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The Chapter House

The Chapter House is situated at the end of the staff and clergy Corridor and may be in use for meetings. It may not always be possible to have a guided tour.

It has been well said that the Chapter house will be forever one of the treasures of the Cathedral and the City of Sheffield. This beautiful place, given by Miss Fanny Tozer in memory of her parents, was consecrated in 1937.

The glory of the Chapter House is in the descriptive windows designed by Christopher Webb to present the history of Sheffield and its parish church.

The doorway is embellished by twelve paterae depicting a festival or saint’s day. As you enter , look up at the eastern wall where there is a small light representing the C9 Anglo-Saxon cross, which probably stood on this site of Christian worship.

From the doorway, moving clockwise, we see William de Lovetot looking at his plans for building the Norman church here in about 1101. Within this window are two other important features: a reminder of our industrial heritage with the monks of Kirkstead Abbey smelting iron at Kimberworth and the representation of Thomas de Furnival granting his 1297 Charter of Rights, which virtually gave the townspeople of ‘Schefeld’ the freedom to manage the ordinary public and financial affairs of the town.

Next we see Cardinal Wolsey arriving at the Manor House of Sheffield and being received by George 4th Earl of Shrewsbury, with his Countess and household. A guard from the Tower of London stands by as the Cardinal was a prisoner on his way to face charges of treason.

This window also shows the Canons of Beauchief being granted the right to mine coal and Mary, Queen of Scots at the Manor during her imprisonment at Sheffield, under the guardianship of George, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury. She is with her faithful French secretary, Pierre Rollet who died in 1574 and was buried in the parish church.

Note the window showing Mary Tudor granting the Charter in 1554 to the Twelve Capital Burgesses who have continuously served this Church and City.

The sequence of other windows shows Benjamin Huntsman and the discovery of crucible steel in the 1740s, William Elles and the Cutler’s mark of 1554 (a reminder of the development of Sheffield’s famous Cutlers’ Company in 1624) and John Wesley preaching in Paradise Square. There is the eighty year old first Bishop of Sheffield, Dr Burrows, in 1938 placing the cross, at a height of 75’ on the Chapel of St George. Another window reminds us of the great contribution made by Robert Sanderson, baptised in the parish church, to the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.

Over the doorway is the glorious window of scenes from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, unique to Sheffield Cathedral, with its particular reference to the Miller, “a Sheffield thwitel baar he in his hose”. Cutlery that was made in Sheffield was well known in 14 century London. Alongside the Miller are seen the processes of hand forging and grinding, a demonstration of some of Sheffield’s industrial skills which continue to this day.

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From medieval stone to modern light

The Chapter House