This area was known as 'The Crofts', and lies within the polygon covers the early post-medieval core of Sheffield as derived from Goslings plan of 1736. Echoes of this persist today in the street names Hollis Croft and White Croft. Originally forming part of the town fields, the area was one of the first to be developed when the town outgrew its medieval limits in the 17th and early 18th centuries. The area contained a mix of housing (mostly built to a high density and often 'back to back'), workshops and early steelworks. By the 19th century the area had gained a reputation as a slum (a characterisation criticised by Belford, 2001) leading to widespread clearance of housing in the early 20th century. From the mid twentieth century onwards the area developed a less inhabited character, principally from the replacement of earlier housing by steel framed workshops. Today, the area still retains a number a small works and late 19th century institutional buildings where they escaped the 20th century clearance programmes. The streets curve gently up the hill following the line of the furrows from the old town fields. Other important components include the listed Police and fire museum (a former police station), John Watts Cutlery Works on Lambert Street, representing early reuse of back to back housing, and a group of unlisted 19th century institutional buildings on Solly Street including 2 former schools and a former Roman Catholic Church. Legibility of the earlier character of enclosed strip fields derived from former town fields is significant.