Nostalgia: White heat of Sheffield’s original powerhouse

It was a time when Yorkshire, and especially South Yorkshire, really was the Northern Powerhouse. These pictures from the archive were taken literally in the white heat of an industrial revolution that brought prosperity and secure employment to Sheffield and the surrounding towns.
By David Behrens
Published 10th Apr 2021, 06:00 BST
circa 1930: The smelting works at Dorman Long Steelworks in Middlesbrough. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)circa 1930: The smelting works at Dorman Long Steelworks in Middlesbrough. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)
circa 1930: The smelting works at Dorman Long Steelworks in Middlesbrough. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

It was the city’s proximity to the fast-flowing waters of the Don and the Loxley that made it the perfect location in the age of water power. Coal, iron ore and millstone grit were also close to hand in the nearby hills.

But it was the invention a century ago of stainless steel that transformed the city into a kitchen for the world, with vast steelworks like these turning out place settings by the thousand.

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As late as the 1950s, 15,000 people remained employed in the manufacture of cutlery.

A steel foundry worker oversees the rolling and saw cutting of semi molten metal billets on 27th January 1942 at the Andrew & Company Toledo Steel Works, Neepsend Lane in Sheffield, England. (Photo by Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images).A steel foundry worker oversees the rolling and saw cutting of semi molten metal billets on 27th January 1942 at the Andrew & Company Toledo Steel Works, Neepsend Lane in Sheffield, England. (Photo by Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images).
A steel foundry worker oversees the rolling and saw cutting of semi molten metal billets on 27th January 1942 at the Andrew & Company Toledo Steel Works, Neepsend Lane in Sheffield, England. (Photo by Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images).

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Related topics:SheffieldYorkshireSouth Yorkshire

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