Introduce where you're from

[Paul]

In writing my introduction I started to write about where I'm from, and had the idea that this might make an interesting thread - for members to tell us a little about their city, town, general locale, the good and bad, the history, what they love about it and why they settled there, or have never left.


( mods, I hope it's okay to post that here in the introduction thread )

[Paul]

I've lived my whole life in and around Sheffield, in the North of England (barely; one of our nearest neighbour towns is Chesterfield in Derbyshire, which is considered to be in the Midlands, but I guess you have to draw a line somewhere). It's usually referred to as the fourth- or fifth largest city with a population of just under 600, 000 (there are really only two BIG cities in the UK, London and Birmingham) although the 'Metropolitan area' is over 1.5 million souls.



Historically, the city was known for heavy industry - particularly its steelworks and cutlery manufacture. Stainless steel was invented here, along with many other metallurgical innovations. While there are still some large factories - in Attercliffe along the Lower Don Valley and at Deepcar out of the North of the city - the manufacturing industry is no longer a major employer. The reasons for this industry are geography and geology; around the area can be found both high-quality iron ore and coal seams, so iron has been smelted here for as long as the technology has existed, and the several rivers flowing down the hills provided water power until the coming of the steam age. Of course, with steam the coal became even more important, leading to massive growth in the 19th century. The outlying hills also provide gritstone - locally known as millstone grit, as it would be carved into grinding wheels on-site before being transported into the city, usually to grind or mill blades. Walking the hills you can find hundreds of these left abandoned where they were carved. In fact, the millstone is one of the symbols of the Peak District, the UKs first National Park, and its boundaries are marked with a large gritstone mill wheel on a pedestal.



The Peak District. That is one of the things I really love about my city. We sit toward the North West corner of this magnificent piece of countryside, some of the city overlapping into the area known as the Dark Peak, named for this very gritstone, which juts from the high moors like the naked bones of the Earth itself. The land is high moors and deep wooded valleys, sharp escarpments or ‘Edges’ such as Burbage, Stanage and Curbar, and wonderful walking routes. While the land itself is privately owned, these routes (and, since the year 2000, more general open access) is a legal right. These rights stem from the Mass Trespass in 1932 when factory workers, mostly from Manchester and Sheffield, on either side of what is now the National Park, met on numbers too large for the police and gamekeepers to do anything about, in protest at this green, open area being the preserve of the monied classes.



The Dark Peak is largely unfarmable, which is why it is still so untouched. While the peat soil is rich and black, it doesn’t drain well so often turns to bog and is, in any case, filled with rocks. For this reason, it’s long been given over the sheep and game birds - pheasant and partridge. Winters can be harsh - one of the main roads from Sheffield to Manchester is known as the Snake Pass and rarely goes a winter without closure as it winds up and over the high moor. Of course, while I say high, these are hills; the only mountains in England are in the Lake District, and they are babies compared to the great ranges of the Alps, the Pyrenees or the Rockies. The Peak has the ancient, wild beauty similar to the Scottish Highlands, both once part of a mountain range that would rival the Himalaya but ground down by eons of wind and rain and ice.



Sheffield itself is a green city, with more than 80 parks, along with stretches of woodland and the most trees per capita than any other city in Europe. The other defining characteristic is the hills; said to be built on seven hills, it’s difficult to find a decent stretch of flat ground - which, as a runner and cyclist I have tried. Even the city centre is split into three separate zones by the sharp grade. With the hills, of course, come valleys, and several of these are filled with parks and woodland as they radiate out from the city, especially to the West, so from not too far outside the city centre you can walk all the way out to the countryside along narrow fingers of greenery that follow the River Sheaf or the Rivelin or the Don, widening and rising all the way.



We have two large universities - The University of Sheffield, one of the red-brick unis founded in the 19th Century, and Sheffield Hallam University, one of the new universities and my own alma mater. This means we have around 60, 000 students here during the academic year, including many from overseas. It has long been known as a student-friendly city and, year on year, has amongst the highest rates of students remaining after graduation. Most of my friends came here for university and found themselves caught in its gravity.



Sheffield has also been called the hub of the UK craft beer movement. We have at least 23 breweries and Kelham Island and Abbeydale Breweries were around long before the boom and instrumental in the movement. We have some fabulous restaurants in both the city centre and spread around, but there is a mile-long stretch of London Road to the South West of the centre filled with the most wonderful eateries, of every national food you can possibly imagine.



It doesn’t feel like a city of this size - Sheffield used to be called “the biggest village in England” for this very reason. It feels cosy and friendly but is big enough to be diverse and cosmopolitan. You’re never far from a green space, or even the surrounding countryside. If you want to go somewhere that feels like a big city, Manchester and Leeds are both an hour away. No, I don’t work for the local tourist board, I just like it here.