Star Walks: City Centre trail PODCAST
Can you remember Sheffield's famous egg box building, the day the Town Hall bells started to chime or the row over what the City Hall should be called? Nancy Fielder takes a look back in time with Star Walks.
THERE are countless secrets hidden away in some of Sheffield's most prominent buildings - and now you can have a key to unlock the past.
We are inviting readers on a trip down memory lane with Star Walks - a stroll around the city centre to reveal entertaining facts about three of Sheffield's most iconic spots.
The historical walk is the latest in our series of downloadable podcasts focusing on short walks around some of South Yorkshire's most fascinating areas.
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We have also delved into the archives of Sheffield newspapers to tell you the stories behind some of the city's major sites and buildings as they were told at the time.
The walk starts at the Peace Gardens with a look at what was on the spot before and how the gardens were officially renamed on the anniversary of VE day.
Mike Spick, of Sheffield Local Studies Library, leads the walk and has a wealth of fascinating facts that lie behind the city's best•loved facades.
His aim is to reveal some of the secrets that people walk past every day without ever noticing.
He said: "I think the secret is to look up. Never look at the ground floor, always look at the first floor because that is where all the interesting details are."
As well as scores of sights even born and bred Sheffielders may not have spotted before, Mike gives an insight into some of the city's lesser known facts.
He said: "There are all sorts of interesting things, like the fact Sheffield never had a Town Hall with chiming bells until the Millennium.
"The bells that are there now are electronic. It is a recording of bells, if you like, but I think it is good that we have a clock that signals the hours and does it very well."
Queen Victoria visited Sheffield as part of her Diamond Jubilee celebrations for the official opening of the Town Hall on May 29, 1897, and the local papers were full of the royal visit.
The streets were decked with bunting and lined by her loyal subjects but what wasn't made quite so public at the time was the dreadful moment that struck one of the chief engineers when they realised the doors would not open as planned.
You can hear all about what went wrong and how they quickly got around the problem in the podcast.
Six years earlier Mayor W J Clegg had laid the foundation stone for the building and, according to The Sheffield Telegraph, thousands of people turned out to see it.
The paper stated: "It has often been the fate of the Town Council of Sheffield in its building operations to meet with, and frequently deserve, a good deal of hostile criticism.
"Fortunately, on the present occasion, when an immense sum of money is being expended, there has hardly been a mistake."
Another interesting contrast with today was the bill - 49,000 for the
site and 84,000 for the contract.
The design for the town hall - the city's third - beat competition from 177 others and it was built using Stoke stone from a quarry near Grindleford in Derbyshire.
In 1959 the town hall was given a 6,000 facelift but the seemingly simple job created a situation which left councillors at the other side of Yorkshire blushing.
On May 16, 1959, The Star stated: "The men who are carrying out the job are from Leeds, where the councillors contend that their Town Hall cannot be cleaned.
"Leeds people, who have seen the transformation in Sheffield, are chiding their city fathers unmercifully.
"'We almost need an escort when we go home,' chuckled Mr. W. S. Cole, general foreman of the work."
Quick to make sure no Steel City feathers were ruffled unnecessarily, the reporter added a note at the bottom of the article: "The contract was awarded to the Leeds firm after tenders had been received from all over the country, including some from Sheffield."
Drama has followed the City Hall since before the day it opened starting with the seemingly simple job of giving it a name.
Few who saw them can forget the lions that originally guarded the entrance of honour at the Barker's Pool venue or forget the drama over their exit.
In 1972 Deep Purple fans caused such 'pandemonium' by charging to the front of the hall that bosses threatened to pull the plug on all future pop concerts.
And just four years later the city fathers banned the Sex Pistols from appearing at the venue, with one councillor quoted as saying: "If they want to do this kind of thing, they can go to do it on Wadsley Common.
"We will certainly not allow this kind of depravity in City Hall."
The Peace Gardens
• The Peace Gardens were originally the site of St Paul's Church, which was built in the 1720s to serve the expanding population of the town.
• St Paul's was demolished in 1937 and the open space left was named the Peace Gardens in honour of the Munich Peace Agreement of 1938.
• The site was redesigned in the late 1990s as part of the Heart of the City development, which also resulted in the demolition of the "egg box" extension to the Town Hall.
• The site is now famous for its water features. The present cascades and water channels which flow towards the centre of the gardens represent Sheffield's rivers.
The Town Hall
• The present building is Sheffield's third Town Hall. The first one stood at the Cathedral gates and the second is now empty in Waingate, opposite Castle Market.
• It was formally opened in 1897 by Queen Victoria. This first visit by a reigning monarch generated an enormous amount of interest and around 10,000 was spent on decorating the streets to welcome the Queen. She spent three hours in the city.
• The tower is 210 feet high and topped by a statue of the Roman god of metalworking, Vulcan.
• When built the tower had fitments for bells to chime the hours but they were never used. In 2000 a set of electronic chimes was installed.
The City Hall
• A competition was held in 1920 to find the best design for a large hall for performances and City Hall was built between 1928 and 1932.
• The main auditorium seats 2,300 and the smaller Memorial Hall at the rear of the building seats around 500.
• The entire hall was refurbished in the late 1990s and restored to its original splendour.
• If you look carefully at the columns and front of the venue you can see patches were repairs were carried out to shrapnel damage caused during the Blitz in 1940.
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Weather for Sheffield
Friday 10 February 2012
Today
Fog
Temperature: -6 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: -2 C to -1 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: South west
