A Bright Future for Abbeydale

The £235,000 grant will see the introduction of new interpretative materials to help visitors better connect with the site’s rich history, restoration of the Boring Shop and Blowing Engine Waterwheel, a new welcome area and shop, extended car park, new family resources including a playground, and more.

Situated on Abbeydale Road South just a five-minute walk from Millhouses Park, Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet is one of six free entry sites operated by Sheffield Museums. With its waterwheels, tilt forge and other uniquely preserved insights into the early steel industry and 18 and 19^th century homelife, the picturesque Hamlet transports visitors back through the centuries.  

With earliest records dating back to 1700s, Abbeydale Works was once a producer of agricultural tools and the largest water-powered industrial site on the River Sheaf. In 1935, the site was purchased for the city by the J G Graves Trust and Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet opened as a museum in 1970. Today, the Hamlet it represents a significant group of preserved Grade I and Grade II listed buildings and a Scheduled Ancient Monument, offering a fascinating window into Sheffield’s steelmaking past.

A major grant from National Lottery Heritage Fund, alongside further support from Sheffield City Council and the J G Graves Charitable Trust, will begin an exciting new chapter in the Hamlet’s remarkable story.

The funding will see work commence on a number of improvements taking place over the next two years, including:

• A new welcome area and shop in the Workers’ Cottages which will help visitors to orientate and place the site in its historical context locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.
• A suite of new accessible interpretative materials, including film and audio, which will bring the Hamlet’s story to life through a range of perspectives and expertise.
  
  
• Restoration/conservation the Boring Shop and the Blowing Engine Waterwheel, which historically provided air for the Hamlet’s forges.
  
  
• New learning resources for families which help children discover the power of water and nature, including a bespoke playground area, subject to listed building consent.
  
  
• New resources to support volunteers recruited for their woodworking, metalworking and maintenance skills, who will work with the staff team to support the upkeep of the waterwheels, the machinery and wider site.
  
  
• An extension to the car park at the rear of the Hamlet’s Learning Centre, enabling more visitors to access the site.
  
  
• Finally, the funding will see Sheffield Museums work with a specialist business advisor to develop ideas and plans for currently underused buildings and help establish the foundations of a business plan for the next decade.

In the coming months, work will also begin on repairs to the Hamlet’s historic dam. The remedial work, which will provide substantial repairs to the fabric of the dam, will be carried out by Sheffield City Council, in consultation with the Environment Agency, Historic England and Sheffield Museums.

Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet will close from Monday 30 October as the first phase of work commences and will reopen next spring, with work continuing throughout 2024-25. Joni, the Hamlet café, will be open as usual throughout the winter.