Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet is an industrial
museumA museum is a building or institution which houses a collection of artifacts.Museums collect and care for objects of scientific, artistic, or historical importance and make them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary...
in the south of the
City of SheffieldSheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the city has grown from its largely industrial roots to encompass a wider economic base...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The museum forms part of a former
steelSteel is an alloy consisting mostly of iron, with a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most cost-effective alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
-working site on the
River SheafThe River Sheaf is a river in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its source is the union of the Totley Brook and the Old Hay Brook in Totley, now a suburb of Sheffield. It flows northwards, past Dore, through the valley called Abbeydale and north of Heeley...
, with a history going back to at least the 13th century. It consists of a number of
dwellingDwelling - as well as being a term for a house, or for living somewhere, or for lingering somewhere - is a philosophical concept which was developed by Martin Heidegger....
s and
workshopA workshop is a room or building which provides both the area and tools that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods...
s that were formerly the Abbeydale Works—a
scytheA scythe is an agricultural hand tool for mowing grass or reaping crops. It was largely replaced by horse-drawn and then tractor machinery, but is still used in some areas of Europe and Asia.- Structure:...
-making plant that was in operation until the 1930s—and is a remarkably complete example of a 19th century works. The works are atypical in that much of the production process was completed on the same site (in a similar manner to a modern
factoryA factory or manufacturing plant is an industrial building where workers manufacture goods or supervise machines processing one product into another. Most modern factories have large warehouses or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production...
). A more typical example of water powered works in the area can be found at
Shepherd WheelShepherd Wheel is a working museum in a former water-powered grinding workshop situated on the Porter Brook in the south-west of the City of Sheffield, England. One of the earliest wheels on the River Porter, it is one of the few remaining—and effectively complete—examples of this kind of...
.
The site is a
scheduled ancient monumentIn the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a 'nationally important' archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The protection given to scheduled monuments is separate from the Town and Country Planning system. Scheduled Monuments are defined in the...
, the works are
Grade I listed and the workers' cottages,
counting houseA counting house, or compting house, literally is the building, room, office or suite in which a business firm carries on operations, particularly accounting. By an obvious synecdoche, it has come to mean the accounting operations of a firm, however housed. The term is British in origin and is...
, and manager's house are Grade II* listed.
History
The site was used for
ironIron is a metallic chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. Iron is a group 8 and period 4 element and is therefore classified as a transition metal. Iron and iron alloys are by far the most common metals and the most common ferromagnetic materials in everyday use...
forgingA forge is the workplace of a smith or a blacksmith. A forge is sometimes referred to as a smithy.The basic smithy contains a forge, also known as a hearth, for heating metals. The forge heats the workpiece to a malleable temperature or to the point where work hardening no longer occurs. The...
for 500 years, although there is evidence of other
metalA metal is a chemical element that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat, forms cations and ionic bonds with non-metals. In chemistry, a metal is an element, compound, or alloy characterized by high electrical conductivity. In a metal, atoms readily lose electrons to form positive ions...
working prior to 1200
AD , abbreviated as AD or A.D., and Before Christ, abbreviated as BC or B.C., are designations used to number years in the Julian and Gregorian calendars....
. Its early history is intimately tied with the nearby
Beauchief AbbeyBeauchief Abbey is a former abbey in Sheffield, England.-History:The abbey was founded by Robert FitzRanulf de Alfreton. Thomas Tanner, writing in 1695, stated that it was founded in 1183...
, which operated a smithy (
blacksmithA blacksmith is a person who creates objects from iron or steel by forging the metal; i.e., by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut. Blacksmiths produce things like wrought iron gates, grills, railings, light fixtures, furniture, sculpture, tools, agricultural implements, decorative and religious...
's shop) in the vicinity as well as number of mills along the River Sheaf.
