The Cementation furnace in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

, South Yorkshire, England is a Grade II

Listed Building 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, Hi ...

Sheffield City Council.
Gives a list of all listed buildings in Sheffield. and is the only example of this type of steel making furnace to survive intact in Great Britain. It is situated on Doncaster Street in the St Vincent's Quarter just north-west of the city centre.

History

The furnace was built in 1848 to produce steel by the

cementation process The cementation process is an Obsolescence, obsolete technology for making steel by carburization of iron. Unlike modern steelmaking, it increased the amount of carbon in the iron. It was apparently developed before the 17th century. Derwentcot ...

by the local steel firm of Daniel Doncasters and Sons, a firm which had been established in Sheffield in 1778. www.doncasters.com.
Gives some details on the firm Daniel Doncasters. By 1860 there were 250 cementation furnaces in Sheffield capable of producing 80,000 tons of blister steel and the large conical structures were a characteristic feature of the city's industrial landscape.
Gives number of furnaces and output. The furnace on Doncaster Street is the only remaining example which is undamaged although there are two other sites in the immediate area which have examples which are partially intact, these being at Bower Spring and Millsands. The Doncaster Street furnace operated throughout

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and a blackout cover was fitted to the furnace outlet as a precaution during air raids, this is still in place today (painted white). The furnace ceased operation in 1951.''"Pevsner Architectural Guides – Sheffield"'', Ruth Harman & John Minnis, , Pages 163-165 Gives 1848 as year of construction and details of other partial cementation furnaces in Sheffield.

Present day

After standing unused for 40 years the furnace was restored in 1992/93 with financial assistance from the

HSBC HSBC Holdings plc ( zh, t_hk=滙豐; initialism from its founding member The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business li ...

(then Midland) Bank. The furnace is surrounded by low fencing and a locked gate with the key being available from the curator at the nearby Kelham Island Museum.''"Information board at site"'', Gives history and description of furnace.

References

{{coord, 53.3874, N, 1.4775, W, scale:5000_region:GB, display=title History of Sheffield Industrial buildings and structures in Sheffield Grade II listed buildings in Sheffield Industrial buildings completed in 1848 Scheduled monuments in South Yorkshire Steelmaking