Castlegate Festival

Castlegate Festival 2024: Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 September

This is a celebration of heritage, arts and music at the Grey to Green project, Pollen and Quayside Markets.

Welcome to the eighth edition of the Castlegate Festival. This year’s festival not only celebrates the heritage, arts, music and markets of Sheffield’s oldest quarter but also looks to its future with the redevelopment of one of its central sites: the Castle site. A new park is currently being constructed and is due to open in 2026. It will include Sheffield Castle’s archaeology, you will be able to see the river Sheaf and there will be a dedicated event space.

Castlegate is home to many art spaces, restaurants, bars, hotels and the National Videogame Museum. It is also the home of the award-winning Grey to Green project, Pollen Market (Sheffield’s first fresh flower market) as well as the Quayside Market in Victoria Quays and Marioland Skate Park on Exchange St.

As part of previous Castlegate Festivals, we have produced some information to celebrate it. The area has been decorated with 'blue plaques' where important people lived and 'red plaques' of famous pubs, hotels and clubs from the past and present. You can see the history behind these below, as well as some videos of Castlegate and street signs, with both their historical and current names.

If you do not know the area or have not been for a while, please join us for this year’s festival celebrations.

Saturday 14 September 2024

Quayside Market

Saturday 10am to 9pm and Sunday, 10am to 4pm, Victoria Quays, free entry

Vibrant array of award-winning street food, local crafts, music and family activities. The market celebrates community spirit and creativity.

For more information visit Facebook Quayside Market Sheffield

One-day Free Music Festival

Saturday 2pm to 10pm on Exchange St; 10pm to 4am (18+) inside Ritetrax, Delicious Clam and Panke Social, free entry

A community festival organised by Rite Trax with Bal Fashion Social, Delicious Clam and Panke Social. Multi genre live music and DJ set until 10pm featuring Halogenix, Katie Bosworth, Goldivox, Big Megla, Ego Clash and more. Licensed bar and food.

For more information visit the event page

Gallery 24 / Two and Six Micropub

Saturday 11am to 4pm, Sunday noon to 5pm, 24 - 26 Snig Hill, free entry

Arts and crafts, family-friendly activities, most suitable for younger children 3 to 8 years old, but all ages and accompanying parents/carers will be accommodated. Painting flowerpots, glassware, collage pictures and printmaking with found items.

For more information visit Facebook Two and Six Micropub

Art Market at Kommune

Noon to 5pm, Castle House, Angel Street, free entry

Vibrant local art market with free family crafts and children’s activities, including a bouncy castle.

For more information visit @kommune_ch and Kommune Facebook page

Tour of the Ding Junhui Snooker Academy

Noon to 2pm, 12 - 18 Haymarket, free entry

An exclusive tour of the internationally acclaimed academy, home to over 10 professional snooker players from overseas, including China, Thailand and India, who are preparing for the World Snooker Tour.

For more information visit Facebook Ding Junhui Snooker Academy and Ding Junhui Snooker Academy website

Skate Jam at Sheffield’s Marioland Skateboard Park

2pm to 4:30pm, Exchange Street, free entry

The event will host a 'best trick' competition, extra ramps and obstacles, prizes and live music. No need to sign up, just turn up and skate. This is the UK’s only purpose-built city centre skateboard area.

For more information visit Sheffield – Marioland Skate Jam

Street Art

2pm to 5pm, Exchange Street, free entry

Stall and new street art painting with Sheaf and Porter Rivers Trust. This event will celebrate the start of work to uncover the river Sheaf under the Castle site.

For more information visit Facebook: Sheaf and Porter Rivers Trust and Sheaf and Porter Rivers Trust website

Sunday 15 September 2024

Pollen Market with a difference!

10am to 4pm, Grey to Green on Castlegate (the street), free entry

Come to Castlegate for a floral feast showcasing plants, flowers and crafts. Surrounded by the amazing Grey to Green planting, an array of more than 40 stall holders and a mega line up of food traders. Head down, grab a coffee and food, sit back and enjoy live music and entertainment.

For more information visit @pollenmarketsheffield
Facebook: Pollen. Inner City Flower Market
Website: Pollen Inner-City Flower Market

Mobile climbing wall, Chromatography Butterfly workshop and other free children’s activities

10am to 4pm, Grey to Green on Castlegate (the street), free entry

As part of the Pollen Market, find a 7m tall mobile climbing wall, learn about the amazing life of bees with Amaze labs, and explore other children's and family activities.

