Sheffield Castle Sheffield Castle was a castle in Sheffield , England , constructed at the confluence of the River Sheaf and the River Don , possibly on the site of a former Anglo - Saxon long house , and dominating the early town . A motte and bailey castle had been constructed on the site at some time in the century following the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 . This was destroyed in the Second Barons ' War , and construction of a second stone castle began four years later in 1270 . Mary , Queen of Scots was held prisoner in this castle and its associated estates for 14 years between 1570 and 1584 . The castle was held by Royalist forces for part of the English Civil War , but was surrendered to the Parliamentarians in 1644 following a short siege ; its demolition was ordered soon after , and the castle was razed . There are no known surviving drawings or plans of the castle , but excavations in the 1920s revealed stone foundations from the castle begun in 1270 as well as evidence of earlier structures . Background . Sheffield castle was located at the confluence of the River Sheaf and the River Don ( ) , on the western bank of the Sheaf and the southern bank of the Don . The rivers provided defence to the north and east and there was a moat on the south and western sides of the castle . This site is now largely covered by the castle market . The site of the castle is the place where the earliest settlement at Sheffield was founded sometime in the second half of the 1st millennium AD . The Domesday Book of 1086 states that , prior to the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 , Waltheof II , Earl of Northumbria had an " aula " ( hall ) in the manor of Hallam . In the same entry , it is reported that the manor of Sheffield — which had previously been part of Hallam — was under the Lordship of Sweyn at the time of the conquest . It has been speculated that Waltheof ' s " aula " or Sweyn ' s stronghold may have been at this site , and excavations between 1927 and 1930 were claimed to have uncovered evidence of a Saxon structure . William de Lovetot ' s castle . The construction of the first castle at Sheffield following the Norman invasion of England is usually attributed to William de Lovetot , an Anglo - Norman Baron from Huntingdonshire . De Lovetot acquired the lordship of the manor of Hallamshire ( including Sheffield ) in the early twelfth century during the reign of Henry I . However , the earliest known reference to a castle at Sheffield is a return made by Ralph Murdac , sheriff of Derbyshire , concerning the wardship of Maud de Lovetot ( the great granddaughter of William ) , dating from around 1188 . It is thought that this castle was a wooden motte and bailey type . Maud de Lovetot married Gerard de Furnival in 1204 and the castle and town of Sheffield passed to the Furnival family . Gerard de Furnival ' s grandson , Thomas , supported the royalist cause during the Second Barons ' War of 1264 – 1267 . In 1266 a party of anti - monarchy barons , led by John de Eyvill , marching from north Lincolnshire to Derbyshire passed through Sheffield and destroyed the town , burning the church and castle . Thomas de Furnival ' s castle . In 1270 Thomas de Furnival obtained a charter from King Henry III to build a castle at Sheffield . Thomas died soon after the castle was completed and was buried in the castle . In 1707 a report was published stating that , when the castle was demolished in 1648 , a large flat stone was found engraved " I Lord Furnival ; I built this castle - hall ; And under this wall ; Within this tomb was my burial " . De Furnival ' s castle was built of stone , and extended from the river Sheaf to Waingate and from the river Don to Dixon Lane , an area of about . A park was attached to the castle , it extended from the castle to Gleadless to the south and Handsworth to the east . In 1516 , George Talbot , 4th Earl of Shrewsbury , built the alternative residence of Sheffield Manor in the park . Destruction of the castle . On 11 October 1642 , as England moved towards civil war , the town and castle was seized by Sir John Gell for the Parliamentarians . In April 1643 , Royalist forces led by the Earl of Newcastle entered Yorkshire and took Leeds , Wakefield , and Rotherham before approaching Sheffield . The Parliamentary defenders of Sheffield castle fled into Derbyshire allowing the Royalists to take the castle without a fight . Newcastle left a garrison at the castle , under the control of Sir William Savile , as recounted by Margaret Cavendish , Newcastle ' s wife : Sir William Savile left Sheffield and the castle under the control of his deputy , Major Thomas Beaumont , who held Sheffield until August 1644 when the Earl of Manchester sent Major - General Crawford and Colonel Pickering , a force of 1200 soldiers to recapture Sheffield for the Parliamentarians . At first the castle resisted , and finding their artillery — the largest of which was a demi - culverin — was insufficient to breach the castle wall , General Crawford sent a letter to Lord Fairfax for a demi - cannon ( " the Queen ' s pocket - pistoll " ) and a whole culverin . These extra cannon were able to breach the castle wall , after which terms for the surrender of the castle were agreed : Lady Savile ( mentioned in this agreement ) was the widow of Sir William Savile . She was pregnant at the time of the siege , and went into labour the night after the castle was surrendered . Following the siege Colonel John Bright of Carbrook Hall was left as governor of the castle . He was soon appointed governor of the city of York , and so left Captain Edward Gill in charge of Sheffield . On 30 April 1646 the House of Commons passed a resolution that Sheffield Castle should be made untenable , and on 13 July 1647 a resolution was passed for the castle to be demolished . Despite considerable demolition work , in 1649 the Earl of Arundel repurchased Sheffield castle with the intention of restoring it , but the damage was too great and no restoration work was ever started . The castle was soon completely razed ; for a while it was used as an orchard , and then a bowling green , before being built over . Archaeological investigations and remains . An excavation led by Leslie Armstrong in 1927 , prior to the construction of the Brightside and Carbrook Co - operative Society store , uncovered the base of one of the gateway bastion towers , as well as part of the gateway itself . These remains of the castle are preserved under the city ' s Castle Market : they are Grade II listed and are open for viewing . The visible remains are situated in two rooms below Castle Market . One room is open to the public , pending booking of a tour , the other room is walled and the only access is via a manhole in the market ' s food court . Due to the precarious access down a narrow tunnel , tours are no longer conducted in the main room though the second room is accessible . The remaining ruins , approximately 32 feet above the River Don , are those of one of the gate towers , they represent a quarter of the Eastern tower . More recent excavations in 1999 and 2001 by ARCUS , Sheffield University ' s archaeological research and consultancy unit , revealed the castle to have been much larger than previously was thought : among the largest medieval castles in England . Drilling was done in the upper food court delivery yard and flag stones left in situ to mark boundaries of the castle . A group of volunteers have formed the Friends Of Sheffield Castle to research and promote the interests of the remains .