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Fargate is a pedestrian precinct and
shopping Shopping is an activity in which a customer browses the available goods or services presented by one or more retailers with the potential intent to purchase a suitable selection of them. A Retail#Shopper profiles, typology of shopper types ha ...
area in
Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. It runs between
Barker's Pool Barker's Pool is a public city square and street in the centre of Sheffield, England. The focus of Barker's Pool is the listed building, Grade II* listed Sheffield War Memorial, war memorial that was unveiled on 28 October 1925 to commemorate ...
and
High Street High Street is a common street name for the primary business street of a city, town, or village, especially in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. It implies that it is the focal point for business, especially shopping. It is also a metonym fo ...
opposite the
cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...
. It was pedestrianised in 1973. Fargate also holds a Continental Market approximately 4 times a year, which includes European stalls selling cheeses, confectionery, clothing, plants and crafts including jewellery and ornaments.


History

Joseph Woolhouse, in his
A Description of the Town of Sheffield
, wrote in 1832 while the
cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...
was raging in Sheffield: More recently, the street was home to
Sheffield Assay Office The Sheffield Assay Office is one of the four remaining assay offices in the United Kingdom, the other three being in London, Birmingham, and Edinburgh. In 1773, Sheffield's silversmiths joined with those of Birmingham to petition Parliament fo ...
.


Coles Corner

The corner at bottom the end of Fargate (opposite the cathedral) is known locally as Coles Corner. It was a famous meeting point in the city named after the Cole Brothers department store that occupied the building before it moved in 1963 to Barker's Pool (on the plot originally occupied by the Albert Hall cinema, which burnt down in 1937) The Fargate site is now home to a modern building, which currently houses
Burger King Burger King Corporation (BK, stylized in all caps) is an American multinational chain store, chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacks ...
,
Starbucks Coffee Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gordon Bowker at Seattle's Pike Place Market i ...
and Greggs. A plaque has been erected in memory of the old Cole Brothers store. The location was immortalised by Richard Hawley's
album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...
and song.


Carmel House

In November 2005, the
University of Sheffield The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public university, public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Fir ...
´s archaeological consultancy, ARCUS, unearthed a
medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...
well of over three metres in depth in the
sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...
bedrock beneath Carmel House on Fargate. The Sheffield city centre site was being excavated as part of a redevelopment project. Pottery found in the well suggested that it was in use by 1300 AD, and had been filled in around the time of the
English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...
. Medieval pots included jugs made in the Hallgate area of nearby
Doncaster Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...
and other items from the
Humber Estuary The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Trent, Trent. From there to the North Sea, it forms ...
. This discovery was said to offer significant evidence relating to the medieval town of Sheffield, still a small market town, before its growth during the subsequent Industrial Revolution. Dating of the well indicates that it was probably dug around the time of the rebuilding of Sheffield Castle in stone, in 1270, and the granting of Sheffield's Market Charter by
Edward I Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots (Latin: Malleus Scotorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he was Lord of Ireland, and from 125 ...
in 1296. Due to the conditions in the well, animal bones and plant remains (possibly including microscopic pollen grains) were preserved and analysed by the University's Department of Archaeology laboratories. In February 2005, Sheffield City Council's Executive Director of Development and Leisure had commented, "Carmel House, at the junction of Fargate and Norfolk Row is an imposing Victorian stone fronted Grade II listed building which, together with the adjoining terrace of attractive Georgian brick properties, is almost completely empty and is in need of refurbishment. Full planning permission was granted in January 2004 for a comprehensive scheme which will involve creating four new modern retail units by demolishing the existing buildings behind the retained façade." The Council's Conservation Advisory Group "regretted that its advice regarding the development of Carmel House had not been taken into account and it wondered whether Carmel House would be liable to be removed from the List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, in view of the extent of demolition which had taken place."


Goodwin Fountain

The Goodwin Fountain stood on Fargate from 1961 to 1998. It was paid for by a donation by industrialist Sir Stuart Goodwin and his wife, and was originally dedicated to Alderman James Sterling, but the informal name stuck and was eventually made official. It was replaced by a new fountain, bearing the same name, in the nearby Peace Gardens.


Ferris wheel

The
Wheel of Sheffield The Wheel of Sheffield was a tall transportable Ferris wheel installation on Fargate, by City Hall, in Sheffield, England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the i ...
was a tall
Ferris wheel A Ferris wheel (also called a big wheel, giant wheel or an observation wheel) is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating upright wheel with multiple passenger-carrying components (commonly referred to as passenger cars, cabins, tubs, gondola ...
assembled on Fargate in mid-July 2009 in ten days and remained at the top of the pedestrian street until January 2010. It had 42 gondolas, each capable of carrying up to eight people.


References

{{SheffieldCityCentre Sheffield City Centre Streets in Sheffield Tourist attractions in Sheffield