Map showing the approximate area of Hallamshire as described in the 14th century (red shaded area) overlaid on a map of the modern ceremonial county of South Yorkshire.

Hallamshire (or Hallam) is the historical name for an area of South Yorkshire, England, in the current city of Sheffield.

The origin of the name is uncertain. The English Place-Name Society describe "Hallam" originating from a formation meaning "on the rocks". Alternative theories are that it is derived from halgh meaning an area of land at a border,^[1] Old Norse hallr meaning a slope or hill, or Old English heall meaning a hall or mansion.^[2]

The exact boundaries of this historic district are unknown, but it is thought to have covered the parishes of Sheffield, Ecclesfield, and Bradfield—an area roughly equivalent to those parts of the present-day borough the City of Sheffield that lie to the west of the rivers Don and Sheaf that are within the boundaries of the ancient county of Yorkshire (later descriptions also include Brightside and the parish of Handsworth).^[3]

History[link]

Anglo-Saxon Hallamshire[link]

Hallam Head

Sheffield Castle

Rivelin Valley

Stannington

Sites proposed as the location for Waltheof's aula shown within Sheffield

In Anglo-Saxon times, Hallamshire was the most southerly shire of the Kingdom of Northumbria. Its southern border with Mercia was already fixed and may have Celtic origins. The Domesday Book states that the manor of Hallam ("Hallun") included sixteen hamlets or settlements and had existed before the 1066 Norman conquest of England as part of the lands owned by Waltheof, the Earl of Huntingdon, who had an aula or hall located in this district.

The earliest known use of the term Hallamshire—"Halumsire"—is found in a deed of the house of Saint Wandrille in Ecclesfield dating from 1161.^[4] Historically, the term shire would simply mean the district appropriated to some city, town, or castle, and did not necessarily refer to a county. Hallamshire could therefore be assumed to be the district associated with a town ("vill") called "Hallam", although there is no known record of such a town's existence.^[5]

One possible location for Waltheof's aula and the surrounding settlement is Sheffield Castle. The Domesday book states that the manor of Sheffield had once been inland of the manor of Hallam—that is, land reserved for the Lord of the manor. This has led to the suggestion that the Sheffield of the Domesday book only encompassed the area that later became known as Sheffield Park, the historic town and castle being in Hallam.^[6][7] Indeed, an early 20th century excavation at the site of Sheffield Castle found evidence of an Anglo-Saxon building on the site.^[8] However, a number of alternate sites have been suggested in and around the Rivelin valley.^[9]

Local historian T. Walter Hall (in 1931^[10]), following Sidney Addy (1893^[11]), suggested that the district's original settlement was at Hallam Head, above the River Rivelin, and that it had been destroyed during the Harrying of the North. As evidence, he noted that the location lies by the ancient Long Causeway route and that the name of the neighbouring Burnt Stones Common referenced its destruction. This theory is rejected by David Hey, who notes that there is no evidence of any settlement larger than a hamlet ever having existed at the site, and that evidence suggests that the Harrying of the North did not affect the Sheffield area.^[1] Addy himself preferred a location just outside the village of Stannington, where there is evidence of a large manor house surrounded by a moat.^[12]

After the Conquest[link]

Waltheof initially submitted to William I and was allowed to keep his lands. He took part in a failed uprising to support the 1069 invasion by Sweyn II of Denmark and Edgar Ætheling (including an attack on York), but then once again submitted to the William and was granted Judith, the King's niece, to marry. However, after taking part in a conspiracy against William in 1075 Waltheof was executed.

Initially, Judith retained his lands (including Hallamshire), but after Judith refused a second marriage to the Norman knight Simon Saint Liz, William confiscated much of her lands and handed them to her eldest daughter Maud, who then married Saint Liz in Judith's stead. After the death of Saint Liz, Maud married David, the heir to the crown of Scotland, and the Waltheof's lands and Earldom were passed to him.

It is possible that Hallamshire was exempted from this transfer and remained in Judith's hands. The Domesday book states that the manor of Hallam was held by Roger de Busli "of the Countess Judith". The exact nature of the arrangement between Judith and de Busli is unknown, however there is evidence that such an arrangement may have continued for a number of centuries—an inquisition following the death of Thomas de Furnival in 1332 found that his ancestors had held the manor of Sheffield "of the King of Scotland", paying a yearly service of two white greyhounds.

