Sheffield steel: How city firm J Adams Ltd played vital role over swords for Queen’s funeral

With the army, dressed in their ceremonial uniforms playing a major part in the procession through London, those soldiers carrying swords were all equipped with steel weapons crafted at a workshop on Scotland Street.

The swords were manufactured by J Adams Ltd, a city cutler dating back to the 18th century, through their swordsmith Peter Hopkinson.

The firm’s Gary Heathcote explained the company still made swords using traditional methods for the army, the Royal Navy and the RAF, and the police, using machines which have their roots in Victorian times.

He said: “We have been making the swords for the armed forces for several years now. We make them, and they also go to experts at Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet for a bit of work.

“It made us feel very proud that a bit of Sheffield was involved in the country paying its last respects to The Queen. It was Sheffield skills on show.”

The company was originally set up as a cutlery firm, and now makes a wide range of products including tools and chefs knives, many of which are exported, as well as the swords.

The firm, like most in the UK, was closed for the Bank Holiday, with its staff among those watching the funeral on the television, as the country paid its last respects to the Queen.

Mr Heathcote said he felt in awe, watching the scale of the ceremony and the procession.

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