the cutlery industry within
Hallamshire "and six miles encompass therefrom." This total area of
jurisdiction, measuring 26 miles east to west and 22 miles north to south,
and closely following today's postcode boundary, seems appropriate for a
web site called Made In Sheffield.
Map of Hallamshire courtesy of The Company of Cutlers.
|
|