The Isle and Town Corn Mill, Weir & Goit

[Ponytail]

A Plan of the Mill Sands in Sheffield divided into Gardens and Tenements held of the Earl of Surrey. 1781.

https://www.picturesheffield.com/frontend.php?keywords=Ref_No_increment;EQUALS;arc02092&pos=162&action=zoom&id=76129

A large plan of the whole area between the Town Mill Dam and the River Don including the Town Mill and the Steel Furnace; most of the Tenements (coloured) are Gardens but there are some Houses, Smithies, Skinner's Yards, etc; also Cutlers Grinding Wheel, the Tail Goight, Steel Furnaces; numerical list with Tenants names, descriptions and measurements.

 

The Isle, held by John Goulden and John Froggatt of the Burgesses, showing Land taken for widening the street in 1795. 

https://www.picturesheffield.com/frontend.php?keywords=Ref_No_increment;EQUALS;arc03800&pos=1337&action=zoom&id=99444

Marked: Castle Green; Street called Under the Water; Waingate; Weir; bye Wash; bye Goit; River Dun (Don) & Lady's Bridge. 

 

Town Land in Waingate, Castle Green and Bridge Street, c.1780 - 1790. 

https://www.picturesheffield.com/frontend.php?keywords=Ref_No_increment;EQUALS;arc04279&pos=4&action=zoom&id=105930

Marked Castle Green Head, Wain Gate, Castle Green, New Hall Street, Under the Water, Water Lane.

John Marshall (warehouse and steel furnace, tenements and workshops), Earl of Surrey’s land, [?new] Shuttle, Town Mills Tail Goight, Well, Samuel Morris Tenement, Wear [Weir], The Isle, arched watercourse.

Also marked are 74 Jeremiah Ward; 76 Ann Castleton; 77 J. Spooner; 80-81 Dr Hawksley; 82 William Poles; 83 William Lord; 84 Ezra Twigg, William Parker, William Haworth; 86 Poor House belonging to the Town; Margaret [Lowe?], Widoe Chapman; Barnard Hanson; 86 Paul Wilkinson. [No No.] Thomas Wilde; 87 Charles Littleworth, John Spooner; 89 Late George Morton now Stephen Smith; 90 Joshua Wigfull; 91 Thomas Wilde; ; 94 - Martha Springfield, 96 John Scholey / Aughton / late John Turner, water land / well, Thomas Wilde William [Pill?]; 97/97a Samuel Genn and James Smith; 99 – Town land (houses and several workshops), James Kenyon,  101 - Henry Crawshaw. 

 

Plan of the Orchard and Garden in the Mill Sands belonging to the Duke of Norfolk, c. 1770-1778. 

https://www.picturesheffield.com/frontend.php?keywords=Ref_No_increment;EQUALS;arc03058&pos=27&action=zoom&id=96543

Full title: A Plan of the Orchard and Garden in the Mill Sands belonging to the Duke of Norfolk, the tenant right whereof is convey'd from [M.] Bridden to J. Marshall; and of the parcel of Town Land and tenements thereon contiguous to the said Orchard

Property between Mill Sands, the Mill Tail Goight and the River Dun [Don]. Includes The Isle. Also shows a bridge.

Named: Widow Broadbent; Dennis Pepper. 

 

Two tenements in Under the Water occupied by Robert Turner and Nanson and Co. 1804. 

https://www.picturesheffield.com/frontend.php?keywords=Ref_No_increment;EQUALS;arc03801&pos=154&action=zoom&id=99472

 

Plan of the Cutler’s Grinding Wheel belonging to the late John Vickers at the Town Mill showing also some adjoining property. 1828. 

https://www.picturesheffield.com/frontend.php?keywords=Ref_No_increment;EQUALS;arc03657&pos=149&action=zoom&id=99207

Marked: Bridge Street; Colson Crofts; Mill Lane; Water Wheel; Grinding Wheel & Goight (Goit). 

[Lysanderix]

Millsands was the place from where the Vickers organisation was founded. A once mighty organisation with interests in steel, shipbuilding, aircraft manufacturing ,to name but a few of their interests they , like so much else of our manufacturing..no more!

