PICTURE OF SHEFFIELD.
Source: The Project Gutenberg
Sir Richard Phillips's Personal Tour, Part III . 1827
The present Part concludes Newstead, and includes Mansfield, Chesterfield, Dronfield, Sheffield, Rotherham, and Barnsley; and from it we extract the following facts, which almost form a picture of Sheffield
"The drive from Dronfield to Sheffield is pleasant and picturesque. It is the dawn of a region of high hills, a fine range of which stretch westward into Derbyshire, while on every side there are lofty eminences and deep valleys. Sheffield opens magnificently on the right, and its villas and ornamented suburbs stretch full two miles on the eminences to the left. At two or three miles from Sheffield, the western suburbs display a rich and pleasing variety of villas and country-houses. On the left, the Dore-moors, a ridge of barren hills, stretch to an indefinite distance: and on the right, some high hills skreen from sight the town of Sheffield. At a mile distant, the view to the right opens, and from a rise in the road is beheld the fine amphitheatre of Sheffield; the sun displaying its entire extent, and the town being surmounted by fine hills in the rear. The wind carried the smoke to the east of the town, and the sun in the meridian presented as fine a coup d'oeil as can be conceived. The approach was by a broad and well-built street, the population were in activity, and I entered a celebrated place with many agreeable expectations.
"Sheffield is within the bounds of Yorkshire, but on the verge of Derbyshire, and was the most remarkable place and society of human beings which I had yet seen. It stands in one of the most picturesque situations that can be imagined, originally at the south end of a valley surrounded by high hills, but now extended around the western hill; the first as a compact town, and the latter as scattered villas and houses on the same hill, to the distance of two miles from the ancient site. It is connected with London by Nottingham and Derby, and distant from Leeds 33 miles, and York 54 miles. Its foundation was at the junction of two rivers, the Sheaf and the Don; in the angle formed by which once stood the Castle, built by the, Barons Furnival, Lords of Hallamshire; but subsequently in the tenure of the Talbots, Earls of Shrewsbury. Three or four miles from this Castle, on the western hill, stood the Saxon town of Hallam, said to have been destroyed by the Norman invaders, on account of their gallant opposition.
"The town was originally a mere village, dependant on the Castle; but its mineral and subterranean wealth led the early inhabitants to become manufacturers of edged tools, of which arrow heads, spear heads, &c. are presumed to have been a considerable part; a bundle of arrows being at this day in the town arms, and cross arrows the badge of the ancient Cutlers' Company of Sheffield.
"The exhaustless coal seams and iron-stone beds in the vicinity, combined with the ingenuity of the people, conferred early fame on their products; for Chaucer, in alluding to a knife, calls it 'a Sheffield thwittel,'—whittle being among the manufacturers at this day the name of a common kind of knife. The increasing demand for articles of cutlery, and their multiplied variety have gradually enlarged the population of Sheffield to 42,157 in 1821; since which it has considerably increased, and may, in 1829, be estimated at 50,000. In 1821, it contained 8,726 houses, and perhaps 500 have been built since, chiefly villas to the westward, while the compact town is about one mile by half a mile. The principal streets are well built, and there are three old churches, and two new ones lately finished, besides another now building.
"Sheffield presents at this time the extraordinary spectacle of an immense town expanded from a village, without any additional arrangements for its government beyond what it originally possessed as a village. There is no corporation, not even a resident magistrate, and yet all live in peace, decorum, and advantageous mutual intercourse."
"Order is a moral result of religion in Sheffield. No town in the kingdom more universally exhibits the external forms of devotion, and in none are there perhaps a greater number of serious devotees. The largest erections in Sheffield are those for the service of religion, and they are numerous. Besides six old and new churches, adapted to accommodate from 10,000 to 12,000 persons, there are seventeen chapels for the various denominations of Dissenters, capable of affording sitting room for 12,000 or 15,000 more. Except the Unitarian Chapel, and perhaps the Catholic one, the doctrines preached in all the others, are what, in London, and at Oxford and Cambridge, would generally be called Ultra.
"A spectacle highly characteristic of Sheffield, and exemplifying, at the same time the harmony of the several sects, is the juxtaposition of four several chapels, observable on one side of a main street; while nearly adjoining is the church of St. Paul. There are thus every Sunday, in simultaneous local devotion, the ceremonial Catholics, the moral Unitarians, the metaphysical Calvinists, the serious disciples of John Wesley, and the spiritual members of the establishment.
"The whole of the places of worship afford accommodation for about 12,000 Methodists and Dissenters, and about 9,500 of the Church Establishment. So that, if half go twice a day, and half once, 30,000 of the 50,000 inhabitants attend places of worship every Sunday."
"There are the following institutions for the promotion of knowledge and science:—
"1. A Permanent Library supported by the subscriptions of 270 members at one guinea each, and four guineas admission. The books are numerous; but, contrary to the practice of other similar institutions, books of Theology, and the trash of modern Novels, are introduced.
"2. A Literary and Philosophical Society for lectures, and the purchase of apparatus, now very complete, supported by 80 proprietors, at two guineas, besides a still greater number of subscribers at one guinea per annum.
"3. Two News-rooms, in which the London and Provincial papers may be read.
"4. A Public Concert, supported by subscriptions, which amount to £700 per annum, and of which Mr. Fritch, from Derby, is the present leader.
"5. A Subscription Assembly held through the winter, but ill supported.
"6. A Shakspeare Club, for sustaining the drama, consisting of 80 members, who subscribe a guinea per annum, once a-year bespeak a play, and partake of a dinner, to which the sons of Thespis are invited.
"7. An Infirmary on a large scale, and munificently supported.
"8. Two Schools, in which sixty boys and sixty girls are clothed, fed, and educated.
