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The archaeological ‘set piece excavation’ of the castle site is taking place, having started at the end of March 2024.
During the 10-week programme, sub-contractors Wessex Archaeology are exploring never-before excavated areas of the castle and will uncover the gatehouse as a permanent feature in the new park.
Members of the public have also been helping on site as volunteers. More details on the dig are below.
Archaeologists investigate and record the moat
Keltbray are the contractors that are delivering the Castlegate project. They have installed a new access ramp from Exchange Street for temporary use while the park is being built. This allows constant access to the site without interfering or affecting current arrangements on Castlegate or the structural integrity of the River Sheaf culvert.
New access at the castle site
Sections of the former Castle Market that were not required have been demolished. Other sections that had to be kept have been filled with foamed concrete, a type of lightweight concrete that is often used as a void filler. This type of concrete will help support structures like the one below.
A structure filled by Keltbray
The breaking out of concrete slabs has almost finished, creating some mounds of rubble that will soon be put through a concrete crusher to create fill material to use elsewhere on the site.
A mound of rubble that will be used as filler elsewhere on the site
Finally, the surveys on the River Sheaf culvert started in April. The results will inform the methodology to remove the ‘lid’ from the river.
Surveying the River Sheaf
The archaeological ‘set piece excavation’ will conclude at the end of May. It will gradually be excavated deeper to the medieval castle’s gatehouse level. This is a significant part of the works and will receive a great amount of focus.
The existing concrete slabs that have been broken out will be crushed into small aggregate and then re-used as general fill on site. In general, the west side of the site (next to Waingate) will be raised up to street footway level to form one of the park’s entrances. This will form part of the cut-fill exercise.
There is still some foam concreting works to be done on a remaining structure in the southwest corner of the site. It was listed as a potential bat roost and so Keltbray had to wait until the correct procedures and licensing were put in place before work started.
Lastly, towards the end of June we should see some large, pre-cast concrete culvert units being installed towards the southwest corner of the site. These will provide access between future development plots 1 and 2.
Progress on the castle site
The image below shows a view of the River Sheaf towards Castlegate from April 2024. The river is currently hidden under the concrete, but this will soon be removed.
The River Sheaf covered by concrete
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Archaeologists were surprised to uncover an old crucible furnace
For the first time in 70 years, the remains of Sheffield Castle’s imposing medieval gatehouse, moat, and drawbridge pier are being uncovered over a 10-week programme led by a team from Wessex Archaeology. This is part of the regeneration of the site into a new public park, Castle Hill Park.
Excavations at the castle are due to finish in June and, so far, the team has uncovered several remains. This includes an unmapped 19th-century crucible furnace from the former Castle Hill Steelworks, a 12-metre deep well, and remains relating to the castle including the moat with its 'sticky black sludge' and parts of the Norman motte. Alongside the main dig, archaeological monitoring of the construction works will continue for the duration of the scheme.
The public have also been able to delve into the site’s rich heritage through excavation experiences. More open days and excavation tours will be taking place this month.
An artist's impression of Castle Hill Park
At the heart of Castlegate, the site was once home to Sheffield Castle and more recently Castle Market but is currently boarded up and in a derelict state.
The vision for the site is to become Sheffield’s newest park, Castle Hill Park. This includes exposing some remains of the castle (including the former gatehouse), developing the Sheaf Fields with views to the opened up River Sheaf, and providing a high-quality greenspace with an events square, reminiscent of the 'bowling green' that occupied the site in the 1600s.
The first phase of the exciting transformation began in January and is expected to be completed in spring 2026.
For site or construction specific information, please contact David Fidler (Senior Project Manager, Keltbray) David.Fidler@keltbray.com
For any other information, please contact Lucia Lorente (Principal Development Officer, Sheffield City Council) Lucia.Lorente@sheffield.gov.uk
A shopper at Pollen Market
Pollen Market continues to thrive at Castlegate Grey To Green. After a couple of wonderfully busy markets in March and April, the Pollen team are so looking forward to the weather getting warmer and seeing their home on Grey To Green bloom into the summer months.