Tatkizome printing flowers' workshop with artist Lianne Mellor

10am to 4pm, Grey to Green on Castlegate (the street), free entry

Artist Lianne Mellor will guide you through the Japanese art of Tatakizome or 'flower pounding', printing flowers onto paper or tote bags that you can take home with you. Lianne is based at Yorkshire Artspace's Exchange Place Studios in Castlegate, home to 80 artists who will be opening their doors on 16 and 17 November for their annual Open Studios event.

Bike Servicing by the Sheffield Community Bike project 

1pm to 4pm, Grey to Green on Castlegate (the street), free entry

Sheffield Community Bike Project are opening a new space on King Street in September. To celebrate, they are offering free bike servicing as part of the Castlegate Festival. Bring your bike!

For more information visit Facebook: Sheffield Community Bike Project and Sheffield Community Bike Project website

River Sheaf daylighting with Sheaf and Porter River Trust

10am to 4pm, Grey to Green on Castlegate (the street), free entry

Find out the latest plans for opening the river Sheaf, as part of the Castle Park (completion early 2026).

The Arcade. How We Play Together, National Videogame Museum (NVM)

Saturday, 10am to 1pm and 2pm and 5pm / Sunday 10am to 1pm and 2pm to 5pm, Angel Street, entry subject to a fee

The National Videogame Museum presents an exploration of the Arcade through the decades at this year’s Castlegate Festival, with fun themed activities taking place all weekend. Children (and adults alike!) can design their own arcade cabinets of their favourite games, discover how arcade joysticks work and take part in a high score competition featuring classic arcade games.

For more information visit:

Instagram: @thenvmuk
Facebook: The National Video Game Museum
X (Twitter): @nvmuk
LinkedIn: BGI National Videgame Museum

Supported by

Castlegate Festival has been funded by Sheffield City Council, Sheffield BID and the City Ward Councillors through Central Local Assembly Committee.

They Lived in Castlegate: the stories behind the plaques

Castlegate is Sheffield’s oldest quarter with at almost 1000 years of history, but much of this is not well known. As people return to the quarter to live, work and have fun often in regenerated older buildings,  this history is being rediscovered. Building on 2019’s revival of historic street names this years Castlegate Festival gives you the opportunity to learn more about a few of the notable people who lived, worked or had fun in the area over the last 400 years, by following a trail of ‘Blue Plaques’.

1. Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland and France: Imprisoned Sheffield Castle 1570-84 (see hoarding, Exchange Street)

Mary was committed into the charge of George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury and Sheffield’s Lord of the Manor because he was a leading figure at the court of Elizabeth 1st queen of England and was also one of the most wealthy individuals in the north of England at the time. As a Catholic with claims to the throne of England as well as Scotland, she was considered highly dangerous and her 14 years of confinement mainly at Sheffield Castle, (formerly on this site) Manor Lodge or Chatsworth were constantly surrounded by plots and conspiracies to free her, the last of which led to her execution. However she had the last word in the end as when Elizabeth died childless it was Mary’s son James who became the next king of England and Scotland! 

2. George Talbot c1522-1590, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, Jailer of Mary Queen of Scots (see hoarding, Exchange Street)

George Talbot was a fabulously wealthy Tudor aristocrat who despite his title considered Sheffield and its castle as his home. He inherited huge estates and many houses and castles in South Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, from which he built an early industrial empire including iron, coal and shipping, run mainly from his principal residence in Sheffield. He was also a trusted figure at the court of Elizabeth 1st being appointed to many diplomatic and military roles including Earl Marshall of England - essentially head of the army - and was also entrusted with the huge responsibility and expense of keeping in captivity Mary Queen of Scots (and formerly Queen of France) along with her considerable court, at Sheffield Castle and his other secure houses and castles for 14 long years. During this time is formidable wife, Bess of Hardwick, became convinced he had fallen for Mary, who was famously attractive, and their marriage fell apart until they lived seperate lives, he with his housekeeper at Handsworth.

3. Tommy Youdan c1816-76, Theatrical Impressario and sponsor of the World’s first football cup (Exchange Place)

Thomas Youdan was a larger than life figure in the world of popular entertainment in Victorian Sheffield, much of which was centred around the Castlegate and West Bar area. He ran a succession  of theatres specialising in melodrama, spectacular scenary, animals and other exhibits. His first flagship theatre, the Surrey Music Hall on West Bar burnt to the ground in 1865 (after a show called the Great Fire of London went seriously wrong). Not deterred he bought the Adelphi Circus on Exchange St and renamed it the Alexandra,  hosting most of the best known music hall acts as well as equestrian shows.He also served for six years as a City Councillor, engaged in many charitable activities and perhaps most famously, sponsored the first recorded multi-team football competition in the world - the Youdan Cup, still played for today in Sheffield.

