Abbeydale Works Museum

Details

SHEFFIELD

SK38SW ABBEYDALE ROAD SOUTH 784-1/9/6 (East side) 01/05/52 Abbeydale Works Museum (Formerly Listed as: ABBEYDALE ROAD SOUTH Abbeydale Works)

GV I

Formerly known as: Water Mill ABBEYDALE ROAD SOUTH. Scythe works, now industrial museum. Tilt forge 1785; grinding hull 1817; crucible furnace, hand forges, warehouse and counting house c1800-1830, with first floor added 1876; coach house and stable c1840. Restored 1970. Mainly built during the tenancy of the Goddard family. Coursed squared stone with ashlar dressings and stone slate roofs. EXTERIOR: west side has central tilt forge, open to roof with a 2 storey gable-facing elevation. Central Venetian window with keystone inscribed "G H G 1785", with unglazed side lights. Central doorway flanked to left by unglazed 2-light window. To right, a coped wall with 2 doors, and behind it a wood and iron pitchback water wheel, 5.5m diameter, and an iron overshot water wheel 4.4m diameter. These drive the tilt hammers and the blowing engine respectively. To their right, a wood and iron pitchback wheel, 5.5m diameter, driving the grinding hull. To right again, first floor boring shop and millwright's chamber with large board door and external wooden stair, and below, a square opening to open ground floor containing an iron overshot water wheel driving the boring shop. To right again, grinding hull with facing gable with Venetian window with dated keystone. Glazed central light flanked by single board doors. Below, to right, a door. Front is mostly covered by a single storey lean-to engine house, reconstructed 1989, containing a horizontal steam engine, 1855. Board door to left, cast-iron casement to right. To left of the tilt forge, single storey fitting shop, with large brick gable stack. Central 5-light glazing bar casement flanked to left by a board door with overlight and to right by a 2-light shuttered window and a stable door. To left again, crucible steel furnace, single storey above cellar, with brick rear wall crucible stack, 5 flues. Stone steps and ramp to central board door flanked by single unglazed stone mullioned windows. To right, a larger board door. To left, a barred cellar light. South side has a range of hand forges, single storey, with 6 stone ridge stacks. Each has stable door flanked to right by a 2-light unglazed stone mullioned window with shutters. East side has to right a warehouse and cart shed, raised 1876, with a gable stack. 2 storeys; 6 window range of 3-light glazing bar casements. Below, 3 cart openings with round piers made of discarded grindstones. To their left, two 2-light casements and then a 3-light one. To right, a stable door and a 2-light casement. At the right end, a single storey hand forge with stable door and 2-light mullioned window. Left end has blacking shop, now museum shop, with a rear wall stack. 2 storeys; 2 window range of 3-light glazing bar casements and below, central door with hood flanked by single 3-light casements. North return range comprises counting house and stable, workshop and coach house. North front has to left the higher counting house with 2 gable stacks. 2 storeys; central double 12 pane sash and below, to right, a beaded 6-panel door with overlight. Left gable has double board door to stable, with stone jambs and shallow gabled stone hood. Workshop to right, 2 storeys; 2 window range of 3-light glazing bar casements on each floor, the lower ones larger. 2 storey coach house, at rear of counting house, has central 3-light casement flanked to left by a board door reached by an external stone stair. Below the stair, a pair of carriage doors and a dog kennel. To right, a 3-light casement with stone lintel. INTERIORS: tilt forge has king post roof, 2 tilt hammers, twin cylinder blowing engine, and elliptical arched reheating hearth. Boring shop has king post roof and horizontal boring machines. Grinding hull has strutted queenpost roof and 7 grindstones with housings. Crucible furnace has brick vaulted pot cellar, charge room and 5 furnace holes. Hand forges have individual hearths. Counting house has cast-iron fireplace. HISTORICAL NOTE: this machinery and equipment is complete and in working order. Abbeydale works is an integrated site for the production of steel tools. Dating from c1714, it was mainly built in the period 1785-1830, and remained in continuous use till 1933. It is of outstanding importance as an example of this type of industrial plant and its characteristic design. Abbeydale Works is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. (The Buildings of England: Pevsner N: Yorkshire: The West Riding: London: 1967-: 476; Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet: Peatman J: Sheffield: 1985-; Crucible Steel making at Abbeydale: Silvester JWH: Sheffield: 1976-; Scythe Making at Abbeydale: Silvester JWH: Sheffield: 1976-; The Watermills of Abbeydale: Meredith R: Sheffield: 1974-).

Listing NGR: SK3259781939

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

455107

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Meredith, R, The Watermills of Abbeydale, (1974)
Peatman, J, Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet, (1985)
Silvester, J W H, Crucible Steel Making at Abbeydale, (1976)
Silvester, JWH, Scythe making at Abbeydale, (1976)
Pevsner, N, Radcliffe, E, The Buildings of England: Yorkshire: The West Riding, (1967), 476

End of official list entry

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