This city - Sheffield - well-known for its metal trades - became important because of water power. There was an industrial water wheel here in 1180 AD - down on The River Don.
In fact, this city was built on five rivers - The Don, The Rivelin, The Loxley, The Sheaf and The Porter. In history, these rivers drove dozens of water wheels that transferred power to grindstones and belts making metal industries and craftsmanship possible - often in little workshops that were naturally sited close to the waterwheels.
Scythes and knives were sharpened. Blades of all descriptions. The first bowie knives were made here and then exported to North America. This city taught the world about steel way before Pittsburgh became America's "Steel City".
I took the picture above in April 2016. In the foreground is The River Porter from which water
was diverted to fill the mill pond that services the little Shepherd Wheel industrial complex.
That mill pond is shown at the end of this blogpost.
Anyway this is all mere preamble before I tell you that I walked out of this house at eleven this morning and marched along Greystones Avenue to Greystones Road. Then down the hill into the wooded valley of The River Porter. Further along, I noticed that The Shepherd Wheel site was open and its waterwheel was turning just as it did in the seventeenth century.
You don't spend long at The Shepherd Wheel but enough time to recognise the inventiveness of those old craftsmen. They harnessed river power, created dams and controlled flow into what were once churning waterwheels made from hardwood like oak. Metal waterwheels came later.
Most waterwheel sites in and around this city were dismantled long ago and the archaeological evidence of their existence may be hard to find but The Shepherd Wheel remains as a worthwhile reminder of how industry used to be before it all became too easy and the old ways were lost.
I'd be quite excited to see a water wheel in action.
ReplyDeleteIt always amazes me how long people have been shaping their environments. Very cool to see this old water wheel.
ReplyDeleteI have only ever seen waterwheels in movies or on the paddle steamers along the River Murray here in South Australia, I love watching them.
ReplyDeleteDoes the wheel still power anything, or does it turn now mainly for historical purposes?
ReplyDeleteWater wheels are a relatively common feature in old Black Forest settlements or even just a lone farm somewhere in the middle of the woods. The people there knew very well how to harness the power of the becks and streams coming down from the top of the ridges, especially in the spring when the snow would melt and water levels were at their highest. They weren't used on such an industrial scale but mostly for the surrounding farms and hamlets to power millstones to grind wheat, barley and rye.
ReplyDeleteI have always loved seeing waterwheel buildings turned into homes, and keeping the wheel moving!!
ReplyDeleteA city that made things and improved the lives of the people living there.
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting, Neil.
ReplyDeleteWaterwheels are beautiful. I didn't know five rivers supported Sheffield.
ReplyDeleteI love watching waterwheels. There was an amazing one one on the Isle of Man at Laxey- supposedly the biggest working one in the world.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know about the 5 rivers and it's interesting that one is called the Don. There is a Don River here in Toronto.... a connection?
ReplyDeleteDid ye ever go up to Aberdeen, Big Yin ?
ReplyDeleteThey only hae twa rivers to your five, ken.
Ye can see the Bridge o' Don, a five-arched granite brig.
Near yon structure is the Brig o' Balgownie, which spans the Don too.
About four mile away is the Bridge o' Dee. A 16th century structure.
There's an auld saying in the Scottish borders about the rivers Tweed & Till :
Tweed said to Till,
What makes ye run so still ?
Till said to Tweed,
Tho' you run with speed
And I run slow,
Where ye drown one man,
I drown twa.
Tweed is fast and turbulent but Till is deeper with places that will suck you under.
Norman McCaig a seasoned fly fisherman was daunted by that anonymous poem.