A Vist to Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet

It was a warm and sunny afternoon when we visited the Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet  near Dore in Sheffield, South Yorkshire. It felt warm and welcoming and had what looked like a fairly new visitor centre with cafe and reception to call and buy tickets in first.

The buildings themselves blended into the landscape which felt tranquil and fairly rural nestled in between the busy road we'd just left and the river and main line railway on the other side.  Of course back in the days when the mill and forge were being used for the manufacture of steel blades it would have been a hive of industry.  Noisy, dirty, smelly and smokey and even in today's very noisy world I expect we would find the noise of the machinery surprisingly loud.

Abbeydale has been a place where metal has been worked for hundreds of years.  From 1697 until 1933 scythes and other edged tools were made there.  It was once the largest water-powered industrial site along the River Sheaf and all the processes of making blades were carried out on the site. 

The first buildings you enter on the site are three workers' cottages built in 1793.  The first two are used as an exhibition area to interpret the history of the Abbeydale site. There is a short film in there too.

The third cottage has been set out as it would have been when a family lived there in the 1840s.

Next to the cottages is the counting house where the workers would receive their pay.  All the accounting was done here by the foreman and his clerk.  I didn't take any photos in there as there was a very enthusiastic volunteer explaining everything to us and it would have seemed rude to wander off and take photos.  I meant to pop back in at the end of the visit but didn't get around to it.

The next few buildings are where all the hard work of making the scythe blades was done.  

The photo above was taken inside what is known as the Grinding Hull.  This is where the formed scythe blades were sent to the grinders who sharpened the edges on  grinding stones which were powered by the wheels in the water mill.

 Grinding was a very hard job and you need both strength and skill to do it.  Of course this was also a dangerous job as sometimes the grinding stones could shatter causing awful injuries and also 'Grinder's lung' was rife as the dust settled in the lungs.

The water wheels were powered by the River Sheaf, water was diverted from the river into a channel which has since become a rather large dam.

Next to the waterwheel was the Tilt Forge where one of the two types of scythes made at Abbeydale, the Crown Scythe were forge-welded by heating a piece of crucible steel between layers of wrought iron, then hammering them together.  The other type of blade made was the Patent Riveted Scythe which was made by stamping out a steel scythe and then making a separate back and riveting them together.

 

Above in the blacking shop the completed scythes were painted with blacking to prevent rusting then they were wrapped in straw rope and  stored in the warehouse.

The Manager's House which stands near the stable and coach house is presented as it may have looked in the 1880s although it was built in the 1830s.  It was still used as a family home after the manufacturing stopped at Abbeydale.  Many of the rugs and textiles have been made by the Hamlet Haberdashers Textile Group.

There are often craftspeople on site working in some of the workshops.  One of the Blacksmith's forges was being used whilst we were there.  There are also many community and family activities and events held throughout the year.

The site is closed on Fridays and Saturdays and entrance costs £4/£3 - children under 16 free.  It's well worth a visit if you are in the area.