Paradise Square is a Georgian square in the

City of Sheffield The City of Sheffield is a metropolitan borough with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in South Yorkshire, England. The metropolitan borough includes the administrative centre of Sheffield, the town of Stocksbridge and the larger ...

, England. Located to the northwest of

Sheffield Cathedral The Cathedral Church of St Peter and St Paul, Sheffield, also known as Sheffield Cathedral, is the cathedral church for the Church of England diocese of Sheffield, England. Originally a parish church, it was elevated to cathedral status when ...

, the square is set on a slope and was formerly used for public meetings.

History

Paradise Square was built in the 18th century on the site of ''Hicks' stile-field'', the stile being one of the entrances to the church-yard. The reason for the choice of the name ''Paradise Square'' is uncertain, but local historians

R. E. Leader Robert Eadon Leader (2 January 1839 – 18 April 1922) was a journalist, Liberal activist, and historian. He published many books on the history of the Sheffield area. He was the son of Robert Leader, Alderman and Town Trustee, and proprietor o ...

and S. O. Addy speculated that it may be an allusion to the ancient use of ''Paradise'' or ''Parvis'' as the name for a garden or enclosed space near a church.Leader, ''Sheffield in the Eighteenth Century'', pp. 210–211. The area acquired the nickname ''Pot Square'' when crockery vendors were moved here from the High Street in around 1808."Paradise Square" in Jackson, ''Paradise Square'', pp. 7–14

Buildings

The east side of the square consists of five houses built in 1736 by Nicholas Broadbent on land leased from the trustees of the Shrewsbury Hospital. The other houses in the square were built by his son Thomas Broadbent, from 1771 to c.1790. Number 11 is dated 1787.Comprehensive descriptions of the listed buildings in Paradise Square can be found at th
Images of England
project (als

https://web.archive.org/web/20121023031628/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?pid=2&id=45588

https://web.archive.org/web/20121023031857/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?pid=2&id=455891]), which is run by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

(accessed 12 June 2005—free registration required). Following bomb damage in the Second World War, parts of the square were extensively restored between 1963-6 by Hadfield, Cawkwell, Davidson and Partners, when numbers 18 and 26 were largely rebuilt using materials that were salvaged from buildings elsewhere. In the mid-1980s, an early 19th-century

Gothic revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

stuccoed building at number 10 was rebuilt with a Neo-Georgian facade. All buildings in the square are

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

Public meetings

Describing Paradise Square, J. E. Manning, Minister of

Upper Chapel Upper Chapel is a Unitarianism, Unitarian chapel on Norfolk Street in Sheffield City Centre. It is a member of the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches, the umbrella organisation for British Unitarians. The Chapel is Grad ...

, wrote in 1900 "Paradise Square was not then n 1831so quiet as it ordinarily is now. It was often thronged with excited crowds who came to hear what their leaders had to say on all the stirring topics of the time." Number 18 was built with a Masonic Hall on the upper floor. This was accessed from the square ''via'' a staircase with a balcony at the top that became the rostrum for speakers at public meetings. The first recorded assembly in Paradise Square was on 15 July 1779Leader, ''Reminiscences of Old Sheffield'', p. 2 when

John Wesley John Wesley ( ; 2 March 1791) was an English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a principal leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies ...

preached to what he would later note in his journal was ''"the largest congregation I ever saw on a weekday"''. The

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

Conference commissioned a memorial to be placed in the square commemorating this event. This was designed by Alfred Tory, and unveiled in 1951 by J. Arthur Rank. John Wesley was not the only preacher to use the Paradise Square,

Rowland Hill Sir Rowland Hill, KCB, FRS (3 December 1795 – 27 August 1879) was an English teacher, inventor and social reformer. He campaigned for a comprehensive reform of the postal system, based on the concept of Uniform Penny Post and his solu ...

preached in the square on 26 September 1798. Paradise Square was also used by the

chartists Chartism was a working-class movement for political reform in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom that erupted from 1838 to 1857 and was strongest in 1839, 1842 and 1848. It took its name from the People's Charter of ...

in Sheffield for a number of meetings, notably on 12 September 1839 when the crowd was dispersed by troops leading to a running battle and a number of arrests.Information on chartism in the Sheffield area can be found at the following websites
Sheffield Chartists

Both accessed 12 June 2005. Throughout the 19th century it was traditional that those standing for election to represent the Sheffield constituency in Parliament held political meetings in the square. The balcony at number 18 was removed in 1889, effectively ending the use of the square as a meeting place.

Residents

Though the pottery market in the square was not long-lived, a number of the buildings in the square were used by glass and china dealers throughout the 19th century. Early residents of square were mostly from the Upper Middle classes, such as attorneys and physicians. Notable former residents include sculptor

Sir Francis Chantrey Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey (7 April 1781 – 25 November 1841) was an English sculptor. He became the leading portrait sculptor in Regency era Britain, producing busts and statues of many notable figures of the time. Chantrey's most notable w ...

, who had a studio here at No. 24 in 1802, and physician David Daniel Davis, who lived at No. 12 from 1803 to 1812. Through the 19th century there were a number of

public houses A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

in the square, including the ''Old Cock tavern'' at number 11 and ''Q in the corner inn'' at number 17."Looking through the windows" in Jackson, ''Paradise Square'', pp. 67–88. In recent years the buildings have been used as offices, though in 2008 numbers 7 and 9 were converted into a restaurant.

Future

When funding becomes available, the square will be converted to an urban park as part of the Grey to Green Scheme set up by Sheffield City Council.

Bibliography

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Notes

{{SheffieldCityCentre History of Sheffield Grade II* listed buildings in Sheffield Christianity in Sheffield Squares in Sheffield