Shepherd Wheel is a working

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make th ...

in a former water-powered grinding workshop situated on the

Porter Brook The Porter Brook is a river which flows through the City of Sheffield, England, descending over from its source on Burbage Moor to the west of the city to its mouth where it joins the River Sheaf in a culvert beneath Sheffield railway stati ...

in the south-west of the

City of Sheffield The City of Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough in South Yorkshire, England. The metropolitan borough includes the administrative centre of Sheffield, the town of Stocksbridge and larger village of Chapeltown and part of the Peak Di ...

, 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 energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with a number of blades or buckets ...

is powered from a large dam 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 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 I ...

, 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 and d ...

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 a Mr Shepherd 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. From the 1820s, the wheel was occupied by a family called Hinde. They worked there for over a hundred years until the end of Shepherd Wheel's working life in about 1930. 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 Baron ...

, 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 Sheffield City Council is the city council for the metropolitan borough of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England. It consists of 84 councillors, elected to represent 28 wards, each with three councillors. It is currently under No Overall Con ...

bought Whiteley Woods to make a public park. Shepherd Wheel was included in this public park. Over many years, local historical societies campaigned for its restoration and the site was opened as a museum in 1962. After closure in 1997 the site was placed under the management of Sheffield Industrial Museums Trust in 1998. The present buildings date from c1780, during the time that Edward Shepherd—after whom the site is now named—was the tenant of the wheel (1749–1794). Throughout the 19th century the wheel was held by the Hinde family, who operated it until its closure in 1930. In 1900,

bought the land surrounding the wheel from 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 ...

to make a public park. 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. 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