| AdminHistory | In 1297, Thomas de Furnival created a seignorial borough of Sheffield, by granting the feefarm to the burgesses of Sheffield. In effect, this is the formal commencement of the Burgery of Sheffield, the predecessors of the Town Trustees. Originally, the Burgery combined the functions later exercised by both the Church Burgesses and the Town Trustees. On the dissolution of the chantries, the property deemed to have been endowed for spiritual purposes was confiscated, and the residual property entrusted to the Town Trustees for secular purposes. The Marian restoration of property to Church Burgesses for ecclesiastical purposes in 1554 brought the final separation of Church Burgesses and Town Trustees. The charters of the old Burgery before 1554 have thus all become the property of the Church Burgesses, with the exception of the feefarm charter of 1297. The early charters and deeds before 1554 were catalogued by T. W. Hall, A Catalogue of the Ancient Charters belonging to the Twelve Capital Burgesses (1913), and these, with all the other records of the Church Burgesses, were deposited at Sheffield Archives in 1976.
The Town Trustees consequently acted on behalf of the commonalty of Sheffield as the administration of the township for secular purposes, although some of these functions were also exercised by the manorial court. The Trustees were largely supplanted in this in 1843 when Sheffield was incorporated. The Trustees continued to implement street improvements under private Act of Parliament.
The records of the Trustees commence with the first account book in 1566.
The Trust has a wide range of responsibilities prior to the establishment of the Borough Council, includuing street improvements and water supply.
The property of the Trustees was largely concentrated in the centre of Sheffield township, with outlying property in Fulwood and Upper Hallam. As with the deeds of the Church Burgesses' estates and the registers of building leases of the Duke of Norfolk, the deeds of the Trustees throw further light on the topographical and spatial development of Sheffield. They confirm the picture of infilling of the centre of the Township in the 1780s and 1790s, prior to the outward expansion. Similarly, they shed light on the building process, the builders and the building financiers. Of particular interest are the building leases granted by the Rev. James Wilkinson, vicar of Sheffield, when Vicarage Croft was developed in 1787. The leasehold premises later passed to the Trustees.
The Town Trust continues to this day (2011). The trustees meet four times a year, mainly to consider applications for its charitable funds. |
| Description | Fee farm charter of 1297 (TT/1)
Minute books, 1709-1997 (TT/2)
Law Clerk's rough minutes, 1848-1908 (TT/3)
Financial records, 1566 - 1984 (TT/4)
Survey and rentals, 1780-1945 (TT/5)
Registers of assignments of leases, 1787-1970 (TT/6)
Botanical Gardens Committee, 1898-1933 (TT/7)
Daniel Holy's Charity, [1869]-1951 (TT/8)
Street Improvement plans and books of reference, 1845 and 1873 - 1874 (TT/9)
Deeds and some miscellaneous papers, 1533 - 1985 (TT/10)
Acts of Parliament (TT/11)
Miscellaneous items (TT/12)
Additional unlisted items (Accession 2022/62)
Miscellaneous papers including property files and deeds (19th/20th cent.); Trust/Charity/Fund/Bequest files; correspondence files, 1939-2002; Quarterly Meeting (sample) files, 1989-2008; statements of accounts, 1977-1988; sample grant application correspondence, 1991-2012 [some restricted]; election of Town Trustees file, 1958-1984 [restricted until 2050]; newscuttings, 1968-2018; Daniel Holy accounts, 1885-1886, 1917; 700th Anniversary monument papers and drawings, 1996-2003:
Box 1
Small hardback record book entitled Sheffield Town Trust - Ground Rents etc, May 1956 to May 1976 together with a number of paper remittance advices;
Sheffield Town Trust Cash Book Ledger, 1957 to 1973 - mainly relating to Fulwood Park Estate, Paradise Square car park, other freehold ground rents and rents from Year to Year;
File of newspaper cuttings, 1968-2018, including examples of advert for Town Trustees, first female Town Trustee (1996) (Annifer Lee) and use of Paradise Square; Town Trust Accounts adverts; Public Notices;
Papers from revised version of the 700th Anniversary History Booklet (2008, draft and final), 1997-2008; 700th Anniversary Order of Service of Thanksgiving, October 1997;
File of papers including (some typescript copy) wills and bequests to the Town Trust, early-20th century; copy death certificates of past Trustees;
Correspondence file, Edna Mary Wood Trust and Wood & Parker Trust, 1979-2008
Box 2
Correspondence files:
C. A. Hampshire Fund, 1967-1998;
William Birley’s Charity, 1987-2002;
John Eaton’s Almshouses, 1939-1995;
Thomas Earnshaw Fund, 1989-1991 (incs. photocopies of 19th-cent. legal documents and correspondence; and Royal Sheffield Institution for the Blind papers)
Sir William Ellis Trust/Bequest, 1984-1989
Grammar School Exhibition Fund, 1956-1971 (inc. accounts, 1956 and printed scheme for the administration of Sheffield Grammar School and Birley's Charity, 1888)
Box 3
Correspondence, Town Trust/University of Sheffield Scholarships, 1958-1993; black notebook detailing individual scholarships given, 1910-1983;
