Help Sheffield's Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet to celebrate 50 golden years

A pioneering Sheffield industrial museum is celebrating its 50th birthday and calling for anyone with stories to share to come forward.
Tom Sharp telling schoolchildren about the tilt hammer at Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet, Sheffield in 2005Tom Sharp telling schoolchildren about the tilt hammer at Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet, Sheffield in 2005
Tom Sharp telling schoolchildren about the tilt hammer at Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet, Sheffield in 2005

Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet is based at the 18th-century former scythe works and steelworks originally powered by a water wheel.

The Abbeydale Road South site is a working museum, showing what life was like for the people who lived and worked on the site.

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Abbeydale Works was once a producer of agricultural tools and the largest water-powered industrial site on the River Sheaf.

It is now a group of grade I and II* listed buildings and a scheduled ancient monument.

Visitors can see a unique glimpse of life and home and a work at the manager’s house, worker’s cottage, workshops and grinding hull.

The museum boasts tilt hammers and the last complete surviving crucible steel furnace in the UK.

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Craftsmen still work on the site, showing visitors their metalworking skills, and volunteers help staff to bring the story of Abbeydale to life.

March 1978 and Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet is as popular as ever as youngsters watch a craftsman at work during one of the working daysMarch 1978 and Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet is as popular as ever as youngsters watch a craftsman at work during one of the working days
March 1978 and Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet is as popular as ever as youngsters watch a craftsman at work during one of the working days

Highlights of the 50th anniversary year will include:

Amazing Abbeydale, May 9-10 – a weekend of traditional crafts and skills with family-friendly have-a-go activities, music, a barbecue and more. Blacksmith ‘Forge In’ weekend, August bank holiday weekend – in partnership with the British Artist Blacksmiths Association. Golden Easter Egg Hunt. A new exhibition, Golden Abbeydale: A story 50 years in the making New visitor trails. Heritage talks programme. Hamlet of Horrors family Halloween event. Abbeydale at Christmas celebrations.

Gemma Holden, the museum’s marketing and audience engagement co-ordinator, said: “The museum opened in 1970 and we’re just taking this year to reflect on the last 50 years.

“We’re having an exhibition about the history of the site, focusing on people’s memories.

A family have a go at traditional skills at the blacksmith forge at Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet
A family have a go at traditional skills at the blacksmith forge at Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet
A family have a go at traditional skills at the blacksmith forge at Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet

“We’re asking people to come forward.

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“For instance, there’s a lovely story about the Sheffield astronaut Helen Sharman visiting when she was younger and there was an Apollo space capsule here.

“ She remembers visiting and seeing it up close.

“We’re asking people ‘did you ever come with school and what do you remember’?

Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet
Brass Founder Don Benton at work at the hamlet in 1982Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet
Brass Founder Don Benton at work at the hamlet in 1982
Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet Brass Founder Don Benton at work at the hamlet in 1982

“We’ve also been in touch with ex-staff and they are doing talks throughout the summer.”

The museum will be celebrating its official birthday on April 30.

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One story that staff are keen to tell is the pioneering work to open the site as an industrial museum, which Gemma believes was one of the first in the country.

The museum has a series of cuttings from The Star from 1966, charting the work of volunteers in trying to raise money to preserve the site and open up the site to the public.

A new guidebook will also be launched this year.

Steam engines on display at the Steam Gathering event at Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet in October 2009Steam engines on display at the Steam Gathering event at Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet in October 2009
Steam engines on display at the Steam Gathering event at Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet in October 2009

Chris Keady, museum manager at Sheffield Industrial Museums Trust, said: “We are looking forward to celebrating this golden year at Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet.

“Over the last 50 years, stories have been captured, memories made and experiences shared.

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“We want to reflect on some of these and create opportunities for future generations to continue to discover Abbeydale’s incredible story.”

For more information, call 0114 272 2106, go to www.simt.co.uk or facebook.com/abbeydaleindustrialhamlet or follow @AbbeydaleHamlet on Twitter .

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