4. Pablo Fanque c1810-71 UK’s First Black Circus Master (see hoarding, Castlegate)

Pablo Fanque (born William Darby 30 March) was born in 1810 in Norwich. He was an outstanding equestrian performer and the first recorded non-white British circus owner in Britain. His circus was popular in Victorian Britain, particularly in the industrial north, for 30 years, in a period that is regarded as the golden age of the circus.

Pablo Fanque was a leading innovator in the management and promotion of circus, employing his own architect and graphic artists to present his touring shows. He married a Sheffield woman and both performed in and staged many seasons of shows at Sheffield, particularly around the Castlegate area including Sheffied Fairground on Blonk St and the Alexandra theatre on Exchange St. Since the late 20th century, Pablo Fanque has been best known from being mentioned in The Beatles song "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" on their album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) which was inspired by one of his posters.

5. Bess of Hardwick 1527-1608, Countess of Shrewsbury, Successful Tudor business woman (see hoarding, Exchange Street)

Bess came from an obscure Derbyshire family to become one of the most successful independent wormen of Tudor England. She did so by marrying and outliving a succession of four husbands each more wealthy than the last, and then ensuring that she held onto her own property and investments. As well as living at Sheffield Castle (formerly on this site) and Manor Lodge she went on build Chatsworth & Hardwick Halls, and established a powerful family of her own living to a great age for her times and maintaining control of her life to the end. 

6. Henry Seebohm 1832-1895, Quaker Steelmaster, Explorer and Ornithologist (corner of Blonk Street)

Henry Seebohm came from one of the many German families who had settled in Bradford a generation before and who in this case belonged to the Quaker protestant faith. He teamed up with another German immigrant to set up Seebohm and Diechstahl’s steelworks between the Wicker and the River Don. His Quaker roots were an influence in the way he treated his workforce who were among the first to be allowed paid holidays, and he was linked to the Rowntrees of York, well-known Quaker chocolate-makers and  philanthropists. But his most lasting achievements were arguably in his passion for bird watching and exploration, notably to Siberia, which he regularly pursued and wrote up in a series of travel and ornithology books, including one of the first comprehensive  books of British birds. His collection of birds eggs became the basis of that in the Natural History Museum. After the death of its two founders and during the First World War, the firm changed its name to Arthur Balfour after its then MD because its German name attracted hostility and suspicion.

Today nothing is left of Seebohm’s riverside steelworks but his books and collections live on.

7. Benjamin Blonk 1747-1813 Scissor maker, cutler, Steam power pioneer (Blonk Street)

Benjamin Blonk was a Sheffield steel, tool and scissor maker who operated a prominent factory - the Wicker Tilt a water-powered steel forge and grinding shop just downstream of Ladys Bridge. His name is also associated with the introduction of steam powered grinding and with Blonk Bridge although it was actually built some time after his death. The Blonk family were engaged with scissor-making for several generations and it is believed that they may have been one of a number of Huguenot families - C17th French Protestant refugees from religious persecution - who were welcomed for their skills and resettled in Sheffield. Their original name may have been Blanc - White in French.  

8. Lizzie: ‘Tommy Ward’s Elephant’ Beast of Burden World War 1 (old Hancock and Lant building, off Lady’s Bridge)

With many of its cart-horses commandeered by the army for the war effort, Thomas W Ward, famous scrap, coal and machine dealers of Sheffield, acquired a trio of circus animals – an elephant and two dromedaries - from a travelling circus menagerie who wintered in one of the Wicker arches. They were uses to haul heavy loads such as machinery and steel and became a familiar and popular site on the streets of Sheffield. They were housed in this multi-storey stable block built for railway horses. Lizzie was renowned for a mischievous sense of humour, stealing pies from shop windows and occasionally upsetting loads she didn’t like. It's not yet known how long she lived after her wartime service, nor what happened to the dromedaries.

9. Ella Gasking OBE 1891-1966 M M.D. Batchelor’s Foods: Mushy Pea Pioneer (old Hancock and Lant building, off Lady’s Bridge)

William Batchelor (1861-1913) was a tea dealer in Sheffield, originally from a modest Lincolnshire background and a strict Primitive Methodist. Batchelor opened a factory for the manufacture and sale of dried peas in the basement of the Primitive Methodist chapel on Stanley Street, off Wicker in 1899. The busines had grown to employ 50 people when Batchelor died in 1913. With his sons at war, and his wife an invalid, if was left to his 22 year old daughter, Ella Hudson Gasking (1891-1966), to run the company as managing director. This she did extremely successfully. Gasking was a warm and friendly woman and a hard worker but had no business training. She later commented, “I myself never even dreamed of being a business woman…I took over because I had to”.

