Kevin Turner Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 Recently when walking along the canal towards Tinsley, I noticed a line of six brick arches which are on the tow path side opposite the Spartan Steel Works, until recently the archways have been covered by shrubs. Thanks to the volunteers from the Canal and river trust doing a great job clearing and maintaining the tow path they have revealed the arches. So the question is: Anyone know what these archways were for. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lysanderix Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 Possibly ventilation to a melting shop? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ponytail Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 Could they have been for some kind of ventilation? Perhaps someone with the knowledge of Wiremaking may enlighten us. Advertisement from White's Directory 1900 for J. Shipman and Co., wire and steel manufacturer, Attercliffe Steel Works and Wire Mills, Attercliffe Road. 1900. y03295 https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/J._Shipman_and_Co Unable to find any photographs of the building. On the map, what is "rp" it's on both sides of the building. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lysanderix Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 I was a rolling mill type but my brother in law was at Tinsley Wire Industries and he told me that……Wire drawing saw a wire rod ( often in coil) being drawn to a smaller diameter through a series of hard dies. The heat would have come from intermediate annealing furnaces which softened the steel after work hardening through the dies. As a finishing process some would be heated to a high temperature and then quenched in water or oil so as to harden the steel …..then put through a tempering furnace to produce hardened and tempered steel……so quite a lot of heat around a wire drawing plant! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ponytail Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 1 minute ago, Lysanderix said: Wire drawing saw a wire rod ( often in coil) being drawn to a smaller diameter through a series of hard dies. The heat would have come from intermediate annealing furnaces which softened the steel after work hardening through the dies. As a finishing process some would be heated to a high temperature and then quenched in water or oil so as to harden the steel …..then put through a tempering furnace to produce hardened and tempered steel……so quite a lot of heat around a wire drawing plant! Just as you were submitting this post, I was editing my post and asking what "rp" was on the map as it is both sides of the building. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lysanderix Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 It’s a revision point….not sure what that means! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ponytail Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 Just googled it. "OS surveyors took revision point (RP) photos across Britain to provide a network of surveyed locations. These known spots could then be used to 'control' the position of detail on a large scale map. RPs were often on corners of buildings and other immovable features, and were fixed to centimetre accuracy." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ponytail Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 29 minutes ago, Ponytail said: Just googled it. "OS surveyors took revision point (RP) photos across Britain to provide a network of surveyed locations. These known spots could then be used to 'control' the position of detail on a large scale map. RPs were often on corners of buildings and other immovable features, and were fixed to centimetre accuracy." It appears Edmund has already answered the "rp"question. Thanks Edmund. https://www.sheffieldhistory.co.uk/forums/topic/18218-ordnance-survey-revision-points/ But of course the one we want isn't in the sequence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
History dude Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 Could be drainage channels. Steel works use water for cooling, so the water has to go somewhere. It might have flowed into the canal, with something under the path. As we can't see if there is anything leading into the canal from the pictures. Of course, it could have been rebuilt, the bank side? I also suspect the green strip was a lot lower in the past. I doubt the arches would have provided much ventilation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RLongden Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 10 hours ago, Ponytail said: It appears Edmund has already answered the "rp"question. Thanks Edmund. https://www.sheffieldhistory.co.uk/forums/topic/18218-ordnance-survey-revision-points/ But of course the one we want isn't in the sequence. I think that the ones marked on the old map in the post actually are in the ‘timepix’ database? You can search the map and bring up the images, clicking for a full size image of each.... https://www.timepix.uk/Collection-galleries/Attercliffe-Sheffield (I won't paste the actual images in here, as don't want to flout any copyright restrictions, but here are the links) https://www.timepix.uk/Collection-galleries/Attercliffe-Sheffield/i-h6Zf8F6 https://www.timepix.uk/Collection-galleries/Attercliffe-Sheffield/i-K4fXCJZ This photo actually shows your 'arches' in the bottom of the brick buttress https://www.timepix.uk/Collection-galleries/Attercliffe-Sheffield/i-7S44fnP/A Just a guess, but these arches may have been incorporated into the brick buttress as 'weep holes', to allow the ground water in the steelworks above to permeate through the wall and into the canal? I wouldn't imagine there was much by way of pipework drainage built into the groundworks, so this would allow the water to escape and possibly prevent any issues with the wall buckling under the pressure of waterlogged ground? (Just relating this to an issue I had with my garden wall, albeit on a far smaller scale?!) These 114 photos of Attercliffe on Timepix are a great find! I'll be bookmarking this site and checking back when they load more of the 'rp' reference point photos on there. Always some new discovery, from an unlikely topic of conversation?! Thanks! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ponytail Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 40 minutes ago, RLongden said: I think that the ones marked on the old map in the post actually are in the ‘timepix’ database? You can search the map and bring up the images, clicking for a full size image of each.... https://www.timepix.uk/Collection-galleries/Attercliffe-Sheffield (I won't paste the actual images in here, as don't want to flout any copyright restrictions, but here are the links) https://www.timepix.uk/Collection-galleries/Attercliffe-Sheffield/i-h6Zf8F6 https://www.timepix.uk/Collection-galleries/Attercliffe-Sheffield/i-K4fXCJZ This photo actually shows your 'arches' in the bottom of the brick buttress https://www.timepix.uk/Collection-galleries/Attercliffe-Sheffield/i-7S44fnP/A Just a guess, but these arches may have been incorporated into the brick buttress as 'weep holes', to allow the ground water in the steelworks above to permeate through the wall and into the canal? I wouldn't imagine there was much by way of pipework drainage built into the groundworks, so this would allow the water to escape and possibly prevent any issues with the wall buckling under the pressure of waterlogged ground? (Just relating this to an issue I had with my garden wall, albeit on a far smaller scale?!) These 114 photos of Attercliffe on Timepix are a great find! I'll be bookmarking this site and checking back when they load more of the 'rp' reference point photos on there. Always some new discovery, from an unlikely topic of conversation?! Thanks! Thank you RLongden for taking it further. Some brilliant views of places and buildings long gone. What a find. It's usually when I'm searching for one thing I find something else, tend to get sidetracked and have to satisfy my curiosity then forget what I was looking for. You've probably come up with the answer (or at least the avenue to go down) to the original question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RLongden Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 12 minutes ago, Ponytail said: It's usually when I'm searching for one thing I find something else, tend to get sidetracked and have to satisfy my curiosity then forget what I was looking for. That’s a relief, thought it was just me who did that?! 😆😆😆 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Turner Posted March 7 Author Share Posted March 7 Thank you for all your comments and suggestions, some great pics on timepix site 👌 much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archaeo Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 I’m no wire drawer, but I have studied a lot of industrial buildings in Sheffield as a buildings’ archaeologist. I would expect these to either be arches between foundation piers or windows to a now filled in basement. Ventilating heat from a workshop is a good suggestion, but I have never seen low level vents that look like this. Usually heat is dispersed by having open sides / unglazed windows with shutters and/or roof vents. Just guesses though. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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