Hillsboro history ??

[yatesace]

hi can anyone give me some info on the following the info im after is about the river on liversley rd opposite the car park of the casino the river bank has large stone walls built next to possible mill run it appears to cut the island in two any ideas what was there what was made there

[hillsbro]

Hi yatesace - this area on the River Loxley, just below Owlerton Bridge was known as Birley Meadows. Until the 1970s there were several small firms here, such as Denton & Best's forge and Samuel Swift & Co, tool manufacturers.

 

The fact that there is a weir shows that there must have been an old watermill there. In the 19th century, Marshall's paper mill, which was badly damaged in the Sheffield Flood of 1864, was in this general area, but I think the paper mill was a little further up the River Loxley, somewhere near where B & Q is now. Harrison's 1864 book about the Sheffield Flood (here is a scan) mentions the "Wardsend slitting mill" in Birley Meadows, so perhaps the weir and millrace were for this mill.

 

A 1914 map shows the river's 'U' bend and millrace etc. Perhaps another Forummer can tell us about the mill whose remains can still be seen.

[cookingfat50]

hi can anyone give me some info on the following the info im after is about the river on liversley rd opposite the car park of the casino the river bank has large stone walls built next to possible mill run it appears to cut the islandTin two any ideas what was there what was made there

 

at the begining of th industrial revolution the main rivers in sheffild were used to power water mill there were hundreds along these rivers a smome powered forges, some grinding mills, some flour mills, some even snuff mills all manner of different trades, that was what lots of these walls were for. I worked at abbydale industrial hamlet were the river sheaf and porter power,dozons of mills hope this explains some of them

[hillsbro]

I just had a look on the sheffieldhistory.co.uk site, and there is a thread about the Birley Meadows mills. There is a quotation from a 1934 book "The Water-Mills of Sheffield", written (appropriately enough) by W.T. Miller:

Below the outfall from the Owlerton Wheels the stream passes under Penistone Road and flows on to the BIRLEY MEADOW WORKS, where it takes a sharp turn to the right. We gather that there was a wheel here many years ago, for there is a lease in the Tibbitts Collection which records that, in 1739, Edward, Duke of Norfolk, transferred to Margaret Bamforth of High House, widow ... "A cutlers wheel standing in a field called **** Lodge." The place names given in the lease locate this wheel at BIRLEY Meadows.

 

On Fairbank's plan of 1791 the works are given the name of Owlerton Tilt. Messrs. Greaves were the occupiers then, and there would appear to have been two water-wheels, one driving a grinding wheel and the other the tilt. By 1814 the firm had become Greaves & Smith, and in 1825 it is given as Earnshaw & Smith. John Smith, tilter, appears in the directories from 1833 to 1842.

 

The works are now (1934) in the hands of Denton & Best and Samuel Swift, and there was one water-wheel visible in 1931, although it had not worked for many years.

 

Two old maps of the area show Birley Meadow Forge (near where the map I linked shows "Wiers") and Owlerton Bridge Rolling Mills in the angle of Livesey Street and Penistone Road (where Denton & Best's works were later).

[old tup]

Our cottage was part of the Owlerton Water Mill on Liversey St.An old map shows a cutting off the Don at the old bridge behind Bassets,it went into a holding dam behind our house powering the mill further on,then the goit split two ways back into the Don opposite the old Power Station.I didnt know about it until informed by RETEP who knows a lot about Sheffield history.It had all been filled in by my time!

[pjkay]

If you went down the hill to Hillsborough corner with the Baracks on your right and turned left at the Corner towards rivelin valley road..The river was on your left..I used to go there and into a workshop that did car resprays etc...The firm was called Lunn and Furniss, They were excellent...Ernest Lunn and Harold Furniss..Long gone now I expect....

[bullerboY]

If you went down the hill to Hillsborough corner with the Baracks on your right and turned left at the Corner towards rivelin valley road..The river was on your left..I used to go there and into a workshop that did car resprays etc...The firm was called Lunn and Furniss, They were excellent...Ernest Lunn and Harold Furniss..Long gone now I expect....

I knew Ernie and his wife Hilda very well,their daughter Sandra worked with me at Waldot Service Station on Middlewood rd in the sixties.they are both gone now.I think Eric Stead took over the business.:)