Development funding of £47,200 has been awarded by HLF to help SIMT progress their plans for the site and apply for a full grant later this year of just over £809,000 towards a £900,000 project.

Containing many 18th and 19th century listed buildings the site – formerly known as the ‘Abbeydale Works’ - features an integrated water-powered industrial works developed for the manufacture of steel from raw materials to the finished product. Now a Scheduled Ancient Monument. the site provides a fascinating demonstration of the technologies, processes of manufacture, social conditions, and domestic life and work of a former industrial works of this period.

The project will transform this historic site in Sheffield, aiming to carry out important conservation and restoration work and provide opportunities for volunteers to get involved. This will include:

• A proposed Learning Centre that will offer education space for interpretation and learning and the creation of additional spaces within the historic Abbeydale buildings.
• The restoration of the waterwheels to make them fully functional and turning the site into a regional centre for water power expertise.
• Creating new workshops within the learning centre that will attract modern day metalworkers to work at the Abbeydale site.

Alex Pettifer, Chairman of SIMT, said: “We’re delighted that the Heritage Lottery Fund has given us this support, it is a truly significant success for the Trust. Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet is a place of outstanding historical significance and it is important that we continue to preserve the site. Sheffield will be a much better place for the protection of the historical and industrial heritage of the City and how it helped place Sheffield on the world map.”

Explaining the importance of the award, Fiona Spiers, Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund for Yorkshire and the Humber, said: “Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet provides a great insight into the industrial heritage that is synonymous with the local area. HLF is pleased to give initial support to this worthwhile project.”

Notes to editors

About Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet
Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet is a site of outstanding international significance. It is a complete example of an 18th and 19th century integrated water powered industrial works. Originally called Abbeydale Works, it was one of the largest industrial water-powered sites on the River Sheaf.

From raw materials to finished products, Abbeydale provides a unique demonstration of the technologies, processes, economics and processes of manufacture, social conditions of domestic life and work, international and national trade and company history.

The main products produced at the works were agricultural scythes, but other edge tools were made including grass hooks and hay knives. At the Hamlet, you can see waterwheels, tilt hammers, a grinding hull and the only intact crucible steel furnace surviving in the world today.

What to see at Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet:

• The Crucible Furnace
• The Tilt Forge
• The Grinding Hull
• The Manager's House
• Worker's Cottages
• The Boring Shop
• The Blacking Shop
• The Counting House
• Steam Engine

Further information

Nichola Atherton at Ruby Slippers on 07855 745 521, email: nichola@rubyslippers.co.uk.