Butchers Wheel or Butcher Works is a former cutlery and tool factory in

Sheffield Sheffield is a 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 historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and metropolitan county, metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of City of Doncaster, Doncaster and City of Sh ...

. The last of the manufacturing tenants left in 2004. The building is a listed historic site, and is now used for residential and retail purposes.

Location

The building lies in the Cultural Industries Quarter, between

Sheffield City Centre Sheffield City Centre (referred to locally as simply Town) is a district of the City of Sheffield and is covered partly by the City ward of the City of Sheffield. It includes the area that is within a radius of roughly of Sheffield Cathedral ...

and the

River Sheaf The River Sheaf in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, flows northwards, past Dore, through Abbeydale and north of Heeley. It then passes into a culvert, through which it flows under the centre of Sheffield before joining the River Don. T ...

. This area was made available for long-term lease by 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 dukes ...

in the 1770s, intending high-class residential development. However, interest was low and, by the end of the century, much of the district was occupied by small housing doubling as cutlers' workshops. Later in the century, a few, larger, "integrated works" were developed, and Butchers Wheel was one of the first of these.
18th-19th Century Industrial Grids
', South Yorkshire Historic Environment Characterisation Project

Origins

William and Samuel Butcher began manufacturing steel in Sheffield in the late 1810s. By 1822, William had acquired three adjacent plots of land on Eyre Lane, and constructed a small steelworks, including a purpose-built

crucible steel Crucible steel is steel made by melting pig iron (cast iron), iron, and sometimes steel, often along with sand, glass, ashes, and other fluxes, in a crucible. In ancient times steel and iron were impossible to melt using charcoal or coal fires ...

furnace.Butcher Works Panels 1-7
/ref> This was expanded in around 1835 to a three-storey block. A former cottage on the corner of Eyre Lane and Brown Lane, long forming part of the complex, is of similar date.Ruth Harman and John Minnis, ''Pevsner Architectural Guides: Sheffield'', pp.137-138

Growth

In the 1850s, Butcher bought up the neighbouring steam-powered

grinding wheel Grinding wheels contains abrasive compounds for grinding and abrasive machining operations. Such wheels are also used in grinding machines. The wheels are generally made with composite material . This consists of coarse-particle aggregate pres ...

of J. B. Raworth, incorporating this into the works. This marked a refocussing of activity on the site towards tool, blade and cutlery manufacture, with steel production moving to a new site in the

Neepsend Neepsend is a suburb of the city of Sheffield, it stands just north-west of the city centre. The main area of Neepsend covers the flood plain of the River Don from Lady's Bridge at the Wicker up to Hillfoot Bridge. The suburb falls within the ...

area of the city. During the 1860s, some

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

s in Sheffield used violence against non-members, in what became known as the "

Sheffield Outrages The Sheffield Outrages were a series of explosions and murders by a small group of trade unionist militants carried out in Sheffield, England in the 1860s. Sheffield's early success in steel production had involved long working hours, in condition ...

". At the time, Butchers Wheel was known as a safe workplace for those who had incurred the opposition of such unions, given that access was only through a single, guarded door. During the 1860s and 1870s, two four-storey ranges were constructed, one facing Arundel Street, and the other abutting Sterling Works. In similar style to the earlier work, with red brick walls and grey slate roofs, the new buildings created a courtyard at the centre of the site. These buildings were unusually austere for their date, lacking the classical detailing of contemporary works elsewhere in the city. Grinding workshops were on the upper levels, the machinery's weight necessitating arched ceilings of fireproof brick up to one metre thick. In the centre of the courtyard, a tall chimney was constructed, linked by a curving wall to the edge. This removed fumes from the boiler house which supplied steam power to the entire works. According to

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

, power was transmitted by a system of belts and pulleys on the outside walls. In the 1950s, this was decommissioned and electric power was introduced.

Decline

By the early twentieth century, works such as Butchers Wheel were dwarfed by major industrial complexes in the

Lower Don Valley The Lower Don Valley, or historically the East End of Sheffield, is the mainly Industrial sector, industrial north-east quarter of Sheffield, England. Located on the River Don, South Yorkshire, River Don, it encompasses the areas of Attercliffe, ...

. Cutlery manufacture continued, although precision instrument making became increasingly important. In the 1920s, Durham Duplex manufactured

safety razor A safety razor is a shaving implement with a protective device positioned between the edge of the blade and the skin. The initial purpose of these protective devices was to reduce the level of skill needed for injury-free shaving, thereby reduc ...

s in part of the building. In 1988, some cutlery processes still took place in the works, but they gradually fell into disrepair, the last tenant moving out in 2004. The building was also used for filming, including ''

Asylum Asylum may refer to: Types of asylum * Asylum (antiquity), places of refuge in ancient Greece and Rome * Benevolent Asylum, a 19th-century Australian institution for housing the destitute * Cities of Refuge, places of refuge in ancient Judea ...

'', '' Silent Witness'' and '' Micawber''.

Conversion

The works were Grade II listed in 1988, then upgraded to

Grade II* 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 Irel ...

in 2009. They were converted to residential usage in the 2000s, with part of the ground floor housing the Academy of Makers workshops and gallery, and a cafe.Academy of Makers
/ref> Work was completed in 2007, the building being officially opened by the

Lord Mayor of Sheffield The Lord Mayor of Sheffield is a ceremonial post held by a member of Sheffield City Council. They are elected annually by the council. The post originated in 1843, with the appointment of William Jeffcock as the first Mayor of Sheffield. E ...

, Arthur Dunworth.Glimpse of the past in posh flats for future
, ''

Sheffield Star ''The Star'', often known as the ''Sheffield Star'', is a daily newspaper published in Sheffield, England, from Monday to Saturday each week. Originally a broadsheet, the newspaper became a tabloid in 1993. ''The Star'', the weekly ''Sheffield ...

'', 11 June 2007 During restoration, a

Bramah Bramah is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Ernest Bramah (1868–1942), English author * John Joseph Bramah (1798–1846), English ironmaster and engineer * Joseph Bramah (1748–1814), English ironmaster and inventor, uncle ...

flush toilet A flush toilet (also known as a flushing toilet, water closet (WC) – see also toilet names) is a toilet that disposes of human waste (principally urine and feces) by using the force of water to ''flush'' it through a drainpipe to another loca ...

was discovered, as was a hand forge, complete with anvil and

bellows A bellows or pair of bellows is a device constructed to furnish a strong blast of air. The simplest type consists of a flexible bag comprising a pair of rigid boards with handles joined by flexible leather sides enclosing an approximately airtig ...

References

{{Listed buildings in Sheffield Industrial buildings completed in 1820 Industrial buildings and structures in Sheffield Grade II* listed buildings in Sheffield Ironworks and steelworks in England