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A child visitor looking intently at a large old vice mounted on a very worn workbench. A child visitor looking intently at a large old vice mounted on a very worn workbench.

© Andy Brown

© Andy Brown

Blacking Shop

Continuing Display

Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet

Visit the Blacking Shop, where scythes were painted to protect them from rust.

 

After drying in front of the fire, they were stored in warehouses on site. The larger 'winter fire' included a back boiler which provided central heating for the warehouse block and exploded in the fatal accident of 1870.

Straw rope was used for packing the blades, ready to be sent around the country and the world.

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***The Hamlet is currently closed for the winter until spring 2025. During this time, we'll be continuing work on Embrace Abbeydale, a two-year programme of improvement works generously supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.***

Joni, the Hamlet cafe, is open daily throughout the winter

Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet

Abbeydale Road South

Sheffield

S7 2QW

Blacking Shop

© Andy Brown

  • Blacking Shop

    © Ian M Spooner

  • © Ian M Spooner

  • © Ian M Spooner

  • © Ian M Spooner

  • © Ian M Spooner

  • © Richard Connolly

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See Sheffield’s knife grinding history brought to life at Shepherd Wheel Workshop.

Experience the working waterwheel and machinery in action, see the tools of the trade and hear stories about the grinders who worked here over the centuries.

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