During this early period, the name Hallamshire was retained for the Norman lordship. It was administered from Sheffield Castle, at the confluence of the River Don and the River Sheaf. A smaller castle was built at High Bradfield.^[1] During the 12th century, William de Lovetot acquired most of the land within the Sheffield area including the old manors of Hallam, Sheffield, and Attercliffe. He constructed a more substantial castle in Sheffield, establishing the town as the dominant settlement within Hallamshire. Sheffield gained a sizeable parish, split from the large parish of Ecclesfield, and a larger manor which encompassed most of Hallamshire. A charter of 1268 describes Hallamshire as containing just three manors: Ecclesfield, Sheffield and Bradfield. However, confusion arose later, as Sheffield acquired other manors outside historic Hallamshire, such as that of Handsworth.^[1][3]

Modern Hallam[link]

Hallam has come to mean, broadly speaking, that area of Yorkshire in the foothills of the Peak District and southwest of the River Don. The region includes much of western Sheffield, and the parish of Bradfield. Suburbs and villages within this area include Bradfield, Broomhill, Crookes, Fulwood, Hillsborough, Loxley, Stannington, Strines, and Walkley.

A number of institutions, companies, and Public Houses use the "Hallam/shire" name to reflect their association with the Sheffield area :

• The Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire is a trade guild of steelworkers, founded in 1624 and based in Sheffield.
• Sheffield Hallam is a Parliamentary constituency in western Sheffield, demographically one of the wealthiest such constituencies in Britain.
• Hallamshire was a Parliamentary constituency from 1885 to 1918
• The Diocese of Hallam is a Roman Catholic diocese in England, covering South Yorkshire, northern Derbyshire and northern Nottinghamshire. Its mother church is the Cathedral Church of St Marie in Sheffield.
• Royal Hallamshire Hospital is a large hospital in the Broomhill district of Sheffield.
• The Criminal Justice Administration Act 1962 created a judicial county of Hallamshire and the office of High Sheriff of Hallamshire.^[13] Both were abolished in 1974.
• Sheffield Hallam University is one of the two universities in the City of Sheffield. Created when Sheffield City Polytechnic became a university in 1992, it took the name Hallam to distinguish it from the pre-existing University of Sheffield.
• Hallam FM is a local radio station which broadcasts in Sheffield, Rotherham, Doncaster, and Barnsley.
• The Hallam Line is a railway line that runs from Sheffield to Leeds via Barnsley.
• Hallam F.C. is one of the oldest football clubs in the world.
• Sheffield & Hallamshire FA expands over the wide area, stretching into West Yorkshire to include teams from South Elmsall and Nostell and into Nottinghamshire to include teams from Worksop.
• Hallamshire Harriers Sheffield Athletics Club, one of two major athletics clubs in the city.^[14]
• The Hallamshire Lodge, freemasons lodge at Tapton Hall, Sheffield
• The Hallam Tower in the Fulwood area of Sheffield, formerly a hotel.

Connection to Robin Hood legend[link]

The small village of Loxley, now a suburb of western Sheffield, lies within Hallamshire. A 1637 survey by John Harrison of the estates in or near Sheffield belonging to the Earl of Arundel states that a place called little Haggas croft in Loxley Firth contained 'the foundacion of a house or cottage where Robin Hood was born'.^[15] Antiquarian Joseph Hunter—writing in 1819—reaffirmed this local tradition, stating that Loxley Chase has 'the fairest pretensions to be the Locksley of our old ballads, where was born that redoubtable hero Robin Hood.'^[16] In many legends Robin Hood is said to have been a displaced son of the lord of Hallamshire, who at this period in history resided at his manor at Loxley.^{[citation needed]} This also ties in with the traditional idea of Robin Hood being related to Scottish nobility, if not distantly, because the lords of Hallamshire were descendants of the early medieval kings of Scotland through the Earl of Huntingdon.

See also[link]

• History of Sheffield
• History of Yorkshire
• List of hundreds of England and Wales
• Hexhamshire
• Winchcombeshire
• Hullshire
• Richmondshire

References and notes[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Addy, Sidney Oldall (1888). A Glossary of Words Used in the Neighbourhood of Sheffield. Including a Selection of Local Names, and Some Notices of Folk-Lore, Games, and Customs. London: Trubner & Co. for the English Dialect Society.  (wikisource)
• Addy, Sidney Oldall (1893). The Hall of Waltheof. Sheffield: William Townsend and Son. OCLC 12239309.  (wikisource)
• Hunter, Joseph (1819). Hallamshire. The History and Topography of the Parish of Sheffield in the County of York. London: Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mayor & Jones.  (wikisource)

External links[link]

• Hallamshire - a note on its meaning and extent Produced by Sheffield City Council's Libraries and Archives.
• Hallam in the Domesday Book

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (February 2011)

Dan Meirion Walker is an English sports journalist. He is the current presenter of Football Focus, the BBC's Saturday lunchtime football show. He has also been seen presenting sport on the BBC News Channel and BBC Network News, as well as regularly reporting for Score, Football Focus and Match of the Day.