[Ponytail]

The Isle was surrounded by the River Dun (Don), the tail goit and a road named Under the Water. 

Extract from articles and letters from The Sheffield and Rotherham Independent 1872/3, edited by Robert Eadon Leader 1875. "Reminiscences, it's Streets and its People." 

Pages 111&112.

"Leonard: At the bottom of Newhall Street, are the offices erected some years ago by Naylor, Vickers & Co. They occupy the site of the old "horse dyke," in which lads used to bathe and paddle, and where the street watering carts were filled.

Wragg: This part of Bridge Street was called " Under the Water" or " T 'under watter," and " The Isle" was where Tennant's Brewery now stands. In Water Lane, were some troughs, or rather a well — hence the name."

 

Lady's Bridge Hotel and Tennant Brothers Ltd., Exchange Brewery, Bridge Street, established 1820. s09779

[Ponytail]

The Corn or Town Mill as it was known, was the most likely site of the medieval Corn Mill mentioned in the 12th Century built by the De Lovetots. 

The Mill in 1664 was leased to Thomas Cooke and Edward Hobson. In 1740 Thomas Ford held the lease and built a Cutlers Wheel adjacent. 

1761, John Vickers took a 21year lease of the mill and "that cutler wheel of one end and ten troughs standing near the said corn mill and erected about ten years since at the sole expense of Thomas Ford late lessee"

Building lots on Mill Sands. 1787. 

https://www.picturesheffield.com/frontend.php?keywords=Ref_No_increment;EQUALS;arc04166&pos=52&action=zoom&id=104251

The rough draft was made on arc04165. This plan is a fair copy.

Tenants / owners: John Gallimore, Zachary Webster, Thomas Anderton, John Vickers, Joseph Jennings, James Duke, Richard Yeomans, William Marsden, James Green, George Taylor, and Jonathan Marshall. 

 

A plan of the Millsands, subdivided into gardens held of the Earl of Surrey, c. 1780s

Marked: Town Wheel, Town Wheel Dam, River Don, etc.

https://www.picturesheffield.com/frontend.php?keywords=Ref_No_increment;EQUALS;arc04165&pos=51&action=zoom&id=104250

Tenants: Benjamin Burdekin, William Grubb, George Taylor, John Barber, Nathaniel Smith, William Robinson, John Maltby, Thomas Sykes, John Arundel, John Buxton, James Bate, Zachary Webster, John Marshall, William Hill, Edward Frane, Joseph Bellamy, Joseph Barber, Robert Hague, John Milner, Charles Marshall, Thomas Wigfall, Joseph Jennings, Anne Lancelot, Hannah Moorhouse, Ann Matthews, widow of Edward Dickinson, Richard Yeomans, James Bettany, John Vickers, William Marsden, Ann Crofts, John Marshall, - Goodwin Clark, Denis Belk, Thomas Broadbent, Benjamin Bamforth, Luke Cadman, Hannah Haslehurst.

Property includes houses, gardens, dye house, smithy, workshops, stable, yard, furnaces, a skinners yard, the town mill, etc. 

 

Plan of several building lots in the Mill Sands. 1787. 

https://www.picturesheffield.com/frontend.php?keywords=Ref_No_increment;EQUALS;arc03060&pos=42&action=zoom&id=96711

Property between the Town Mill Dam and the River Dun [Don]. Marked: Town Mill Dam; John Vickers; John Gallimore; Zachery Webster; John Anderton. 

 

Plan of the Ground in the Mill Sands [Millsands] held of the Duke of Norfolk by the Young Club. 1792

https://www.picturesheffield.com/frontend.php?keywords=Ref_No_increment;EQUALS;arc03063&pos=44&action=zoom&id=96713

Property between Mill Sands and the Town Mill Dam, including a narrow lane.

 

1794, Vickers held the mill and the wheel with 34 troughs employing 38 men.

 

Plan of the lot of ground in Mill Sands on which several houses are erected by, or for James Duke. 1796.

https://www.picturesheffield.com/frontend.php?keywords=Ref_No_increment;EQUALS;arc03068&pos=50&action=zoom&id=96722

Property between Mill Sands [Millsands] and the River Dun [River Don].

