Hillsborough House was built in 1779 as a residence for Thomas Steade, formerly of the nearby Burrowlee House.  It was called Hillsborough House in honour of a patron, Lord Downshire of Hillsborough, in County Down.  Then the name Hillsborough applied initially only to this property, but in recent times it has come into common usage for the whole area. 

At the same time as the House several outbuildings and a walled garden were constructed including the Coach House.  The whole was set in a substantial enclosed park.  

Thomas’s son Broughton Steade inherited the house in 1793 on his father’s death. He was a magistrate, born in 1774 and he sold the hall in 1801 to John Rimington Wilson of Broomhead Hall.

John Rimington Wilson lived there until his death in 1820. His widow in turn sold it in 1838 to John Rodgers of the cutlery firm Joseph Rogers & Sons at which time it became known as Hillsborough Hall rather than Hillsborough House. 

Between 1852 and 1860 the Hall was occupied by the family of Edward Bury FRS (1794 — 1858) who, after a career with the London to Birmingham Railway and the Great Northern Railway turned his attention to co-founding the Sheffield steel firm of Bedford Bury and Company.

Edward Bury merits a separate historic plaque on the building next to the entrance to the Library.

After the Bury family the house passed in 1860 to Ernest Benzon a German born financier who sold it in 1865 to James Willis Dixon of the world famous silversmiths, James Dixon & Sons, whose works were in Cornish Place  

Eventually after the death of James Willis Dixon junior in 1890 the estate was split into lots and Sheffield Corporation bought the lot which included the hall and 50 acres which became Hillsborough Park

In 1899 a ten acre site of the property was released to build a football ground, after which the rest of the park and property was gifted to the people of Sheffield.

In 1906 it re-opened as a public library and park 

The original plot that makes up the park in 1897 looks like the plan opposite. Originally only the grounds were bought by Sheffield Corporation and the Hall and immediate grounds were added later. Some of the original Italianate gardens to the west of the lake can still be seen in the red area. 

For the 2019 Heritage Open Days we produced a leaflet about the history of the Hall and some of the significany events that had happened since the site became Hillsborough Park.

The leaflet is here – History Leaflet – or click on the image opposite.