2.1 Inherited City

Industrial Heritage of the City

Sheffield is described as the ‘Great Industrial Powerhouse’, known for its dual economy of heavy steel industry and the cutlery and silver trades established in the Middle Ages. This economy was facilitated by its natural assets - the plentiful local supplies of iron ore, coal and good sandstone for grindstones, the fast flowing rivers and the hilly topography which harnessed power and made Sheffield the best location for a variety of mills and forges.

From its early success as the centre of metal working in the 16th century Sheffield emerged as a leader in the growing cutlery industry during the 17th century. This new craft was formalised by the formation in 1624 of the Company of Cutlers (now in Church Street). These industries produced a highly skilled metal industries workforce, and as a result the term ‘Made in Sheffield’ became synonymous with quality and craftsmanship. The steel industry in Sheffield was spurred by the inventions of crucible steel (Benjamin Huntsman, 1742) and the technique of bulk steel production in convertors (Henry Bessemer, 1856). The heavy trades became the primary sources of employment in the city from the late 19th century and their collapse in the 1980s had a devastating effect.

The legacy of the steel and cutlery trades expresses itself in the physical landscape of the city – the large steel factories and plants located outside the centre and small cutlery workshops on the hills around and within the city centre. Indeed, a number of workshops still operate in the more industrial quarters around the CIQ and St. Vincent’s. Building style generally took the form of metal clad sheds with ranges of brick offices facing directly onto the street. However, more domestic scaled factories and workshops also developed around yards and courts, which sometimes took the appearance of a Derbyshire country house such as Globe Works.

The significant remnants of industrial heritage must be protected, not only for the role they play in the city’s history but as important parts of the ‘Sheffielder’s’ identity - a familiar local culture. Likewise, the city’s association with quality craftsmanship must be retained, possibly to be reinvented as a part of the creative industries or in the design of the city environment.

< Previous | Top | Next >