Air pollution Sheffield-history

[Guest bow]

Hello,

I would be interested if anyone has any information or photographs related to levels of air pollution in Sheffield over the last century and a half.For example, was air pollution in Sheffield something that affected a wide area i.e it covered the whole city or was it more localised to specific areas.I have read that the industrial haze from Sheffield could be seen as far away as Derwent Water?I would just like to try and get some idea about what levels were like and how big an area would haave been affected.Also what were the health implications?

Many thanks for any information

Ron

[dunsbyowl1867]

Hello,

I would be interested if anyone has any information or photographs related to levels of air pollution in Sheffield over the last century and a half.For example, was air pollution in Sheffield something that affected a wide area i.e it covered the whole city or was it more localised to specific areas.I have read that the industrial haze from Sheffield could be seen as far away as Derwent Water?I would just like to try and get some idea about what levels were like and how big an area would haave been affected.Also what were the health implications?

Many thanks for any information

Ron

Rest assured there wouldn't have been much in Dore & Totley lol

[vox]

I read somewhere that the West End was generally better as far as air quality is concerned. Did I read that the general wind direction is west to east, and that, coupled with the elevation, is why it's the posh side of town?

Don't know if this is fact or not.

Just realised that it's your first post Ron.

Hello and welcome.

[vox]

Found this pdf.

An Air-Pollution History of Metallurgical Innovation in Iron- and Steel-Making: A Geochemical Archive of Sheffield

I only read the introduction but it seems that it could be of interest.

Air_pollution.pdf

[vox]

George Orwell described the city of Sheffield in his book “The Road to Wigan Pier”.

“Sheffield, I suppose, could justly claim to be called the ugliest town in the Old World……….And the stench! If at rare moments you stop smelling sulphur it is because you have begun smelling gas…….Once I halted in the street and counted the factory chimneys I could see; there were thirty three of them, but there would have been far more if the air had not been obscured by smoke.”

[Guest bow]

Hello

Thanks alot for the reply.I am trying to get some kind of idea about what kind of radius in miles from the source of emissions would have been effected-for example 2 or 3 miles or more?

Thanks again

Ron

[Bayleaf]

Hello

Thanks alot for the reply.I am trying to get some kind of idea about what kind of radius in miles from the source of emissions would have been effected-for example 2 or 3 miles or more?

Thanks again

Ron

I suppose it would vary a lot with wind direction and strength. As vox said, the prevailing westerly winds meant the west side had better air quality hence its'posh' status. But the worst pollution was when low cloud was below the tops of the surrounding hills. All the smoke etc was trapped beneath the cloudbase, and I can remember a few times in the 1950's when it went dark as night in the middle of the afternoon. We also had our share of pea-souper fogs and smogs in the 50's and 60's.

Re your comment about Derwent Water, I assume you mean the Derwent Dams,rather than Cumbria, in which case you probably could see the pall over Sheffield .

[DaveH]

I read somewhere that the West End was generally better as far as air quality is concerned. Did I read that the general wind direction is west to east, and that, coupled with the elevation, is why it's the posh side of town?

Don't know if this is fact or not.

Just realised that it's your first post Ron.

Hello and welcome.

This is true vox.

The predominant winds in Britain are south westerly, coming off the Atlantic from the Carribean and so give us mild but wet weather most of the time.

This means that smoke and pollution is generally carried to the north east, leaving the southwest (Dore and Totley) "clean"

Most of Sheffield's heavy industry and pollution was in the north east of the city anyway (Attercliffe and Tinsley) so would be carried out of the City straight away heading for Rotherham and Doncaster

Scandinavia (Norway and Sweeden) has for a long time blamed Britain for acid rain which has caused deforrestation in their countries. Burning coal produces sulphur dioxide (Sulfur Dioxide), the gas mainly responsible for acid rain and it is carried from industrial Yorkshire (mainly the Drax power station complex these days, - not so much Sheffield) high in the atmosphere in a northeasterly direction across the North Sea. When the air cools over Scandinavia water vapour in it condenses and falls as rain. Sulphur Dioxide is very soluble in water and so gets washed out of the air with the rain by forming sulphurous acid (sulfuric (IV) acid) which falls as acid rain causing the damage to plants leading to deforrestation.

NOTE FROM A CHEMIST (Me!)

The international naming of chemical is in brackets.

Having spent over 30 years teaching students how to spell SULPHUR properly it is really annoying that the International spelling is now SULFUR (or SULFER), using exactly the wrong spellings that I have been correecting all these years

I suppose they will want to spelll PHOSPHORUS as FOSFORUS next

or will ELEFANT become acceptable for Elephant? <_<

[madannie77]

NOTE FROM A CHEMIST (Me!)

The international naming of chemical is in brackets.

Having spent over 30 years teaching students how to spell SULPHUR properly it is really annoying that the International spelling is now SULFUR (or SULFER), using exactly the wrong spellings that I have been correecting all these years

I suppose they will want to spelll PHOSPHORUS as FOSFORUS next

or will ELEFANT become acceptable for Elephant?

