SHEFFIELD, a large manufacturing town of Eng land in Yorkshire, is situated on an eminence at the confluence of the Sheaff and Don, each of which is crossed by a stone bridge, that of the former consist ing of' one arch, and the other, called Lady bridge, with six arches. Sheffield extends about a mile in length from north to south, and nearly as much in breadth from east to west. It occupies principally an oblong hill, but it stretches over the adjoining valleys, and again ascends the hills at each end. In the old part of the town, the streets are narrow, but they are in general regular, running in a direct line, and con taining many respectable, handsome, and uniformly built houses.
The principal public buildings are the town hall, the cutlers' hall, the general infirmary, the barracks, the assembly rooms and theatre, three churches and a chapel, and seven dissenting meeting-houses, besides a unitarian church, and one for methodists, one for quakers, and one for Roman catholics. The town hall is a handsome mew edifice built of stone, and stands in Castle Street near the fish market place. The cut lers' hall, built in 1776, stands on the south side of St. Peter's church-yard. The general infirmary begun in 1793, is a splendid, large, and commodious build ing, built of fine white freestone. It stands about half a mile to the west of the town. It was finished in a few years from poors' funds derived from sub scriptions and legacies. The situation is very healthy, and the establishment is in every respect on the very best footing. Near the banks of the Don, on the north east of the town, are the military barracks, which were built about the same time as the infirmary. The building forms a very handsome pile, with an esplan ade in front. The assembly room and theatre are contained in an elegant building in Norfolk Street, on the south side of the town. They were first created in 1762, but they were taken down and rebuilt on a greater scale. The churches are St. Peter's, or Trinity
church, St. Paul's, and St. James's, and the chapel of the Duke of Norfolk's hospital. St. Peter's, which is the parish church, stands near the centre of the town, and is a gothic building with a spire. The Shrewsbury chapel, containing a monument of the earl of Shrewsbury, is on the south side of the chan cel. At the entrance to the same division of the church is interred William Walker of Darnel, who is said to have been the executioner of Charles I., but who is supposed by Mr. Hunter to have been the translator of the rindicke contra Tyrannos. St. Paul's is a handy some Greek building, finished only in 1771, though begun in 1720. St. James's Church, built by subscrip tion, was finished only about 1790. The chapel of the Duke of Norfolk's Hospital is very large, and of an octagonal form. It was opened in 1777. The hospi tal itself, which stands on the eastern side of the Sheaff, was founded in 1670, by Henry, Earl of Norwich, but was more amply endowed in 1770 by Edward Duke of Norfolk. It consists of two quadrangles, each containing eighteen dwellings for the accommo dation of eighteen men, and as many women, each of whom receives live shillings a-week, with clothing and coals. There is also another hospital for poor cutlers, founded in 1703, by Mr. Thomas Hollis of London; a free grammar school, erected in 1649: a writing school fur poor boys, and two charity schools, one for boys, and another for girls. There are like, \rise in Sheffield two schools, one on Bell's and the other on Lancaster's plan. In the first, 450 boys and -150 girls are taught, and in the second 700 boys, and COO girls.
A large market-place, ith convenient shambles, was completed in 1786. Among the new buildings in Sheffield, may be enumerated the works of the Shef field Gas Light Company, erected in 1819, near Bridge; and in the vicinity, the warehouse, basin, and wharf of the new canal from Tinsley, opened in 1819.