Taylor's Eye Witness Works is an industrial building on Milton Street in the

Devonshire Quarter The Devonshire Quarter is an area in the centre of Sheffield, England. Its heart is the Division Street and Devonshire Street shopping areas, known for their small independent shops and variety of pubs and bars. The district also has ''The Forum ...

area of

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 ...

city centre,

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 ...

, England. The works are 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 ...

which since their foundation in 1852 have always specialised in producing

kitchen A kitchen is a room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation in a dwelling or in a commercial establishment. A modern middle-class residential kitchen is typically equipped with a stove, a sink with hot and cold running wate ...

and pocket knives along with various associated products. The building is believed to be the only traditional works in Sheffield which still manufactures its original products. It stands next to the

Beehive Works The Beehive Works are a purpose-built cutlery works located on Milton Street in the Devonshire Quarter area of Sheffield city centre. The works were built in stages in the second half of the 19th century and are designated as a Grade II* listed ...

another listed cutlery works on Milton Street.

History

John Taylor founded a knife and edge tools firm around the year 1820 in St. Phillip's Road in the Netherthorpe area of the city. In 1838 Taylor applied for and was granted the Eye Witness

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from othe ...

for his goods, it is said he chose it after being inspired by the line "No eye hath seen such" from

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

's Henry IV, Part 1. In 1852 Taylor moved to the newly built Eye Witness Works on Milton Street. At the time the works only consisted of five single-storey bays and were driven by steam power with a 40-foot chimney stack which is still in place today. Upon the death of John Taylor in 1854 the firm passed to his daughter who had married into the Needham family who were also knife producers.''"A History of Sheffield"'',

David Hey David G. Hey (18 July 1938 – 14 February 2016) was an English historian, and was an authority on surnames and the local history of Yorkshire. Hey was the president of the British Association for Local History, and was a published author of seve ...

, , Page 209-210 Gives some history. The company became known as Needhams Ltd, joining forces with James Veall in 1876 and the well-known local firm of Tyzack's in 1879 to form Needham, Veall & Tyzack. In 1870 the firm only employed 30 people, but such was its success in the latter years of the 19th century that by the 1890s there were several hundred people employed at the works. In 1875, the Eye Witness Works were extended by making the original single-floor building into three storeys plus the addition of a further nine bays, which were also on three levels. The firm become a limited company in 1897 with capital of £60,000 with Walter Tyzack as chairman and James and William Veall as directors. Tyzack‘s company history.
Gives history of firm. An account of the mechanised procedure and products at the Eye Witness Works can be found in an 1897 edition of Sheffield and Rotherham Illustrated, here is an excerpt: After

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

the firm was hit by the downturn in demand for high-quality pocket knives brought on by the invention of stainless steel, but mechanised its production process and survived. The firm started to expand again, taking over several well-known Sheffield cutlery companies and their trademarks. The works continued to enlarge with this upturn in business, with new buildings being added on Thomas Street in 1950. In 1965 Needham, Veall & Tyzack became known as Taylor's Eye Witness to take advantage of its well-known trade mark. In 1975 it was bought by Harrison Fisher & Co who continued to use the Taylor's Eye Witness brand name for many of its products as well as producing "own label" goods for department stores, including

John Lewis John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...

and

Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company ...

. Design Council website.
Gives details of supply to supermarkets.
Gives some history and examples of products. On 1 June 2007 Harrison Fisher & Co Ltd changed its name to Taylors Eye Witness Limited.
Gives details of name change, quote and some history. In February 2007 the works were upgraded as a listed building from Grade II to Grade II*, but later reverted to Grade II. Although the building has an interesting frontage, after 20th century intervention there are few internal features of historical interest.

Architecture

The building is constructed from red brick; ordinary-quality bricks were used for the original construction while a harder and darker engineering brick was used for the later buildings. The building is rectangular in shape, and is delimited by Milton Street, Thomas Street, Headford Street, and Egerton Lane, at the rear. There are three internal courtyards, but much of this space has been infilled by other buildings over the years. The main range of the works on Milton Street has 30 bays of windows and some basements. There is an arched carriage entrance with double wooden doors. www.eyewitnessworks.com.
Gives historical and architectural details.''"Pevsner Architectural Guides"'', Ruth Harman & John Minnis, , Page 133 Gives details of architecture and some history.

Relocation of Taylors Eye Witness

Taylors Eye Witness company wished to redevelop and sell the original works and relocate to a modern site where it can operate more efficiently. Outline plans for the redevelopment of the site were produced by local architects Bond Bryan allowing for the preservation of key features of the site including the Milton Street frontage, eyewitness.com.
Gives details of possible future developments. eyewitnessworks.com.
Gives details of Bond Bryan architects plans. but were rejected by Sheffield City Council Planning Dept who wanted the vast majority of the building to be preserved. However, the cost of the restoration of the building would be greater than the value of the restored building, so that restoration is not a viable option and cannot be used to fund a move to a more modern site. Although some of the lower value production has been moved off shore, much of Taylors Eye Witness' output is made in Sheffield, generating employment, creating wealth and keeping an important part of Sheffield Manufacturing Heritage and skills base alive and kicking.

Restoration of Eyewitness Works and Ceylon Works

Social impact property developers Capital&Centric purchased Eyewitness Works in 2018. Eye Witness Works, along with adjacent Ceylon Works, is being renovated into apartments, duplexes and townhouses. Capital&Centric is restoring and preserving the site's key features. As part of the 97 home development, Capital&Centric is also building a 6-storey new build called Brunswick, named after The Brunswick Hotel which used to stand on the site. Eye Witness Works also has one commercial unit for an independent cafe-bar operator. In March 2022, it was announced that Eye Witness Works would be the location of a new

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

interior design show with the working title Design Your Dream. The winning contestant will win a 2-bedroom apartment at Eye Witness Works. Filming is due to start in Summer 2022.

References

{{Reflist Industrial buildings and structures in Sheffield History of Sheffield Industrial buildings completed in 1852 Grade II* listed buildings in Sheffield 1852 establishments in England