Sheaffeld
The Sheaf from Cutler's Walk Most English place names have evolved through history, emerging from times when spelling expectations were not as clearcut as they are today. When I was in Uttoxeter recently, I learnt that through the centuries the little Staffordshire town's name had gone through no less than seventy nine changes from Wotocheshede in 1086 to Utoc Cestre and Utcester just before standardised spellings became the fashion. This city, Sheffield, also knew name or spelling changes through time. I used one of the older versions as the title of this blogpost - Sheaffeld. One of the city's five little rivers is the River Sheaf. It travels for little more than seven miles from its source to its confluence with the much larger River Don. Historically, those seven miles marked a section of the border between the ancient kingdoms of Northumbria and Mercia that predated the very notion of a united country called England. In Old English the term "sheaf" or "...