Following the end of the First World War, Gasking was assisted in management by her two brothers, Maurice and Frederick  Batchelor.

Dried peas in cartons were popular but the peas had to be soaked overnight before use. Ella went to the USA to study US canning methods, and returned in 1930 to set up a pea canning factory in the empty former Bryars multi-storey stables, at Lady's Bridge. The canned “processed” (or mushy) peas were an immediate success, such that within a few years she needed to relocate to a much larger factory at Wadsley. Batchelor’s went on to have the highest sales of canned and dried peas in the world. Turnover was just under £1 million. Ella was awarded the OBE.

Today, Batchelor’s still has a major trade in tinned peas, but is perhaps best known for its convenience foods such as Cup-A-Soup and Super Noodles. Campbells Soups, made famous by 60s pop-artist Andy Warhol, were for a time marketed as Batchelors in the UK.

10. Henry Bryars b.1853, Horse Vet, Dog Rescuer, Edwardian Developer (old Hancock and Lant building, off Lady’s Bridge)

Henry Bryars was a successful veterinary surgeon, animal breeder, race horse owner and property developer who has left us one of the most distinctive groups of buildings in the city situated on Ladys Bridge, Blonk St and the River Don. One of his most successful business projects was to be awared contracts to stable and care for the large number of cart-horses belonging to railway companies in Sheffield, many of which were concentrated around Wicker. On the basis of this, in 1899 he instigated an ambitious multi-use development comprising a four storey stable block with a farriers and sick bays on the groundfloor and stables above reached by ramps instead of stairs. To this were added stables for his own race-horses, a house and surgery for himself, two blocks of shops with flats over and a home for stray dogs in the basement! The buildings by noted Sheffield architects Flockton, Gibbs & Flockton are clad in shiny glazed brown brick throughout in a unique style with hints of medieval northern Europe. 

With Bryars’ death and the end of horse transport his business wound up and the stable building has passed through several further uses including the birth place of the Mushy Pea and a famous furniture emporium Hancock and Lants. It was nearly demolished in the 1980s for a road scheme. In its most recent refurbishment it has been cleaned and converted to flats and a shop,  showing the ongoing resilience of many of Castlegate’s buildings.  

11. Charlie Peace 1832-79, Notorious Sheffield burglar, Escapologist and Murderer (Waingate)

Charlie Peace was born in the Millsands area of Sheffield and like many others began his working life as a child in the steelworks. He suffered a serious industrial injury which left him unable to pursue this form of work and eventually turned to crime, becoming a professional burglar travelling widely and becoming adept at disguise and escape as well as the use of guns. After killing a policeman in Manchester, he fled back to his native Sheffield, where he settled for a time in Bannerdale, becoming obsessed with his neighbour's wife, eventually shooting her husband dead at their house. Escaping again to London, he carried out many more burglaries while apparently living as a respectable family man, before being caught in the prosperous suburb of Blackheath, wounding the policeman who arrested him. He was then linked to the Sheffield murder, returned to Sheffield, held and arraigned at the Sheffield Court on Castle St. He was later taken and tried at Leeds Assizes. Found guilty, he was hanged at Armley Prison. 

Bizzarely his violent and colourful life story has fascinated subsequent generations and has inspired authors, comic book writers and film producers to write many stories about his fictional exploits, often portraying him as a cheerful rogue.

12. Arthur Davy 1838-1902, Baker, Grocer, Tea Merchant (corner of Castle and Haymarket)

Arthur Davy founded a business which grew into Davy’s Bakeries & Cafes - Sheffield’s answer to Greggs from the Victorian era until the late C20th. He started as a wholesale grocer and tea merchant in the Bridgehouses area but expanded into groceries, baked  goods, cooked meats and cafes with premises all over Sheffield including Fargate (now WH Smith), the Moor and two buildings on Haymarket . One was the Mikado Café and bakery of 1904 on the corner in an unusual Arts and Crafts style by local architects Flockton Gibbs (also responsible for Henry Bryars Stables and parts of the Old Town Hall). Perhaps surprisingly the bakers ovens were on the top floor, with products passing down through other floors for finishing, packing and sales. The Mikado Café later moved up the hill to occupy a stylish Art Deco building which is still there. A much larger bakery was built on Paternoster Row but closed in the 1980s to be replaced by the National Centre for Popular Music, now Hallam University’s Student Union. The company was acquired in 1974 and all its shops and bakeries closed. 

The original 1904 Davys Café and Bakery has recently been converted to apartments by developers Uown under the name of The Old Bakery bringing people back to live right in the heart of Sheffield’s ‘Old Town’.