Leaderboard

Challenge Works 94 Arundel Street As you can see we are still on Arundel Street and will be close by next week, right the Challenge Works on Arundel Street, its finely carved name is as crisp today as it was when the works was built in 1888 for Louis Henry Osbaldiston, Louis had the works built as an edge tool manufactory with workshops, office and warehouse, on three floors with a cellar, it appears to have rapidly evolved into a multi-occupancy site, with an electro-plating company sharing the site in 1888. The Goad Fire Insurance plan of 1896 identifies various trades being carried out on site, and the presence of tool forges set behind the street frontage range, itself identified as office and warehouse. The firm was started in 1863 at No 1, Glasgow Place, Moorhead, just thirteen years later he moved to bigger premises on Eldon Street by 1888 he’d moved to the Challenge Works as said above, by the 1880s he had diversified into making pen knives, pocket knives and table knives. The works has a very ornate frontage for just a firm that made among things, saws, files, edge tools, hammers & steel & stay busks, for the education of Mr Dawson & Mr Sorsby, stay busks were a length of plain or decorated wood, that was twelve inches long and two inches wide which was generally tapered at the end, the steel ones were more or less the same but usually had no decoration, they were inserted down the front of women’s stays to keep the wearer upright and they stopped the stays from moving sideways. Louis must have made a very good amount of money from his business because he had Grange Court on Ashland Road built just a few years after having the works built. On nearby Mary Street a certain Mary Osbaldiston had a shop, was she some relation as the name is quite unusual in Sheffield. After the death of Louis in 1901 on the 11th of November at the age of 65, of a heart attack on a train to Grantham in Lincolnshire, while on a business trip. He was buried in Ecclesall All Saints Churchyard along side his sister? Kate Eleanor aged 26 and his Mother Jane aged 83. I cant say for sure as to why the firm upped sticks from the works and moved to the Bath Works on bath Street in the early 1900s, I suppose he was the driving force of the business doing all the travelling to get orders for his company but the firm continued to operate from the Bath Works into the 1940s, then it ceased to be. On moving out of the works in 1910 it was used by a varied selection of craftsmen in the Cutlery and Silver-smithing trades, from this old building fantastic pieces of Cutlery and Silverware were made by just a few of the many craftsmen in the Town, the little mesters came and went and by 1963 another well known maker of Nickel & Sterling Silver Handles & Caps & Ferrules moved in, this was William Yates, again Yates was a Sheffield success story. The origins of this firm can be traced back to 1750 when Mr James Eggington founded a Ferrule making business in Sheffield, in 1786 James had son named after him, James, in 1833, James the son had opened a shop (in the cutlery trade a shop is a small workshop) at No 35 Meadow Street as a Brass Turner, in 1841 along with his brother William (some sources give Henry as his partner) they open a shop at No34 Hollis Croft as Brass Turners, Inkstand & Silver Cap & Ferrule makers. In 1843 the name Yates appears in their history when William Yates wife Amelia nee Eggington has a son, William, by 1868 young William was in partnership with his cousin John Eggington and were operating from No 75, Broad Lane. I don’t know what prompted the next move but just eight short years later William bought a property a7 No’s 217-219 Rockingham Street, Eggington`s are still manufacturing today they did specialise in Steels up to the sixties but now they produce pen & pocket knives along with Cutlery in there factory on Allen Street. In 1876 William Yates registered his “H.Y.” Hallmark at Sheffield Assay Office. In 1899, Williams Wife gave birth to Harold the eleventh of twelve children, in 1913 William Yates died aged seventy and just one year before in 1912 Harold joined the firm at the age of twenty three. By 1919 Harold too became a father to William Rodney, and just thirty years later he joined the company as to why his late induction into the firm I cant say, perhaps he was getting a good education. In 1950 William Rodney became a father to Graham William, in 1961 Harold, the Grandfather died aged seventy two years, as I mentioned earlier Yates moved to the Challenge Works in 1963, in 1970 Graham William joins the firm at the age of twenty and by 1996 William Rodney retired at the age of seventy seven, now that’s dedication!. In 2,000 Yates celebrated 250 years of a family’s continuous ownership and production. Sadly the production ceased at the Challenge Works and is now accommodation for who ever can afford the rent for the apartments that the works has been turned into, the buildings saved which is good but it’s a pity the magnificent wooden gates that covered the works entrance have been replaced with a terrible glass entrance. William Yates is now part of Chimo Holdings, another firm that produces high quality items at White Rose Works, 61 Eyre Lane, Sheffield, I once worked in this building when it was Gee & Holmes. My thanks to Geoffrey Tweedale and his excellent book for giving me a start on this W.T.E.T.

The problem with the underpass was that they became hang outs for homeless and drug addicts. The one near the Fiesta smelled of urine and another smell that came out of the air conditioning system, which I never worked out what it was. However it made you a bit sick. They were and are scary places for women especially. Despite all the trouble to keep people and cars separate, people still crossed the roads and avoided using subways. Mostly because it was often quicker than using a subway. Especially if you were in a hurry. I remember people in the 70's going over the Y shaped barriers in the middle of the roads in Sheffield. They used to "goose step" over them. It was funny to watch!

Fast forward 14 years and Richard Hawley is still doing his bit for Sheffield! The words and music seleted from his portfolio of albums are going down a storm in London, with some great performances of his songs by the cast of the hit show "Standing at the Sky's Edge" Here's the brilliant performance of Coles Corner by Faith Amole. https://youtu.be/AQKp997XHDs