Steel City Walking

A free to book walking tour with a crime theme rediscovering some of Sheffield's forgotten past. The tour is of an approximately 2 hour duration over a distance of around 2 and a half miles.

This is an outdoor walking tour. The tour starts in Castlegate alongside Lady's Bridge, Sheffield's oldest bridge. This is the birthplace of the city. From a clearing in the woods where two great rivers, The Don and The Sheaf, meet Sheffield grew to become England's 4th largest city.

Your guide will help reimagine Sheffield Castle, the prison of Mary Queen of Scots, and learn of its destruction. You will meander through the old town, along its still cobbled streets, visiting sites where criminals were active, police officers killed on duty, chartists conspired and razor gangs battled.

Who was the chartist leader of the Sheffield Uprising and how is he commemorated in the city today? Who was Charlie Peace, why was he England's most wanted man who had his waxwork effigy displayed in London's Madame Tussauds and have film and stage plays written about his life? Why was Sheffield known as 'Little Chicago' during the 1920s and what exactly was the 'Rhino Whip' affair in 1963 which caused the then Chief Constable to resign?

All of this and more will be explored with the tour concluding in the Peace Gardens, today's Heart of the City.