Sheffield hidden places include a Victorian cemetery with catacombs in the hillside, a cholera memorial in a wood and a pub that began life as a 15th-century hall.
The popular Sheffield is known for steel, football, and the Peak District on its doorstep. Visitors pass through the Winter Garden, have a pint in Kelham Island and leave.
The version most people miss is older and quieter. A Tudor farmhouse at the top of a park, a Marnock garden with 5,000 plant species and a monument to 402 people who died in a single year. All six places below are in the city, and most cost nothing to visit.
Quick Facts
Region: Sheffield, South Yorkshire
Best for: Victorian history, Tudor buildings, parks and a pub with a very old frame
Getting there: All six are in the city. The Cholera Monument is about a 20-minute walk or a 10-minute bike ride from the city centre, and several bus services run nearby
Time needed: A day for three or four; a long weekend for all six
Sheffield hidden places: a cemetery that is also a park
Sheffield General Cemetery opened in 1836 as a Nonconformist cemetery. Samuel Worth designed its Greek Doric and Egyptian-style buildings, and Robert Marnock acted as landscape consultant. It is a Grade II* listed park and garden, and the Gatehouse and Egyptian Gate are Grade II* listed in their own right.
More than 86,000 people are buried here. They include the sweet maker George Bassett, the steel manufacturer Mark Firth and the Chartist Samuel Holberry. The cemetery closed to new burials in the late 1970s and is now a Local Nature Reserve, managed by the Sheffield General Cemetery Trust for the city.
Cut into the hillside are two rows of catacombs. The method was unpopular, with only ten burials in the first decade. The catacombs were restored, with work completed in 2023. The Nonconformist chapel is now the Samuel Worth Chapel, reopened in 2016 as an events space.
Visit through the Trust’s guided history tours, which are ticketed online. The Trust’s October 2026 tour was £8.50 plus a booking fee, and a hot drink was served in the chapel afterwards. The address is the Gatehouse, Cemetery Avenue, S11 8NT. Paths are uneven, and some have steps. In autumn the leaf litter muffles your footsteps, and the Porter Brook runs under the gatehouse bridge.
Where to Stay: Sexton’s Lodge is the holiday cottage in the Gatehouse itself, furnished with original pieces and 19th-century antiques, about five minutes’ walk from Sharrow Vale. It opened in 2021, is run by the Trust and has Wi-Fi but no television.
Worth Knowing: The Gatehouse stands on a bridge over the Porter Brook. It lost its roof in the 1990s and was rebuilt, with the work completed in 2004.
The Cholera Monument and Clay Wood
The 1832 cholera epidemic killed 402 people in Sheffield. A total of 339 of them were buried in grounds between Park Hill and Norfolk Park, next to Clay Wood. The monument that stands there was completed in 1835. M. E. Hadfield designed it, and Earp and Hobbs sculpted it. It is Grade II listed.
The grounds are open at all times and free to enter. The address is Centre in the Park, Norfolk Heritage Park, Guildford Avenue, S2 2PL. There are three entrances, off Claywood Road, Norfolk Road and Shrewsbury Road, and the Shrewsbury Road gate leads straight to the monument.
Look for the cholera burial ground, which includes the Master Cutler’s grave, and a clay-cobbled mound added in 2004 as an art installation honouring the dead. Clay Wood is about 1.6 hectares, mostly sycamore woodland, with a small footpath network and views over the city. It is an easy walk with some slopes. The wood goes quiet quickly once you leave the road. The grounds have a Green Flag Award and are on Historic England’s register of parks and gardens.
Where to Stay: Sexton’s Lodge is the Gatehouse cottage at the General Cemetery, run by the Trust.
Worth Knowing: The grounds are about a 20-minute walk from the city centre, and several buses run nearby.
Sheffield Botanical Gardens
Marnock appears again here. He designed the Botanical Gardens, which opened on 29 June 1836, the same year as the cemetery. They cover 19 acres and hold about 5,000 plant species. The glass pavilions by Benjamin Broomhead Taylor are Grade II* listed, and the gardens themselves are Grade II listed.
Entry is free. The Town Trust abolished the entry charge in the closing years of the 19th century. The Trust still owns the gardens, and Sheffield Corporation took over their management under a 99-year lease signed in 1951. Winding paths lead through more than 18 garden areas, arranged by geography or botanical theme.
The gardens hold the national collections of Sarcococca, Weigela and Diervilla. In the bear pit, there is a steel statue of a bear called Robert, and elsewhere, a bronze statue called Pan: Spirit of the Wood. The glasshouses are warm and damp after the cold paths outside, and in winter you smell the Sarcococca before you see it.
The Trust runs a Riddle Trail and a plant-explorer trail, and the Friends run tours. It is a flat, easy visit of an hour or two.
Where to Stay: Sexton’s Lodge is located in a Grade II* building near the same Marnock-era cemetery.
Worth Knowing: Marnock was a landscape consultant at the cemetery and the designer of the Botanical Gardens, both of which opened in 1836.