He was born on the 19th March, 1977 in Crawley, West Sussex and earned an honours degree in History at the University of Sheffield, before continuing to attain an MA in Journalism at the same institution.

Radio career[link]

Walker's first foray into broadcasting was co-presenting two shows on the University of Sheffield's Sure FM student radio station - the midweek sports-themed evening show and 'Dan & Edd In The Afternoon', for which he and co-presenter Ed Hoyland were nominated for a BBC Radio One Student Radio award.

Gained as the prize for winning a competition for young sports commentators, Dan's professional broadcasting career started with work experience at Sheffield's Hallam FM, working with presenters such as Emma Scott, Anthony Gay, Daryl Denham and Scottie McClue. In 1999 Walker moved to a full-time career with a 4 year stint as a sports presenter and commentator for Manchester's Key 103 radio. In his time at Key 103 he presented the regular midweek sports show (often broadcasting from UEFA Champions League matches at Manchester United's Old Trafford ground, and also appeared as the resident sports correspondent for Mike Toolan's breakfast show.

In addition, he had two short-lived comedic roles whilst at the station. The first was in 2001 on Justin Moorhouse's Piccadilly Magic 1152 show, doing 'special investigations' into numerous comical topics, such as brushes, cement and patios. While these segments were warmly received by listeners, they lasted only months before being canned. The second was in 2002 on Adam Cole's Key 103 afternoon show, where, as Cosmic Dave, Walker took on the persona of a sham psychic and spiritualist, who physically abused his oompa-loompa assistant and fluffed even basic attempts at reading the minds of listeners and the host, before eventually being tracked down to his 'deep secret underground bureau' by the Oompa Loompa Protection Front and apparently dying. The segments were something of a success (being nominated for a New York Radio Award) and were discussed and replayed on other shows on the network, with Cosmic Dave's 'death' prompting over 2,500 messages on the station's website. However, Walker's diversification into comedy would end with his move into television.

Television career[link]

Walker moved into TV with a 6-month spell at Granada Television in Manchester, appearing as a commentator on the Football League Review, before joining BBC regional news programme North West Tonight. During this time, he was nominated for a number of awards and won the Royal Television Society Sports Award in 2005 for Regional Sports Presenter of the Year. He was unable to attend the ceremony because he was covering the Champions League final in Istanbul.

In 2006 Walker started working in London and in 2008 started presenting and reporting at Wimbledon, The Open, Aintree, Ascot and The Derby at Epsom as well as the 6 Nations.

In August 2009 Walker took over from Manish Bhasin as the presenter of Football Focus. He also presents the web-based Friday preview Friday Focus and writes a blog on the BBC website where he discusses the show and football in general. He is also a regular user of social networking service Twitter, and is responsible for the weekly "Tuesday Team News" phenomenon where users are invited to submit desperate puns based around footballers and teams.

Walker was part of the BBC Sport team covering the 2010 FIFA World Cup.^[1] He spent the tournament travelling from Cape Town at the start of the tournament to Johannesburg for the final in a double-decker bus, filming packages to be shown both as part of the TV coverage and online, and providing commentary and news via the BBC's online channels and Twitter. The bus visited a diverse selection of places along its 6,000 km journey – from townships and social projects to sites of cultural and historic significance, with the intention being to provide UK viewers with a flavour of the host nation both inside and out of the stadia.

In addition to his TV work, Walker has returned to radio and can often be heard presenting the midweek 5 Live Sport show for BBC Radio 5 Live.

Personal life[link]

Walker is the son of a Baptist preacher, and his own Christian faith developed in his youth and early adulthood.^[2] He has never worked or played sport on Sundays as a result.^[3] He revealed in an interview with The Sun that he had been offered youth contracts with several football teams but refused due to games being scheduled for Sunday.^[4]

He has been married since 2001 and has three children.^[5]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Day One Magazine 2008 - Dan Walker
• Grace Magazine 2002 - Dan Walker
• 'Christian BBC footie host who refuses to work on a Sunday' - The Sun, 11th August 2009
• Dan Walker TV Newsroom Questions and Answers 2006