HEFFIELD, a city, and municipal, county and parliamentary borough in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, 158½ m. N.N.W. from London. Pop. (1901) 409,070. It is served by the Midland, Great Central and Great Northern railways, and has direct connexion with all the principal lines in the north of England. The principal stations are Victoria (Great Central) and Midland. Sheffield is situated on hilly ground in the extreme south of the county, and at the junction of several streams with the river Don, the principal of which are the Sheaf, the Porter, the Rivelin and the Loxley. The manufacturing quarter lies mainly in the Don valley, while the chief residential suburbs extend up the picturesque hills to the south. The centre of the city, with the majority of the public buildings, lies on the slope south of the Don, and here are several handsome thoroughfares. The older portions were somewhat irregular and overcrowded, but a great number of improvements were effected under an act of 1875, and have been steadily continued. There is an extensive system of tramways, serving the outlying townships. The parish church of St Peter is a cruciform building, mainly Perpendicular. The original Norman building is supposed to have been burned during the wars of Edward III, with the barons, and the most ancient existing part is the tower, dating from the 14th century. A restoration in 1880, when transepts and a W. front were added, improved the church by demolishing the galleries and other heavy internal fittings. There are a number of interesting mural monuments; and the Shrewsbury chapel contains a fine tomb of the 4th earl of Shrewsbury, who founded it in the 16th century. Of the principal public buildings, the town hall was opened by Queen Victoria in 1897. It is a fine building in the style of the Renaissance, surmounted by a lofty tower, which is crowned by an emblematic statue in bronze. The Cutlers' hall was built in 1832 and enlarged in 1857 by the addition of a magnificent banqueting hall. The handsome corn exchange, in Tudor style, and the market hall were acquired from the duke of Norfolk by the corporation. Among several theatres, the Theatre Royal was originally erected in 1793. Others are the Alexandra, Lyceum and Alhambra. There are extensive barracks. Literary and social institutions include the Athenaeum (1847), with news-room and library; the literary and philosophical society (1822), the Sheffield club (1862), the Sheffield library, founded in 1777, and the free library (1856), with several branches. The public museum and the Mappin art gallery are situated in Weston Park; and in Meersbrook Hall is the fine Ruskin museum, containing Ruskin's art, mineralogical, natural history, and botanical collections, and some original drawings and valuable books. These are in the custody of the corporation. Beyond St Peter's church relics of antiquity are few, but there remains a part of the manor-house of Hallam, dating from the 16th century. In the S. of the city is Broom Hall, a fine ancient half-timbered building.
The educational establishments are important. University College, constituted by that title in 1897, was founded in 1879 as the Firth College by Mark Firth (1819–1880), an eminent steel-manufacturer. This institution was enlarged in 1892, and comprised, besides the college, a technical department (1886) occupying the buildings of the former grammar school, and equipped with metallurgical laboratories, steel works, iron foundry, a machine and fitting shop, &c.; and a medical school, together with a school of pharmacy. In 1903 the foundation was laid of a building, at Western Bank, to contain the departments of medicine, arts, pure science, commerce, &c. When the college became dissociated in 1904 from the Victoria University, Manchester, of which it had formed a constituent, the necessary financial and other preparations were taken in hand to enable the college to be incorporated as the Sheffield University, and it was opened as such by King Edward VII. Other educational institutions are the free writing school (1715, rebuilt in 1827), the boys' charity school (founded 1706), the girls' charity school (1786), the Church of England educational institute, the Roman Catholic reformatory (1861), the Wesley College, associated with London University, Ranmoor College of the Methodist New Connexion, the mechanics' institute, and the school of art.