Proof!

Proof that the website is nearly done! Just the last few bits of information to upload, and double-and-triple checking that all the links work and that there aren't any typos or mistakes. Also, somehow got to find the time to quickly transcribe a 16th century manuscript list of armour (!)

Quick update:

It's all getting a bit hectic! The deadline's looming, and the site's not ready yet!

Rob finished off the film for the present section yesterday - and it's looking really good! He'd organised for an actor to come in and narrate some of the primary sources for the audio, and together with the drums he'd recorded last week it looks and sounds really effective. Completely does its job in contrasting the present Castle Market buildings with the castle as it stood in the early modern period.

Ellie and I have managed to put together the information for the timeline, and are just finishing off some bits of extra information which we think people might be interested in.

Johare is working hard on the site - doing all sorts of complicated programming stuff that the rest of us just do not understand! The timeline especially is really clever - and means that vistors have to engage with the site in much more active way - which is great!

We've finally been able to get in touch with the Council about the plans for the future. I called Yunus Ahmed, the Team Manager for Development at the Council this morning, and he was really very helpful. It's nice to hear that the Council are excited about the future of the castle as we are, and that it is a central focus for their redevelopment plans for the area. I've also asked for permission to use the illustrations in the Council's redevelopment plan on the site - they give a really good impression of how the area will look - and would really liven up the 'future' page.

Getting there slowly but surely!

Busy day!



A room with[out] a view

We spent all afternoon in the editing suite - editing the films for the website, clarifying the aims of the site and re-thinking the colour scheme and layout of the homepage. Rob has added some great audio to the footage of the ruins, and Johare has created an amazing timeline! The site is beginning to look really good - all round a very good day!

archaeology, archaeology, archaeology...

We've been struggling to understand the archaeological investigations of the castle site, and have come across numerous different reports and maps which we've been finding very difficult to reconcile in our own heads - let alone present in an accessible way on the website! We see the archaeological excavations as an important part of the castle's history, linking past to present, and were eager to understand each investigation properly.

We made an appointment with the South Yorkshire Archaeology Service in the hopes that this would help clarify the situation for us. They were really very helpful, and assured us that dealing with annoying students (our words) and the wider public was a large part of their role. It was really useful to have the information which survives compiled in that way for us, and really helped to cement the periodisation of the excavations and the location of the castle grounds.

South Yorkshire Archaeology Service

Tripods and Tribulations...

Cameraman Rob

After a false start yesterday, Johare and Rob's mission to interview local people about their views on the castle ruins and future development plans is complete!

We'll include this footage in a section on the website designed for information about the future of the castle ruins. The films will hopefully be a way to provide a balanced opinion about any future excavation and redevelopment of Castle Market, as well as including public opinion in the body of the site.

Can't wait to see the footage!

Hurray - part 2

So pleased to have seen some contemporary references to the castle today! I'm working on the palaeography for the list of armour held at the castle, but just really excited to f-i-n-a-l-l-y see the words 'Sheffield Castle' in contemporary hand! Here's a sneak preview of the source which may even become the basis for our logo! We're waiting on copyright approval for some other images of sources from the archives, but will get them up on the website as soon as we have it.

Hooray for Sheffield Archives! (And Uni!)

Considering this day started with my half-frustrated blog on time constraints, things have begun to considerably look up today.

Image courtesy of Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield (!)

Firstly we received an email from the Archaeology department at Sheffield giving us copyright to use the reconstructed image of Sheffield Castle in the Middle Ages (Yes!) And the lovely lady who emailed us also included reconstructions of Manor Lodge. Although we hadn't been planning to have a section on the Manor, actually having the reconstructions of them means we can start to show more of how Sheffield might have looked in the early modern period.
So we were very pleased about that!

We then split into two groups, Rob and Johare to do some interviews at the market, Tessa and I to the archives where we had another bout of brilliant revelations. We found summarised versions of the most modern archaeological digs, with a plan/map of the castle ruins and it was clearly labelled with explanantions, which makes my job of trying to make maps to show change over time a whole lot easier. Plus there were even some photographs of the dig, including stonework which has now been covered over. Hopefully our trip to the South Yorkshire Archaeology HQ will allow us a chance to look at some of this in more detail.

We also managed to locate images of Sheffield's charter and the letters from Mary Queen of Scots written in the castle (out on loan for an exhibition until next week- but we can have access to them). As well as that we found a manuscript listing armour held at Sheffield- we'll be needing Tessa's paleography skills to decipher it. Then we found a copy of a document listing who purchased what from Sheffield castle when it was demolished, and a list of who was paid what to carry out certain parts of the demolition. The originals happen to be in Leeds Uni library so hopefully we'll have a trip over there to sort that out.

We have to say a massive thank you to everyone at the archives, they were brilliantly helpful, especially in locating sources which had been falsely labelled in external publications, and in letting us know what's available- they had an entire folder labelled 'Sources on the Castle'. We found so much stuff we're definitely going to be heading back.

Unfortunately, Rob and Johare had some bad luck at the markets. After getting permission to film and -by the sounds of it- making good friends with the staff, the battery in the camera they rented from Uni died during the first interview. So they'll need to go back tomorrow. Hopefully though the weather will stay good and then when we meet up to collate stuff tomorrow we can do it in a beer garden and forgot all the little hiccups.

"Damn Deadlines"

We're having a bit of trouble getting the information we need in time for the website. We've been in contact with the Council, the University and MuseumsSheffield but as we're working to University time constraints it's quite difficult to actually build up a rapport with these groups and get the necessary information on time but we can't expect them to drop everything and help us just for a project. It's a shame we can't have more time to work with them properly, but we're keeping our fingers crossed that it will come alright in the end.
In the meantime it's time to think up some alternatives; we might be doing our own artist's impressions, so that should give you all a laugh.