Sheffield's Old Factories & Workshops (Pics Resurrected)

[sceva]

A trip back in time.

I like the dog on the Bailey Lane Works

 

[Headwinds]

I’ll add my thanks to you for recording and posting these photos. A wonderful look at a vanished age. Thanks again for preserving it!

 

[Jack Black]

Many thanks.

So beautiful and so heartbreaking at the same time.

I cant wait to look through this after work today! Thank you Jack!

Thank you, Jack. A lot of work you've done again.

I guess you didnt get to the pictures of John yet, mustve been busy printing out his certificates of authenticity Thanks for reposting these Jack Black always love to learn about where these lambfoots hail from and see a significant part of knife history.

Not just a treat, but a treasure for all of us. Thank you Jack.

Fantastic collection of pictures. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for resurrecting these great pics & their history.

Thank you so much Jack. Sheffield history has become a big interest to me. This a real treat!

Thank you for the kind words guys, I'm glad the photos are of interest Sadly, there are many more threads, which I simply won't be able to resurrect

A trip back in time.

I like the dog on the Bailey Lane Works

View attachment 1922427

That's Stanch, the faithful pointer belonging to the family who owned J. & Riley Carr, who manufactured saws, files, and edge tools on the site, as well as refining their own steel. Stanch has been there since 1806.

I’ll add my thanks to you for recording and posting these photos. A wonderful look at a vanished age. Thanks again for preserving it!

Doing my best, thanks, unfortunately many of the buildings shown in the photos are now gone In some cases, I was only hours in front of the bulldozers, in one or two cases even less

 

[knowtracks]

Thank You Jack!

Dave

 

[Jack Black]

Thank You Jack!

Dave

You're welcome Dave, I'll keep editing in pics

 

[waynorth]

Hope they're of interest anyway folks

Definitely, Jack!! You've re-established a wonderful archive!! I hope it endures much longer than the old one!!

 

[Jack Black]

Definitely, Jack!! You've re-established a wonderful archive!! I hope it endures much longer than the old one!!

Thanks Charlie I wish I'd started taking photos several decades earlier, and bought myself a decent camera. I haven't been over to Sheffield since early 2020, and I view returning with some trepidation

 

[sbh06]

Awesome pics, Jack, thanks for sharing.

 

[SteveC]

Thank you for taking the time to post all these wonderful pictures of Sheffield's by gone era !

 

[Jack Black]

Awesome pics, Jack, thanks for sharing.

Thank you for taking the time to post all these wonderful pictures of Sheffield's by gone era !

Thanks a lot guys, I've hopefully got one or two more

 

[B.F.U]

What impressive buildings. It would be so great if we could go back in time and see these factories bustling!

 

[meako]

Beautiful to see these again JB...just keep em coming slow n steady...like the relentless march of asphalt over cobblesstones or the hiss of the graffiti can on crumbling brick...Why am I reminded of Fred Dibnah?

 

[John A. Larsen]

Looks like you have the material for a Coffee Table Book!

 

[cudgee]

Hope they're of interest anyway folks

Certainly are. Thanks for taking the time.

 

[dsutton24]

I love this. It certainly gives you an idea of the scale of the industry.

 

[Jack Black]

Beautiful to see these again JB...just keep em coming slow n steady...like the relentless march of asphalt over cobblesstones or the hiss of the graffiti can on crumbling brick...Why am I reminded of Fred Dibnah?

Thanks mate, just added a few more pics

Looks like you have the material for a Coffee Table Book!

I'm not sure there's room on my coffee table for anything more

I love this. It certainly gives you an idea of the scale of the industry.

The scale of industry in Sheffield is hard to comprehend. Even before the start of the steel industry, the whole of the town, and all the outlying villages, was absolutely overrun with workshops relating to the cutlery trade. Almost every house had a smithy or lean-to at the back, and most of the buildings in the town were filled with industry. Even when I was a child in the 1960's, the smell of industry was in the air all the time. In all the inner city areas, there was factory after factory, lining street after street, and the city was dotted with so many cutlery workshops and factories, it would have been hard to count them all. Vast steel works stretched out of Sheffield to the neighbouring towns to the East, and into the countryside to the North, while there were scores of smaller (older) ones, lining the rivers, all the way into the centre of Sheffield

 

[dsutton24]

Thanks mate, just added a few more pics

I'm not sure there's room on my coffee table for anything more

The scale of industry in Sheffield is hard to comprehend. Even before the start of the steel industry, the whole of the town, and all the outlying villages, was absolutely overrun with workshops relating to the cutlery trade. Almost every house had a smithy or lean-to at the back, and most of the buildings in the town were filled with industry. Even when I was a child in the 1960's, the smell of industry was in the air all the time. In all the inner city areas, there was factory after factory, lining street after street, and the city was dotted with so many cutlery workshops and factories, it would have been hard to count them all. Vast steel works stretched out of Sheffield to the neighbouring towns to the East, and into the countryside to the North, while there were scores of smaller (older) ones, lining the rivers, all the way into the centre of Sheffield

Incredible! I honestly had no idea.

 

[Jack Black]

Incredible! I honestly had no idea.

It's one of the reasons the Sheffield cutlery industry didn't see wholesale mechanisation, with that many skilled cutlers in one place, mostly independent, competing alongside each other, 'wages' stayed low, and it was hardly worth investing in machinery. The cutlers themselves opposed most forms of mechanisation, which was only ever fully utilised for the lowest quality pocketknives (Richards of Sheffield), and not until after WW2

 

[abbydaddy]

Wharncliffe Works

Is this where the name of the Wharncliffe blade shape comes from originally? How very cool.

Thank you jack for doing the work to resurrect these images and documentation of old factories.

 

[mitch13]

Thanks Jack great thread. Makes me a bit sad, my Dad retired round 10 years ago, he ran a foundry floor, only retired as the foundry was sold, it's now a self storage yard.