The Cementation furnace in

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. In N ...

, England 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 Irel ...

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 Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

. It is situated on Doncaster Street in the

St Vincent's Quarter St Vincent's Quarter is one 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 ...

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 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. Derwentcote Steel F ...

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, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

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 is a British multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in Europe by total assets ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 tri ...

(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 The Kelham Island Museum is an industrial museum on Alma Street, alongside the River Don, in the centre of Sheffield, England. It was opened in 1982. The site The island on which it is located is man-made, resulting from the construction of a ...

.''"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