Miscellaneous file, inc. Sheffield Town Trust information for applicants, late 1990s; sample Town Trust cheques, 2002; Sheffield Town Trust Paradise Square car park licence, 1970s; Meeting attendance sheets (samples), 1992, 1998 and 1999;
Plans of Paradise Square car park and details of who renting, 1977-1988;
Papers relating to the history of Paradise Square, inc. notes complied by Ivor Gatty, 1945; mid-20th century photos of the Square and buildings around; newscuttings, 1963 and 1979; copy will of Joseph Broadbent deceased dated 1757;
Papers re. the history and succession at Branson Bramley, Solicitors, Paradise Square, 1798-early 20th cent.; plan of their proposed office extension, 1968; notes on the history of Bramley Coombe;
Property file, 111/115 West Bar, 1985-1989
Box 4
Property files:
Clarke House, Southgrove Road, 1983-1988;
69/83 Channing Street, 1968-1972;
1-5 Cambridge Place and 136-142 Cambridge Road, 1968-1972;
File, Sheffield Boys' Working Home Fund, 1948-1980 [with copy of copy conveyance dated 1889];
File, Sheffield Town Trust Dinners, 1972-1987
Box 5
700th Anniversary:
Planning files inc. minutes, correspondence, photos, drawings and newscuttings re. public art installation on site of Goodwin fountain, Fargate (and later, Cathedral forecourt), 1996-2003 [winning design by Shirazeh Houshiary, but project never realised]; service, reception and dinner, inc. guest lists and seating plans, 1996-1998
Box 6
Election of Town Trustees file, 1958-1984 [restricted access until 2050 - access permission required];
Quarterly Meeting papers [to consider various grant applications], sample files May 1989 and May 1998 (1 of 2)
Box 7
Quarterly Meeting papers [to consider various grant applications], sample files May 1998 (2 of 2) and November 2008 (2 files);
Statements of account, 1977-1993 [incomplete]
Box 8
16 deeds, 40/50, 62/70 & 82/102 Mushroom Lane and 'Hanging Bank' [off St. Stephen's Road], Sheffield, 1882-1961;
Agreements, City & Central Investments Ltd and Grand Hotel (Sheffield) Ltd, City & Central Investments Ltd and Wilson Peck Ltd, land and premises, Fargate, 15 November 1961;
Counterpart Lease of two cottages Nos. 33 & 35 Campo Lane, Sheffield, to Mr. T.J. Harvatt, from 22 Dec 1911;
12 deeds, land and premises in Bridge Street and Lady's Bridge, Sheffield, 1851-1897 (Robert Tennant, Tennant Brothers Limited);
5 deeds, Lady's Bridge premises, Sheffield, 1872-1879 (Tennant family)
Box 9
Raymond Jenkinson file (former Town Trustee):
Adverts from Sheffield Newspapers showing the Town Trust accounts - Jan 1913, Jan 1914, Jan 1915, May 1915, Jan 1917; envelope with further newspaper cuttings relating to the accounts of 1882, 1883, 1884 and 1885;
Schedule of the Estate of the Trust and the Accounts for : 1875, 1878,1879, 1881,1882, 1883, 1884, 1887, 1897; Appendix to the accounts of Samuel Roberts, Town Collector, 1874-1877 (and newscuttings re. same for 1877 and 1883);
Bequest of the late Daniel Holy Esq, for the benefit of Sheffield Blind Institution, the statement of Accounts from the date of possession(30/07/1879?) by the Town Trustees to 31st Dec 1880;
Excerpts from ‘Acts of Parliament (dated around 1951);
Extract from 7 & 8 Geo 1V Cap 33 (ms.);
Paper for a Charity Commission Enquiry on 8th February 1897 pages 3 to 16 (pages 1 & 2 missing). Believed to be a summary of 'What or Who is the Sheffield Town Trust' to be presented to the Enquiry.
Deeds and papers relating to the freehold and leasehold of 90-92 Pinstone Street, 1883-1955 (inc. Charles Henry Maleham bequest, 1939-1940);
Property file, Bank House/Sovereign House, Queen Street, 1989-2001
Box 10
Property file, land at the Junction of Lambert Street and West Bar, 1979-1983;
Plan showing Street Improvements by Flockton & Abbott, 1872; memo re. various ground rents, May 1876;
Grant application correspondence, 1991-2012:
The Forge Dam Appeal, 1992
Friends of Porter Valley, 1999 (Restricted until 2024)
Hackenthorpe Warriors Football Club, 2003 (Restricted to 2028)
Hillsborough Walled Garden Project, 1991
The Ethel Trust, 1991 and 1996
St Vincent de Paul Furniture Store, 1995
Sheffield Conservation Project ‘Magic’, 1992
Whinfell Quarry Garden, 2005-2006 (Restricted to 2031) and 2012 (Restricted to 2037)
Miscellaneous file, 1885-1996:
A letter to the Law Clerk from National Provincial Bank Ltd, 4th April 1957; Sir G Wilton Lee TD 1904-1986 obituary and Service of Thanksgiving sheet (former Town Trustee); note to Arthur from R J ?, Johnnygate (Barlow area?) re. Paradise Square and Ivor Gatty's notes on the history of the square. Comments on Hunter's Hallamshire inaccuracies. Attached is the 1983 Programme of the Hunter Archaelogical Society;
Daniel Holy Accounts, Abstract of the Accounts of the Bequest of the late Daniel Holy 31st Dec 1885 and 31st Dec 1886; copy of the Sheffield Daily Telegraph January 26th 1918 showing the Daniel Holy accounts for the year ended 31st December 1917; sign for the Election of a New Town Trustee;
Artist's impression of Shirazeh Houshiary's art installation on site of Goodwin fountain, Fargate, and Cathedral forecourt, to mark the Town Trust's 700th anniversary (2 rolled drawings, c. 1996). 1 large-size print version on foam board (stored separately). |