Shepherd Wheel is a working

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

in a former water-powered grinding workshop situated on the Porter Brook in the south-west of the

City of Sheffield The City of Sheffield is a metropolitan borough with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in South Yorkshire, England. The metropolitan borough includes the administrative centre of Sheffield, the town of Stocksbridge and the larger ...

, England. One of the earliest wheels on the River Porter, it is one of the few remaining—and effectively complete—examples of this kind of enterprise, one that used to be commonplace in the Sheffield area. Its 5.5 m (18 ft) diameter overshot

water wheel A water wheel is a machine for converting the kinetic energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a large wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with numerous b ...

is powered from a large

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aqua ...

stocked with water diverted from the Porter Brook. The workshops, dam, goit and weir are

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

, and the site is a

Scheduled Ancient Monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

History and buildings

In 1584, William Beighton, a cutler of Stumperlowe left to his sons in his will: "all my interest terms titles and possession which I have in and upon one watter whele called Potar Whele which I have of the grant of the said Lord". This is the earliest reference to a wheel on the site. The description of this wheel matches one that Edward Shepherd – after whom the site is now named – held the tenancy of in 1794. There were no similar wheels in the area, which leads us to the conclusion that the references are to the same wheel. The present buildings date from . Throughout the 19th century the wheel was held by the Hinde family, who operated it until its closure in 1930. Shepherd Wheel April 2017 01

In William Beighton's time, the land was originally owned by

Gilbert Talbot, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury Gilbert Talbot, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury, 7th Earl of Waterford, 13th Baron Talbot, KG (20 November 1552 – 8 May 1616), styled Lord Talbot from 1582 to 1590, was a peer in the peerage of England. He also held the subsidiary titles of 16th Baro ...

, who was Lord of the Manor of Sheffield. When he died, his estates passed to Thomas Howard, who became Duke of Norfolk. The land remained with the Dukes of Norfolk until 1900, when Sheffield City Council bought Whiteley Woods to make a public park. The sale also included Shepherd Wheel itself. After a campaign by local history societies, the wheel was restored and opened as a museum in 1962. The museum was closed in 1997 and passed to the management of the Sheffield Industrial Museums Trust in 1998.

Museum

Since 1998, Shepherd Wheel has been run as a museum by the Sheffield Industrial Museums Trust (now the Sheffield Museums Trust). The museum includes a water wheel, two grinding hulls (rooms with multiple large grinding wheels, operated by the water wheel, built into the floor) and grinding wheels; there is also a collection of tools and equipment on display within the grinding hulls. The Shepherd Wheel reopened (after a restoration project partly funded by a £500,000 Heritage Lottery grant) on 31 March 2012. File:Shepherd Wheel.JPG, Buildings File:Shepherd Wheel millpond April 2017 02.jpg, Millpond File:Shepherd Wheel interior April 2017 01.jpg, Grinding wheels in a workshop

References

External links

Sheffield Industrial Museums Trust — Shepherd Wheel Workshop
{{SheffieldStructures Museums established in 1998 Grade II listed buildings in Sheffield Sheffield Industrial Museums Trust Scheduled monuments in South Yorkshire Museums in Sheffield Technology museums in the United Kingdom Watermills in South Yorkshire 1998 establishments in England Porter Brook

History and buildings

Museum

See also

References

Further reading

External links