 

Plan of the tenements and ground in the Mill Sands held of the Duke of Norfolk. 1796.

https://www.picturesheffield.com/frontend.php?keywords=Ref_No_increment;EQUALS;arc03067&pos=49&action=zoom&id=96721

Property, including steel furnaces, between Mill Sands [Millsands], the Tail Goight from the Town Mill and the River Dun [River Don].

 

1805 the wheel and the mill were sold to Vickers by the Norfolk Estate. 

From 1825 Vickers developed the area of Millsands into a Steelworks with a rolling mill and the following years Naylor, Vickers were manufacturing steel on a large scale. 

The Rate books for 1845/6 show the Grinding Wheel empty; advertised to let 1849 but not recorded in 1855.

Vickers was in the process of building a new Steelworks at Brightside when the Flood of 1864 caused much damage to the site at Millsands and Edward Vickers, George Naylor Vickers, Thomas Edward Vickers & Albert Vickers, firm of Naylor Vickers & Co. made a claim. 

Messrs. Naylor Vickers Co. 

https://sheffieldfloodclaimsarchive.shu.ac.uk/claimSummary.cfm?claim=2-2267

https://sheffieldfloodclaimsarchive.shu.ac.uk/claimSummary.cfm?claim=10-2267

 

Benjamin Vickers, damage to arch of Corn Mill. (Is this the Town Corn Mill) 

https://sheffieldfloodclaimsarchive.shu.ac.uk/claimSummary.cfm?claim=5-4766

 

George Dalton, night watchman to Naylor, Vickers & Co. 

https://sheffieldfloodclaimsarchive.shu.ac.uk/claimSummary.cfm?claim=5-4685

 

John Wood and others working at Naylor, Vickers & Co. 

https://sheffieldfloodclaimsarchive.shu.ac.uk/claimSummary.cfm?claim=3-2942

 

George Johnson contracting foreman at Naylor, Vickers & Co. 

https://sheffieldfloodclaimsarchive.shu.ac.uk/claimSummary.cfm?claim=5-4542

 

William Hopkins, warehouseman & office keeper, of Messrs. Naylor, Vickers & Co. Offices Millsands. 

https://sheffieldfloodclaimsarchive.shu.ac.uk/claimSummary.cfm?claim=5-4287

 

John Wood forgeman at Naylor, Vickers & Co.

https://sheffieldfloodclaimsarchive.shu.ac.uk/claimSummary.cfm?claim=7-6157

 

Charles Firley Biclanski, merchants clerk at Naylor, Vickers & Co. 

https://sheffieldfloodclaimsarchive.shu.ac.uk/claimSummary.cfm?claim=1-668

1877, Vickers sold the site of the grinding and part of the mill dam to the brewers Tennant & Moore. 

Rate books of 1850's to the 1870's the Corn Mill is let to Samuel Price. 

Samuel Price snr. & Samuel Price jnr. (firm of Samuel Price & Son) corn miller, Millsands made a Flood Claim: 

https://sheffieldfloodclaimsarchive.shu.ac.uk/claimSummary.cfm?claim=3-2753

Samuel Price snr. had his claim for a broken leg dismissed: 

https://sheffieldfloodclaimsarchive.shu.ac.uk/claimSummary.cfm?claim=9b-54

 

Mary Marsden, spinster, Sam L. Price's, Millsands. 

https://sheffieldfloodclaimsarchive.shu.ac.uk/claimSummary.cfm?claim=4-3714

 

Joseph Walton, engine tenter, Rice's Yard, Millsands. 

(Is this a mistake? Should it be Price's Yard?) 

https://sheffieldfloodclaimsarchive.shu.ac.uk/claimSummary.cfm?claim=5-4660

 

Mary Dobbins, stable yard, Millsands. 