The change of spelling of sulphur makes me :angry: :angry: for the same reason: too many years with one spelling, only to be told not too long back that it is now different. It is enough to make me rant, because I don't sulphur fools gladly.

Wonder how long before aluminium officially loses an i?

[DaveH]

The change of spelling of sulphur makes me :angry: :angry: for the same reason: too many years with one spelling, only to be told not too long back that it is now different. It is enough to make me rant, because I don't sulphur fools gladly.

Wonder how long before aluminium officially loses an i?

Don't get me started madannie, I regularly have arguments not so much about the spelling but the pronunciation of chemical names (as aluminium and aluminum)

For example is titanium tit - anium or tie -tanium?

[RichardB]

Having spent over 30 years teaching students how to spell SULPHUR properly it is really annoying that the International spelling is now SULFUR (or SULFER), using exactly the wrong spellings that I have been correecting all these years

Sulfur ? When did that happen ? Very sad.

[DaveH]

Sulfur ? When did that happen ? Very sad.

Sulfur was approved by IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry) in 1995 as the Internationally accepted name.

This apparently is taken from the French word for sulphur.

Stuart0742 may wish to note that IUPAC is based in Geneva

Sulfer is the Americanised version of the same word

Obviously the Americans aren't going to give up THEIR poor spelling for an International standard are they?

They even spell metre as meter and than don'y bother using it because they still have feet and inches

Sulphur is our traditional spelling of the word.

The element has been known from ancient times but unfortunately centuries of spelling it like this seem to count for nothing these days.

All exam boards in England & wales that run public examinations in chemistry now use the sulfur spelling

They do not penalise students if they spell it as sulphur in their answers

...Yet!

[Guest bow]

Hi

Many thanks for the replies.Does anyone have any information about what pollution levels were like around the turn of the century (i.e 1900's)>i presume that at this time pollution was more prevalent given the abscence of smoke control measures.Is it fair to assume that areas such as attercliffe and darnall would have experienced worst levels of poillution given their north easterly position and proximity to heavy industry?

Regards

Ron

[Bayleaf]

Hi

Many thanks for the replies.Does anyone have any information about what pollution levels were like around the turn of the century (i.e 1900's)>i presume that at this time pollution was more prevalent given the abscence of smoke control measures.Is it fair to assume that areas such as attercliffe and darnall would have experienced worst levels of poillution given their north easterly position and proximity to heavy industry?

Regards

Ron

I wonder if they measred such things then, or just accepted them as a fact of life, like the 50's adverts promoting cigarettes as a benefit to health?

Attercliffe and Darnall would have been in the middle of the heavy industry, but most of the pollution they generated would have been over Rotherham and to the east .

An indication of the pollution levels in the city can be gained by looking at the photos of Sheffield buildings on Picture Sheffield. They are pretty uniformly black, with the possible exception of the central library which is a dirty grey, having started out in 1932 as white.

[Guest bow]

Thank again for the replies.There seem to be some conflicting views around with regards to the extent of air pollution in Sheffield-particularly the east end-i.e attercliffe/Darnall.I Have read that air pollution in Sheffield used to be pretty bad-but you seem to say that Rotherham would have faired worst.However,when there was little or no wind to carry the smoke to Rotherham or as someone said when the smoke was trapped beneath cloud then conditions must have been bad bad in the east of Sheffield?

Also would areas at higher elevation around the north east of Sheffield i.e Shiregreen etc-would they have suffered from smogs etc as elsewhere?

Thanks for any more info

Ron

[dunsbyowl1867]

Thank again for the replies.There seem to be some conflicting views around with regards to the extent of air pollution in Sheffield-particularly the east end-i.e attercliffe/Darnall.I Have read that air pollution in Sheffield used to be pretty bad-but you seem to say that Rotherham would have faired worst.However,when there was little or no wind to carry the smoke to Rotherham or as someone said when the smoke was trapped beneath cloud then conditions must have been bad bad in the east of Sheffield?

Also would areas at higher elevation around the north east of Sheffield i.e Shiregreen etc-would they have suffered from smogs etc as elsewhere?

Thanks for any more info

Ron

There are lots of stories about women having to regularly wash their curtains because they turned yellow due to the Sulphur in the air. My Nan lived at Brightside and told the same story

See this song by Ray Hearne from the Radio 2 Folk Ballards

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/radioballads/2..._curtains.shtml

[DaveH]

There are lots of stories about women having to regularly wash their curtains because they turned yellow due to the Sulphur in the air. My Nan lived at Brightside and told the same story

See this song by Ray Hearne from the Radio 2 Folk Ballards

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/radioballads/2..._curtains.shtml

Even though the air is much cleaner now our curtains, and in particular the net curtains which are closer to the window and are invariably supposed to be white, still turn yellow.