Bishops’ House: a 1554 farmhouse at the top of Meersbrook Park
Bishops’ House stands at the top of Meersbrook Park, with a good view over the city. It was built in 1554 as a yeoman’s farm, surrounded by fields. It is Grade II* listed and has been open to the public as a museum since 1976. The house’s own site calls it the best-preserved example of a timber-framed house in the city.
Since 2011, the Friends of Bishops’ House, an entirely volunteer-run charity, has managed the opening on behalf of Sheffield City Council. It is open to the public at weekends, and entry is free. It is also a registered wedding venue and a popular destination for school visits.
Walk up through the park. The climb is gentle, and the view back over the city opens as you reach the top. The timbers are dark, the rooms low and the floors uneven, as in any house of the period.
Where to Stay: Sexton’s Lodge is the Gatehouse cottage at the General Cemetery.
Worth Knowing: Bishops’ House is a volunteer-run museum, so its opening hours follow the Friends’ weekend schedule rather than a daily schedule.
Sheffield Manor Lodge: where Mary, Queen of Scots lived
Sheffield Manor Lodge was built around 1516 in a deer park south-east of the city, for George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury, and his large family. Wolsey’s Tower was built to accommodate Cardinal Wolsey, who died after travelling on to Leicester.
Mary, Queen of Scots, was handed to George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, in February 1569. She was held at Sheffield Manor and Castle, and at Tutbury from 1570. Her captivity lasted about 14 years, and the Earl was released from her care in August 1584.
The Turret House, built by about 1574 according to the Earl’s accounts, is Grade II* listed and has fine 16th-century ceilings. After the Duke of Norfolk acquired the house, it was neglected and largely dismantled in 1706. In 2004, the Heritage Lottery Fund gave £1.25 million to restore the Turret House as a visitor attraction.
The Turret House is open on Sundays from May to September, during Sheffield school holidays and on special event days. The site also has Tudor grounds, a Discovery Centre and the Rhubarb Shed Cafe.
Where to Stay: Sexton’s Lodge is the Gatehouse cottage, a Victorian building in its own right.
Worth Knowing: The Turret House’s opening is seasonal, so plan a visit for a Sunday between May and September or a school holiday.
The Old Queen’s Head: a hall from the 1400s
The Old Queen’s Head stands at 40 Pond Hill, S1 2BG. The building was a timber-framed hall of about 1475, known in a 1582 inventory as the “hawle at the Poandes”, or Hall in the Ponds. It is the oldest surviving domestic building in Sheffield, and it has been Grade II* listed since 1952.
The ponds where the Porter Brook met the River Sheaf are gone, but they gave the area the names Pond Street, Pond Hill and Ponds Forge. By the early 1800s the building was a house. The pub opened in 1840 in the building next door, and after 1862 it expanded into the old hall.
In 1950 John Smith’s Taddington Brewery restored the pub. A two-roomed cottage in the north corner became a smoke-room, panelled with oak from Thornbridge Hall in Derbyshire. Removing whitewash and plaster revealed original oak stanchions, and the building was propped up while new foundations were laid.
As of 2024, the pub is part of the WJS Pub Group. Inside, you will first see the dark beams and uneven timbers, and the whole room smells of old wood and beer.
Where to Stay: Sexton’s Lodge at the General Cemetery is the Gatehouse cottage in the Grade II* Gatehouse.
Worth Knowing: The pub’s current name probably refers to Mary, Queen of Scots, who was held in Sheffield in the 16th century.
Practical Tips
- Book a General Cemetery tour online through the Trust. Tickets are non-refundable unless the event is cancelled.
- Wear sturdy shoes for the cemetery and Clay Wood. Paths are uneven, and some have steps.
- Visit Bishops’ House at the weekend and the Manor Lodge Turret House on a Sunday between May and September, or during school holidays.
- Take the Shrewsbury Road entrance for the Cholera Monument.
- Allow an hour or two for the Botanical Gardens, and more if you walk the trails.
- Use the Old Queen’s Head as the end of the day, not the start. It is close to the city centre.
Responsible Visiting
The cemetery and the cholera ground are burial sites, so keep to the paths and do not move anything. The cemetery is a nature reserve, so keep dogs on a lead and take your rubbish home. Bishops’ House is run by volunteers, so follow the stewards.
Reader Q&A
Can you visit Sheffield General Cemetery?
Yes, through the Trust’s guided history tours, which are ticketed online. The cemetery is on Cemetery Avenue, S11 8NT.
Is the Cholera Monument free to visit?
Yes. The grounds are open at all times, and there is no admission charge.
Is Sheffield Botanical Gardens free?
Yes. Entry is free, and it has been since the late 19th century.
When is Bishops’ House open?
At weekends, and entry is free.
When is the Manor Lodge Turret House open?
On Sundays from May to September, during Sheffield school holidays and on special event days.
Where is the Old Queen’s Head?
At 40 Pond Hill, Sheffield, S1 2BG, in a timber-framed hall of about 1475.
Where to Stay
Sexton’s Lodge, Sheffield General Cemetery. The holiday cottage is in the Grade II* Gatehouse, about five minutes from Sharrow Vale. Wi-Fi, no television.
When you leave the cemetery at dusk, the Porter Brook is still running under the gatehouse, as it has since 1836.
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