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Shepherd Wheel - Up For An Award


Bayleaf

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Shepherd Wheel has been shortlisted as 1 of 4 entrants in the Daily Telegraph's and English Heritage's "Angel" awards for 2013 for the restoration of a significant industrial heritage site. The award ceremony is in London in October and hosted by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Press coverage about this is in tomorrow's (Saturday, 27th) Daily Telegraph. A film crew came to the Wheel 2 weeks ago and did several interviews. There's no money attached to the award, but it should raise the profile of Shepherd Wheel both locally and nationally, even if it doesn't actually win.
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Very disappointing coverage in the Daily Telegraph, just 12 words buried deep in a long piece about one of the other candidates, a silk mill in Frome, along with photo of smiling owners. Still, it's two more words than the ten lavished on the restored conservatory at Wentworth...

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Done that and will spread the word. Was there recently and what a brilliant job they have done. They are now putting their considerable skills and enthusiasm into restoring Forge Dam.

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English Heritage have nominated the Friends of Porter Valley for one of their Angel Awards. There are a couple of other contenders not far from Sheffield as well, but as I have a passing interest in the Porter Valley I would like to draw your attention to it and hopefully encourage you to add your vote for the Shepherd Wheel.

More details and a link to vote are at the FoPV website www.fopv.org.uk

Thanks

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Visited last Sunday and was pleasantly surprised to see it is running again!

It's been running most weekends since March 2012. There have been one or two spells when it wasn't turning, due to bearings, wedges etc, but by and large it's doing pretty well, thanks mainly to Keith and Duncan, the two engineers from SIMT.

One of the things that's come to light researching around the subject is that when these wheels were in production, they didn't run for long periods without a break. There's a verse in the 'Sheffield Grinders' Song' that says "There's never a day goes by but our dairy maid goes wrong". 'Dairy Maid' was the grinders' nickname for the water wheel (I've no idea why, perhaps something to do with buckets?)

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There is a case reported in the papers of a grinder who was sued for non payment of rent. He argued that he paid an annual rent but the wheel was not working the whole year and as well as stoppages for repairs, there were water shortages which meant shorter running times. The owner of the wheel said that it was common practice when a wheel was stopped for the grinders to go to another wheel and nudge up with other grinders. Grinders rented 3 seats for different stages of grinding. Usually they had an apprentice using one at same time so incoming grinders could fit in and get some work done on third seat. The incoming grinder would not be charged. The grinder had to pay up.

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There is a case reported in the papers of a grinder who was sued for non payment of rent. He argued that he paid an annual rent but the wheel was not working the whole year and as well as stoppages for repairs, there were water shortages which meant shorter running times. The owner of the wheel said that it was common practice when a wheel was stopped for the grinders to go to another wheel and nudge up with other grinders. Grinders rented 3 seats for different stages of grinding. Usually they had an apprentice using one at same time so incoming grinders could fit in and get some work done on third seat. The incoming grinder would not be charged. The grinder had to pay up.

That's very interesting Duckweed. Do you have a reference to the source please?

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That's very interesting Duckweed. Do you have a reference to the source please?

REMINISCENCES OF SHEFFIELD.

It may be remembered, however, in fairness to the grinders,

that theirs was no enviable lot. If not liable to grinders'

asthma in the times when " the dairy maid," as they called the

water wheel, was their motive power, they yet might, at any

moment, be maimed or killed, by a defecflive stone flying. Mr.

John Wilson rescued from oblivion a song, very popular at

grinders' festivals, of which the refrain was : " There's few

suffer such hardships as we poor grinders do."

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"The dairy-maid is the slang of the hull for the water-wheel, which, though still an important source of power in the outlying districts, was at the time tho song was written an apparatus of the first importance."

Source

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That's very interesting Duckweed. Do you have a reference to the source please?

I shall have to go back to exact ref but the case was Wostenholme vs Gregory. George Gregory grinder and landlord of Brown Cow, Trippet Lane was sued for arrears of wheel rent by George Wostenholm of Washington Works in 1855. They called the habit of using someone else's wheel poking.

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I shall have to go back to exact ref but the case was Wostenholme vs Gregory. George Gregory grinder and landlord of Brown Cow, Trippet Lane was sued for arrears of wheel rent by George Wostenholm of Washington Works in 1855. They called the habit of using someone else's wheel poking.

That'll do fine duckweed, I've found it from what you posted. Much obliged for the information and the pointer.

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