Water_wheel,_Little_Matlock_Rolling_Mill

Little Matlock Rolling Mill also known as Low Matlock Rolling Mill is a Grade II*

Listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

situated on the

River Loxley The River Loxley is a river in the City of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its source is a series of streams which rise some to the north-west of Sheffield on Bradfield Moors, flowing through Bradfield Dale to converge at Low Bradfield. ...

in the village of Loxley on the outskirts of the City of

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. I ...

, England. The building continues to operate as a rolling mill, owned and operated by Pro-Roll Ltd, a specialist hand rolling company. A brick building extension was added to the original 1882 structure in 1939.Pro-Roll Ltd
Gives details company.

History

The original mill dated from 1732 when James Balguy of Stannington leased land from the

Duke of Norfolk Duke of Norfolk is a title in the peerage of England. The seat of the Duke of Norfolk is Arundel Castle in Sussex, although the title refers to the county of Norfolk. The current duke is Edward Fitzalan-Howard, 18th Duke of Norfolk. The du ...

to build a

cutlers wheel A blade mill was a variety of water mill used for sharpening newly fabricated blades, including scythes, swords, sickles, and knives. In the Sheffield area, they were known as cutlers wheels, scythesmiths wheels, etc. Examples are preserved ...

on the site. Balguy operated the wheel until 1743 when Tobias Andrews took over. The rental records show numerous names as tenants in the ensuing years with the more long standing being the Hawley family, James Colley, J.W. Armitage and J. Shaw. Arnold Wilde was the occupant in 1801 and by 1806 he had purchased the mill outright. In the early part of the 19th century the mill consisted of three workshops with two overshot water wheels which drove two pairs of tilt hammers, two forge hammers and a plating hammer.''"Water Power on the Sheffield Rivers"'', David Crossley (Editor), , Page 36 Gives history and details of building.

Great Sheffield Flood

The hamlet of Little Matlock was severely damaged by the

Great Sheffield Flood The Great Sheffield Flood was a flood that devastated parts of Sheffield, England, on 11 March 1864, when the Dale Dyke Dam broke as its reservoir was being filled for the first time. At least 240 people died and more than 600 houses were ...

of March 1864, it was accentuated by the fact that the River Loxley is quite narrow at that point as it squeezes between steep valley sides. There was no damage to dwellings as they were situated on higher ground away from the flood but the industrial wheels and tilts by the river were either completely destroyed or severely damaged. Two young men were killed at Mr. Thomas Harrison’s Tilt and Forge. Mr Cadman the owner of Little Matlock Forge claimed over £5,000 in compensation after the flood for damage to tilts, forges, dam banking, weir and cottages.A Complete History of the Great Flood at Sheffield by Samuel Harrison (Google Books - search on Little Matlock)
Gives details of flood damage to Little Matlock. The present day structure was built in 1882 on the foundations of the old buildings being constructed from squared

gritstone Gritstone or grit is a hard, coarse-grained, siliceous sandstone. This term is especially applied to such sandstones that are quarried for building material. British gritstone was used for millstones to mill flour, to grind wood into pulp for ...

with a

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

roof. The building re-opened as a

rolling mill In metalworking, rolling is a metal forming process in which metal stock is passed through one or more pairs of rolls to reduce the thickness, to make the thickness uniform, and/or to impart a desired mechanical property. The concept is sim ...

being driven by a single overshot water wheel. The mill remained water driven until 1956 when it was converted to electricity under the ownership of Kenyon Brothers and Co, Ltd. In 1974 the mill was sold to Barworth Flockton Ltd and then in 1997 it was taken over by Firth Rixson Ltd, who worked the rolling mill for two years.
Grace's Industrial History Guide When operations ceased in 1999, the whole site was sold to a development company who had intended to convert all the buildings to residential properties. The mill's houses, the mill dam, water courses and water wheel were sold off as separate lots, however intervention from Sheffield City Council prevented the main mill buildings from being turned into housing, instead requiring that they retain their original purpose as a rolling mill. Pro-Roll Ltd bought the mill buildings and yard in 2001, re-opening the Little Matlock site as a traditional hand-rolling mill later that year.

Water wheel

The overshot water wheel is immobile and has not been used since 1956, it is now off its bearings and covered in vegetation and in need of renovation, it is the largest wheel of its type to survive in Sheffield. It has a diameter of 18ft 6in and a width of 11ft 8in with 8 cast-iron spokes to each side and 42 buckets. Above the wheel is a

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impu ...

penstock A penstock is a sluice or gate or intake structure that controls water flow, or an enclosed pipe that delivers water to hydro turbines and sewerage systems. The term is inherited from the earlier technology of mill ponds and watermills. ...

now permanently closed. In the 1950s it was estimated that the wheel could generate 25 horse power using

Volumetric flow rate In physics and engineering, in particular fluid dynamics, the volumetric flow rate (also known as volume flow rate, or volume velocity) is the volume of fluid which passes per unit time; usually it is represented by the symbol (sometimes ). I ...

data. Behind the wheel are a dam and

mill race A mill race, millrace or millrun, mill lade (Scotland) or mill leat (Southwest England) is the current of water that turns a water wheel, or the channel (sluice) conducting water to or from a water wheel. Compared with the broad waters of a mi ...

constructed to drive the wheel. This source gives details of water wheel and architecture.

References

{{coord, 53.4008, N, 1.536, W, scale:5000_region:GB, display=title Industrial buildings and structures in Sheffield Industrial buildings completed in 1882 Grade II* listed buildings in Sheffield Scheduled monuments in South Yorkshire Rolling mills 1882 establishments in England