(Was this the stable of Naylor Vickers or the Corn Mill?) 

https://sheffieldfloodclaimsarchive.shu.ac.uk/claimSummary.cfm?claim=3-2604

There are other claimants at "Millsands" ... Some are identified as "Club Yard"  (possibly Young Club in plan of 1792) "New Yard" "Millsands Leather Works" 

Also: 

William Parker, Spade & Shovel Maker, Millsands. 

https://sheffieldfloodclaimsarchive.shu.ac.uk/claimSummary.cfm?claim=7-6132

 

Recorded as Water Power abandoned in 1877 in the 1895 list of wheels. 

The Brewery occupied the site adjacent to Lady's Bridge naming it Exchange Brewery. 

They also made a Flood Claim:

Tennant Brothers, Exchange Brewery, Bridge Street for damage to the Railway Hotel, Wicker. 

https://sheffieldfloodclaimsarchive.shu.ac.uk/claimSummary.cfm?claim=6-5378

 

Naylor Vickers and Co., Millsands Steelworks, Exchange Brewery, Wicker Tilt, etc., Lady's Bridge on Ordnance Survey Map 1890.

https://www.picturesheffield.com/frontend.php?keywords=Ref_No_increment;EQUALS;y06791&pos=70&action=zoom&id=59986

 

Naylor, Vickers and Co, River Don Works (Millsands) 1858.s09790

Information with the image. "This print shows the River Don Works. Lest this should be confusing, it should be clearly stated that this Works was generally known as Millsands, admittedly on the River Don, and not the more famous River Don Works, down Brightside Lane, which were built betwwen 1862 and 1864. Here are the older works of this name, we see crucible furnaces, cementation furnaces and forge chimneys. Note the tall structure, quite clearly a test tower for cast-steel bells."

 

Naylor, Vickers and Co., Millsands Steel Works, Offices in Bridge Street. 1858. s09887

 

Casting a Steel Bell, Naylor Vickers and Co., Millsands Workss10788

Naylor, Vickers and Co. specialised in the casting of steel bells. See: Sheffield Steel, by K.C. Barraclough Ref: 669.1 S For more information see Illustrated Guide to Sheffield and District 1879 , Pawson and Brailsford Ref: 914.274 S

 

Rear of John Kenyon and Co., Millsands and River Don looking towards Sheffield Forge and Rolling Mills Ltd., Millsands Works with Exchange Brewery (extreme left)y02000

 

Lady's Bridge Hotel, junction of Bridge Street and Waingate and rear of Tennant Brothers Ltd., Exchange Brewery, fronting Bridge Street. River Don and Lady's Bridge Hotel. s10485

 

Lady's Bridge Hotel and Whitbread (East Pennines) Ltd., Exchange Brewery, Bridge Street from Waingate. 27th June 1969.u12322

 

For added information about Corn/Town Mill see: 

"Water Power on the Sheffield Rivers, edited by David Crossley with Jean Cass, Neville & Colin Turner."

 

For further information about Naylor, Vickers & Co. See:

Link to:

Naylor, Vickers & Co., steel manufacturer, bell caster, Millsands. 

https://www.sheffieldhistory.co.uk/forums/topic/19521-naylor-vickers-co-steel-manufacturer-bell-caster-millsands/

 

For more information about Tennant Brothers, Exchange Brewery see:

Link to:

https://www.sheffieldhistory.co.uk/forums/topic/14722-tennant-bros-exchange-brewery/

 

[Ponytail]

Properties in Mill Sands and Nursery Street. 1806. 

https://www.picturesheffield.com/frontend.php?keywords=Ref_No_increment;EQUALS;arc04167&pos=11&action=zoom&id=104371

Shows: Ladys Bridge, also Town Mill, now a grinding wheel, and a glue yard.

Tenants / owners named: Joshua Cawton, - Wright, Francis Hoole, Henry Needham, John Sigsworth, Samuel Hall, Porter Newton and Co., John Atkin, and Abraham Wright.

 

 

A plan of the premises purchased of William Vickers by William Hoole. 1826

https://www.picturesheffield.com/frontend.php?keywords=Ref_No_increment;EQUALS;arc03658&pos=9&action=zoom&id=99208

Refers to Wicker Wheel Co.

Marked: River Dun (Don), Town Mill Dam