I thought that this effect was something to do with long exposure of the material to sunlight and uv radiation rather than any pollution.

With industrial pollution being what it was in Sheffield at the time in question the curtains would be more likely to turn black with the high level of soot particles in the air from the burning of coal. The same effect that has already been commented on about the colour of the exterior of our buildings.

I have always associated yellowing (or in more extreme cases, browning) of materials inside a house to be caused by tar and nicotine from heavy smoking.

[dunsbyowl1867]

A couple of notable dates in 1855

13th February

First case under the bye-law requiring the consumption of smoke brought before the magistrates.

14th February

Town Council: Smoke bye-laws - arrangements with the gas companies.

[Bayleaf]

Bit of an aside really, but my favourite cartoonist Bill Tidy wrote a book many years ago entitled "The Great Eric Ackroyd Disaster". It concerned Eric, a smoke mixer at the Grindley Smokeworks, who one Sunday morning flicks the wrong switch and stops the smoke for a few seconds. Unfortunately the Grindley Smokeworks Coughing Choir are practising, and the fresh air destroys their coughing ability. Eric is exiled to London and becomes famous as a northern exile, but finally saves the Choir from defeat at the competition at the Albert Hall.

[DaveH]

A couple of notable dates in 1855

13th February

First case under the bye-law requiring the consumption of smoke brought before the magistrates.

14th February

Town Council: Smoke bye-laws - arrangements with the gas companies.

There is a law to do with traction engines and road steam vehicles which requires them to be able to "consume their own smoke".

What exactly this means and how it is interpreted has long been open to debate.

It could mean that the fire burns so fiercely and hot that the smoke itself is burnt (to carbon dioxide) so there is no visible emission of smoke from the chimney.

This does work under load, but once the regulator is pulled back smoke is formed, and without the steam blast now falls very quickly to ground level, covering everything and everyone in the close vicinity.

It could mean that the smoke has to be trapped or otherwise prevented from coming out of the chimney, for example by causing it collect in the smoke box.

This is hardly practical in a moving vehicle in which the load on the engine is being constantly varied.

Many engine owners were fined for smoke emmision under the "the engine must consume its own smoke" regulations.

[dunsbyowl1867]

Thank again for the replies.There seem to be some conflicting views around with regards to the extent of air pollution in Sheffield-particularly the east end-i.e attercliffe/Darnall.I Have read that air pollution in Sheffield used to be pretty bad-but you seem to say that Rotherham would have faired worst.However,when there was little or no wind to carry the smoke to Rotherham or as someone said when the smoke was trapped beneath cloud then conditions must have been bad bad in the east of Sheffield?

Also would areas at higher elevation around the north east of Sheffield i.e Shiregreen etc-would they have suffered from smogs etc as elsewhere?

Thanks for any more info

Ron

I've just spoken to my dad who grew up on Shiregreen in the 1940s/1950s and yes Shiregreen did suffer from smog. He said what you had to remember was that widespread use of coal was possibly a bigger factor than that from industry. He said it was at worst on dank winter days and some days you couldn't see across the road and remembers travelling on the bus through Pitsmoor and on the high ground being unable to see across the valley - so much so that after the Clean Air act came in views appeared that he had never seen before! He also mentioned having specks on his face and shirt and the slightly suphuric smell in the air.

[Lyn 1]

I've just spoken to my dad who grew up on Shiregreen in the 1940s/1950s and yes Shiregreen did suffer from smog. He said what you had to remember was that widespread use of coal was possibly a bigger factor than that from industry. He said it was at worst on dank winter days and some days you couldn't see across the road and remembers travelling on the bus through Pitsmoor and on the high ground being unable to see across the valley - so much so that after the Clean Air act came in views appeared that he had never seen before! He also mentioned having specks on his face and shirt and the slightly suphuric smell in the air.

I agree Shiregreen did suffer from smog into the early 1960s to my knowledge. I recall my husband walking me home when we were courting and going past the allotments on Windmill Lane c1962/3, we actually bumped into someone as the smog was so dense. You really could not see in front of you. It was awful, quite eerie as you could hear muffled sounds but couldn't see things. Excuse me telling you this but it is true - If you blew your nose it came out sooty so it was obvious what must have settled on our lungs. My husband comes from Grimesthorpe and they all said the only time they saw the sky was when the works closed down for the two weeks holidays, 'Wakes weeks'.

Lyn

[dunsbyowl1867]

Search on Picture Sheffield for a few choice views under "smoke"

http://www.picturesheffield.com/cgi-bin/pi...ff.refno=s10930

[SteveHB]

I know this is one of Dunsby's favourites

[Bayleaf]

Excuse me telling you this but it is true - If you blew your nose it came out sooty so it was obvious what must have settled on our lungs.

Lyn

I remember the nose-blowing too Lyn. I also remember if you wrapped a scarf round your face there'd be a sooty patch where you'd breathed through it!