Whirlow Mill, Sheffield, January 2018

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HughieD

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1. The History
The remains of Whirlow Mill sit above Ecclesall Woods on the outskirts of Sheffield, deep in the undergrowth by the side of Limb Brook. John Bright owned a water wheel here in 1586 and it passed to his son Henry Bright in 1655. The mill was used to grind corn. It then was sold to Thomas Hollis, a former Sheffield cutler, in 1726. The site was looked after by the Trustees of Hollis Hospital who rebuilt the mill twice in 1734 and 1783 as it continued as a corn mill. In 1803 and grinding wheel was added along with a new waterwheel followed three years later. William Tyzack, the famous Sheffield tool-maker, leased the wheel between 1831 and 1847. The tenancy then passed to William Furness, a file maker, in 1853. He was still in tenancy in 1901 when a water turbine replaced the water wheel. In 1933 the mill, now in a state of disrepair, was sold to the City Corporation who used it as a store for maintenance equipment. When the mill proved to be surplus to requirements in the late 1990s they demolished much of the mill.

The building is now roofless and only the end wall at the side of the wheel pit remains to its full height. The remaining three walls have been demolished down to below the original windows. However the wheel pit is still in place and contains some remains of the water feed pipe and turbine drive shaft.

Uncovered an interesting archive picture to add to the report:

39560685721_3b022b52c1_b.jpgWhirlodale Mill by HughieDW, on Flickr

2. The Explore:
Hardly an explore - at best a mini-explore to be honest, and a revisit. Not much left. There were a lot of waterwheels in Sheffield but in terms of those where traces are still left, they are few and far between. Hence it still has some significance in Sheffield's former industrial heritage.

3. The Pictures:

One of the mill's side walls:

24693234047_c9a6cc93d8_b.jpgimg4933 by HughieDW, on Flickr

38664456435_ba6aeee44c_b.jpgimg4934 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Round the side and down to the wheel house:

24693157527_fabf0e0507_b.jpgimg4945 by HughieDW, on Flickr

And the wheel pit itself:

38664354915_fbe608491a_b.jpgimg4946 by HughieDW, on Flickr

27784207549_b915555c6e_b.jpgimg4948 by HughieDW, on Flickr

25690166058_2e2fe1248a_b.jpgimg4951 by HughieDW, on Flickr

25690275718_73cd9d0d51_b.jpgimg4949 by HughieDW, on Flickr

25690122908_e3c57906dc_b.jpgimg4957 by HughieDW, on Flickr

The reason the mill's here in the first place, Limb Brook:

38851462224_c4f3510ba1_b.jpgimg4950 by HughieDW, on Flickr

38664071755_7e6f22cfbc_b.jpgimg4958 by HughieDW, on Flickr

And up-stream to the mill pond that fed the mill:

27783861789_ff861f8d82_b.jpgimg4969 by HughieDW, on Flickr

39530641432_39117a1103_b.jpgimg4970 by HughieDW, on Flickr

27783756349_665be9ee6b_b.jpgimg4981 by HughieDW, on Flickr
 
Thanks for that,I used Tyzack tools when I was in the building trade,they were top quality,made from quality steel and never seemed to wear out,well worth the expense of buying them in the first place.

Pleasure mate. Yup...they don't make tools like Tyzak do any more!
 

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