Description

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

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q66925732

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)