"9. A Lancasterian and a National School well supported, and numerously attended.
"10. Sunday Schools attached to the twenty-three congregations, besides others.
"11. A Society for Bettering the Condition of the Poor, in much activity.
"12. Dorcas' Societies, connected with the churches and chapels, to assist poor married women during child-birth.
"13. A Bible Society on the usual plan.
"14. Two Medical and Anatomical Schools.
"15. A thriving Mechanics' Library.
"Several of these institutions rendezvous in a spacious building called the Music Hall. The concerts are given in the upper room, a suitable saloon; and beneath are the Subscription Library, the Commercial News-room, and the Museum of the Literary and Philosophical Society."
"The staple manufactures of Sheffield embrace the metallic arts in all their varieties. The chief articles are sharp instruments, as knives, scissors, razors, saws, and edge-tools of various kinds, and to these may be added, files and plated goods to a great extent, besides stove-grates and fenders of exquisite beauty. It is altogether performed by hand, therefore the fabrication may always be rendered correspondent with the demand, and may be arrested when the demand ceases. This confers a definite advantage on the manufactory, not enjoyed by other trades which operate in the large way. The result is mediocrity of wealth, and little ruinous speculation. At the same time, the sanguine expectations of manufacturers often lead them to overstock themselves, and as the demand has been, so they expect it always to be.
"Sheffield employs about 15,000 persons in its various branches, and of these full one-third are engaged on knives and forks, pocket-knives, razors, and scissors. The rest are engaged in the plated trades, in saws, files, and some fancy trades. The following is an exact enumeration of the hands employed in the various departments two or three years since:—
"On table-knives 2,240
On spring-knives 2,190
On razors 478
On scissors 806
On files 1,284
On saws 400
On edge-tools 541
On forks 480
In the country 130
In the plated trade nearly 2,000
______
"About 10,549
"Besides those who are employed in Britannia-metal ware, smelting, optical instruments, grinding, polishing, &c. &c., making full 5,000 more.
"There are full 1,700 forges engaged in the various branches of the trades, and of course as many fires, fixing oxygen to make their heat, and evolving the undecomposed carbon in active volumes of steam and smoke.
"The place is usually described as smoky, but I thought it less so than the central parts of London. The manufactures, for the most part, are carried on in an unostentatious way, in small scattered shops, and no where make the noise and bustle of a single great iron works. Compared with them Sheffield is a seat of elegant arts, nevertheless compared with the cotton and silk trades, it must be regarded as dirty and smoky.
"The steel and plated manufactures require much taste, and in some cases make a great display. Hence there were exhibitions of elegant products, not exceeded in the Palais Royal, or any other place abroad, and superior to any of the cutlers' shops in London. All that the lustre of steel ware and silver plate can produce, is, in Sheffield, exhibited in splendid arrangement, in the warerooms of some of the principal manufacturers. In particular Messrs. J. Rodgers and Sons, cutlers to his Majesty, display in a magnificent saloon, all the multiplied elegant products of their own most ingenious manufactory.
"As proofs of their power of manufacturing, Messrs. Rodgers have, in their show-rooms the most extraordinary products of highly finished manufacture which are to be seen in the world. Among them are the following:—
"1. An arrangement in a Maltese cross about 18 inches high, and 10 inches broad, which developes 1,821 blades and different instruments; worthy of a royal cabinet, but in the best situation in the place which produced it.
"2. A knife which unfolds 200 blades for various purposes, matchless in workmanship, and a wonderful display of ingenuity. Its counterpart was presented to the King; and that in possession of Messrs. Rodgers, is offered at 200 guineas, and is worthy of some imperial cabinet.
"3. A knife containing 75 blades, not a mere curiosity, but a package of instruments of real utility in the compass of a knife 4 inches long, 3 inches high, and 1-1/4 inches broad. It is valued at 50 guineas.
"4. A miniature knife, enfolding 75 articles, which weigh but 7 dwts., exquisitely wrought and valued at 50 guineas.
"5. A common quill, containing 24 dozen of scissors, perfect in form, and made of polished steel.
"These are kept as trophies of skill, in the perfect execution of which, the manufacturer considers that he displays his power of producing any useful articles of which the Sheffield manufacture consists. Mr. Rodgers obligingly conducted me through his various workshops, and I discovered that the perfection of the Sheffield manufacture arises from the judicious division of labour. I saw knives, razors, &c. &c., produced in a few minutes from the raw material. [pg 396] I saw dinner knives made from the steel bar and all the process of hammering it into form, welding the tang of the handle to the steel of the blade, hardening the metal by cooling it in water and tempering it by de-carbonizing it in the fire with a rapidity and facility that were astonishing.
"The number of hands through which a common table knife passes in its formation is worthy of being known to all who use them. The bar steel is heated in the forge by the maker, and he and the striker reduce it in a few minutes into the shape of a knife. He then heats a bar of iron and welds it to the steel so as to form the tang of the blade which goes into the handle. All this is done with the simplest tools and contrivances. A few strokes of the hammer in connexion with some trifling moulds and measures, attached to the anvil, perfect, in two or three minutes the blade and its tang or shank. Two men, the maker and striker, produce about nine blades in an hour, or seven dozen and a half per day.
"The rough blade thus produced then passes through the hands of the filer, who files the blade into form by means of a pattern in hard steel. It then goes to the halters to be hafted in ivory, horn, &c. as may be required; it next proceeds to the finisher, to Mr. Rodgers for examination, and is then packed for sale or exportation. In this progression every table-knife, pocket-knife, or pen-knife, passes step by step, through no less than sixteen hands, involving in the language of Mr. Rodgers, at least 144 separate stages of workmanship in the production of a single pen-knife. The prices vary from 2s. 6d. per dozen knives and forks, to £10."
Source: The Project Gutenberg