Butcher Works. Nineteenth century. Arundel Street, Sheffield. According to the heritage plaque at the building's entrance, William and Samuel Butcher, makers of the famous Bowie knife, built the various buildings that form the works between 1819 and 1875, beginning with the part facing Eyre Street — “the finest remaining integrated cutlery, edge tool, file making works. The austerity of the 40 m. four-storey façade to Arundel Street and surviving brick built ranges are powerfully evocative of the working conditions once prevalent throughout the cutlery industry in Sheffield.” The yard, which provided a safe, convenient place to load and unload goods, includes a small steam power plant used in driving the company's machines. This small factory complex continued in use by the same firm until 1959, lay vacate for three decades, received a grade II listing in 1998, and was recently refurbished as flats and workshops with the aid of a £1.2 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Related material including other Sheffield workshops
- Robbed of “twenty-five years of existence” — The Trades of Sheffield and their dangers to worker's health
- “A Broad Hint for a Broad-Head” (on the Sheffield “Outrages”)
- Columbia Works
- Truro Works
- Challenge Works
- Grange Works
- Liberty Works
- Sylvester Works
- Venture Works
- Works at Charles Lane and Arundel Street
- Remains of a factory complex, Matilda Street
- Row of nineteenth-century works, Matilda Street
Photographs 2011 by George P. Landow You may use these images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
References
Sheffield. Harman, Ruth, and John Minnis. Pevsner Architectural Guides. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. 2004.
Last modified 28 May 2018