Cities are forever changing. Down by The River Don at Kelham Island you will find one of Sheffield's oldest industrial zones. Once those streets echoed with the sound of metal working and the manufacture of cutlery. Later the area entered a long period of abandonment but now it is being re-invented as a rather cool residential area with some trendy bars and restaurants to serve the incoming population.
Fortunately, the old hasn't simply been swept away. It is being incorporated into the neighbourhood as former cutlery works are turned into attractive apartments or offices. Even some of the original cobbles remain in the streets.
I was down there yesterday, mooching about with my camera to hand. It was a lovely, sunny afternoon - a nice antidote to the generally wet and gloomy weather we experienced in February. Though I have taken photos around Kelham Island and Neepsend before, I returned home with some fresh images to edit before sharing.
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| Kelham Island Basin - View to Keham Island Museum |
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| Mural by Pete McKee |
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| The River Don - Weir by Ball Street Bridge |
It's amazing what a bit of sun and blue sky + a camera can do to make almost anything look interesting! :) Here too, they try to preserve and incorporate quite a few of the old industrial buildings into the 'modern' city.
ReplyDeleteThirty years ago old industrial buildings were frequently bulldozed away.
DeleteA lovey sunny day, as you say. The quality of the light definitely says "Winter" to me. That last photo, of the weir, made me shiver.
ReplyDeleteIf you had been there with Peregrine he might have pushed you in for making fancy meals.
DeleteStill retains its industrial feel, doesn't it? I googled "Sheffield Steel" because that is what comes to mind when I hear "Sheffield." Did you know that Joe Cocker made an album called "Sheffield Steel"? I didn't. But he did!
ReplyDeleteYes I did. I sometimes visited the pub he used to drink in and our old house was less than quarter of a mile from his family home.
DeleteThe Don looks still very full, or are those shrubs and trees on its banks usually so close to the water (or actually in it)?
ReplyDeleteWhen architects and builders manage to create something new without entirely discarding the old, it is always worth our praise. Too often in the past, and sometimes nowadays, beautiful features of a building or a street have vanished completely.
There are two little islands in the middle of The Don at that point but yes - the river was pretty full after recent rains.
DeleteI love the street art, especially the Pete McKee mural. Every time I hear about redeemed industrial structures, I wonder who's buying all these apartments?! (I'm glad the buildings are being repurposed, though.)
ReplyDeleteWhen my mom visited England in the mid-'80s she brought me home a tankard made of Sheffield steel.
Your mom clearly has great taste when it comes to the selection of souvenirs. I also wonder who's choosing these apartments but apparently the demographic is quite young.
DeleteI think I saw the cutlery manufacturers once on Salvage Hunters?
ReplyDeleteI have never seen that so I wouldn't know.
DeleteWere the old Kelham manufacturers able to use the river for water transport? It looks to be some distance from the basin at the end of the canal. Or were things carted to the canal, which would have been quite a disadvantage? I'm wondering how they transported the things they made.
ReplyDeleteThe river was only for power. The Don isn't navigable between Sheffield and Rotherham. That's why The Sheffield and Tinsley Canal was dug. I know that one manufacturer used a couple of elephants for a few years but mostly they would have used horses and carts.
DeleteInteresting pictures. It is always good to see a building repaired and reused instead of being torn down. Around here many former industrial districts are being rejuvenated into pricey loft apartments usually rented or bought by the "young urban professionals".
ReplyDeleteAre you a "young urban professional" Bonnie?
DeleteCan you tell me what the stone columns were for, the ones in the water in picture #4? I'm thinking a wharf or pier, maybe?
ReplyDeleteSo much history so close at hand for you. You would find our landscape monotonous, I think.
I have wondered about those stone columns too Jenny. That water is an inlet of The River Don which at this point on its journey to the sea is not navigable. It is too shallow. I do not think I would find the landscape of Nova Scotia tedious. It would be a delight to explore it.
DeleteThat river looks treacherous there at the weir. Is the first fall a natural stone bed, and then the cross bar to break up the current.
ReplyDeleteNo it is not a natural stone bed Joanne. The weir was man-made in the nineteenth century but you are right about the cross bar. It directs some of the water round a small island in the river.
DeleteLovely photos.
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Beautiful pictures. I love the River Don. Even tho it is not a natural......well, you know. Still pretty.
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