A 1725 map shows that the fields, subsequently flooded to provide the dam at the site, had been called "Sinder Hills", the cinders referring to the waste resulting from prior
leadLead is a main-group element with symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal, also considered to be one of the heavy metals. Lead has a bluish-white color when freshly cut, but tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed to air...
smeltingSmelting is a form of extractive metallurgy; its main use is to produce a metal from its ore. This includes iron extraction from iron ore, and copper extraction and other base metals from their ores...
activities in the area in the 16th. and early 17th. centuries. However, the "Abbey Dale Works" as such, the buildings of which now form the Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet, are first formally recorded in 1714 (though it may have derived directly from the "New Wheel" operated by Hugh Stephenson, as detailed in rent books from 1685).
Development of the site continued with :
- 1777 enlargement of the dam
- 1785 construction of the tilt hammer
- 1793 construction of the workmen's cottages
- 1817 construction of the grinding hull
- 1838 construction of the manager's house
- 1840 construction of the coach house and stabling
- 1876 construction of the first storey warehouse (above the blacking shop).
From the 17th century onwards, the site primarily operated as a scythe works until, in 1933, it was closed by Tyzak Sons and Turner (tenants since 1849). In 1935 it was bought by the
Alderman J. G. Graves TrustJohn George Graves was a successful English entrepreneur and public benefactor. He became Sheffield's Lord Mayor and an Alderman in 1926 and he was given Freedom of the City in 1929. He was born in Lincolnshire in 1866 and died in 1945, after having settled in Sheffield.Graves moved to Sheffield...
, which donated the site to the city. The works was briefly reopened during the
Second World WarWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
to aid in Britain's
war effortIn politics and military planning, a war effort refers to a coordinated mobilization of society's resources—both industrial and human—towards the support of a military force...
.
The Council for the Conservation of Sheffield Antiquities explored and initiated the restoration of Abbeydale Works in 1964. They discovered the remains of 6 buildings in addition to those still standing. These were identified from a1924 map of the site as :
- a "disused hardening shop"
- a "disused open furnace shed"
- a "lime and coke shed"
- a "boiler house and chimney"
- the "housing for the steam engine"
- a "store for clay and anvils"
Following the complete restoration the works were finally opened as a museum in 1970. Sheffield City Council closed the museum in 1997 as a cost cutting measure. It was then leased to the
Sheffield Industrial Museums TrustThe Sheffield Industrial Museums Trust is an independent charitable trust based in Sheffield, England, that runs the Sheffield City Council-owned Kelham Island, Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet, and Shepherd Wheel museums....
who reopened the museum in 1998.
The museum
Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet is run as a working museum, with works and buildings dating from between 1714 and 1876. The museum demonstrates the process making blister steel from iron and
cokeCoke is the solid carbonaceous material derived from destructive distillation of low-ash, low-sulfur bituminous coal. Cokes from coal are grey, hard, and porous.-Production:Coke is usually produced from coal; the process is called coking....
, then refining this steel using techniques that originated with
Benjamin HuntsmanBenjamin Huntsman was an English inventor and manufacturer of crucible steel. He was born the third son of a Quaker farmer in Epworth, Lincolnshire. His parents were Germans....
's invention of the
crucible steelCrucible steel describes a number of different techniques for making steel alloy by slowly heating and cooling pure iron and carbon in a crucible.-What is steel?:...
process. The river provides water power via a
water wheelA water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, the development of hydropower. In the Middle Ages, waterwheels were used as tools to power factories throughout different counties. The alternatives were the windmill and human and animal...
. There are several wheels on the site for driving a
tilt hammerA trip hammer, also known as a helve hammer, is a massive powered hammer used in:* agriculture to facilitate the labor of pounding, decorticating and polishing of grain;...
, for the initial forging of the scythe
bladeA blade is the flat part of a tool, weapon, or machine that normally has a cutting edge and/or pointed end typically made of a flaking stone, such as flint, or metal, most recently steel...
s; grinding
machineA machine is any device that uses energy to perform some activity. In common usage, the meaning is that of a device having parts that perform or assist in performing any type of work. A simple machine is a device that transforms the direction or magnitude of a force without consuming any energy...
ry, which also has steam installed as backup for times of
droughtA drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region...
, and a set of bellows. The blades were also hand forged for finishing.
The museum is open to the public Sunday to Thursday between April and October.
External links