Join them for another jam-packed Pollen on Sunday 19 May, where there will be lots of familiar faces and some brand new traders too.
Students designed and built their own versions of Sheffield Castle
On 17 April, Keltbray delivered some ‘meet the engineer’ sessions to four classes of year 8 students at Bents Green Specialist Secondary School.
The sessions explored the role of construction and how it shapes the world around us. Some of the students were able to have a go at trying on hard hats and hi-vis jackets so they could understand why safety is important on a construction site.
The students were also able to learn some more about the history of Sheffield and see artists' impressions of the old castle site.
They were then able to design and build their own versions of the castle using boxes and materials that can easily be found within a school or home environment.
The Friends of Sheffield Castle AGM
The Friends of Sheffield Castle held their 11th annual general meeting (AGM) on 18 April. Members were treated to a talk by Ashley Tuck from Wessex Archaeology on the latest finds from the castle site excavations.
There were plenty of great questions from the floor with everyone keen to learn what has been found and what the plans are over the coming weeks.
The Friends are hoping that remains of the castle will be unearthed to form part of the planned gatehouse set-piece area within the park.
They were also pleased to hear the excitement from some of the audience who had been on the site that week volunteering with Wessex, helping uncover some of the steelworks and part of the old Castle Hill road that were just below the surface.
For details of other city centre regeneration projects, including Fargate and Heart of the City, tap the button below.
Travel for free on the new zero-emission Sheffield Connect
Sheffield Connect bus
In April, the new Sheffield Connect zero emission bus service launched. The SC1 route already connected 12 stops in the city centre to make it easier for you to get to key locations.
As well as the SC1, the Sheffield Connect also now runs an additional SC2 service, which links The Moor, Sheffield Station, the Interchange, Castlegate, West Bar, and Arundel Gate.
The new SC2 route means you can easily get between the Heart of the City and to Castlegate every 20 minutes. And it's now free to travel!
You can find out more about the routes and the service by visiting the Travel South Yorkshire website.
Carousel course members proudly showing their art
Carousel Print Studio, situated in Exchange Place Studios on Grey to Green in Castlegate, have launched their next block of printmaking courses.
Learn a new skill in a supportive, warm, and professional creative studio, led by experienced artists.
Courses include collograph, intaglio, screenprinting, cyanotype, etching, mono printing, and more. They also offer affordable membership for local artists as well as bespoke community printmaking workshops.
To find out more or book onto a course and support this small not-for-profit local charity, tap the button below.
A young visitor enjoying the National Videogame Museum
The National Videogame Museum (NVM) will be inviting visitors to discover what makes an award-winning game and celebrate recent winners with their upcoming learning activities in May.
Inspired by the recent 20th BAFTA Games Awards, the NVM will be celebrating the BAFTA award-winning games in their collection.
Alongside winning favourites – like Lumino City and Super Mario Odyssey – they’re introducing two winners from this year's event to discover during May half term. They’re open every day that week, and visitors will be able to play Viewfinder (Best British Game and New IP Award) or Tchia (Game Beyond Entertainment Award).
Children (and adults alike) can also design their own award-winning games from home with free learning resources designed by the NVM’s award-winning Learning Team.
Downloadable guides on the NVM website give a detailed introduction to web-based game making tools such as Twine, Bitsy, and Scratch.
Testing Ground: Grace Clifford residency
Throughout May and June, Yorkshire Artspace are running the third iteration of their Testing Ground residency programme. This provides Sheffield artists with the space, time, and materials to develop new experimental work in Castlegate.
Their artist-in-residence for May/June 2024 is Sheffield-based Grace Clifford. Her practice looks to the workshops of blue-collar trades for inspiration, reflecting on heritage, class, and identity. During the residency she will use repurposed materials and offcuts to test out a new sculptural installation.
There will be four Studio Open Days on Saturdays 1, 8, 15, and 22 June (drop in, 12-4pm), where members of the public can meet Grace, see her developing work, and ask questions.
The residency is designed to take advantage of the big windows at Exchange Place so passersby can also get a glimpse of what she's up to.
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