Hadfield's Weir - Meadowhall, UK - UK Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

HADFIELD'S WEIR

A CHANGING LANDSCAPE
Like much of the River Don this view has seen massive changes. particularly in the 20th century. Up until the 1900s this was still a rural place of small water mills and farmland. It was then transformed in 15 years into one of the greatest steel. heavy engineering and arms factories in Europe and remained so for 80 years. In the mid-1980s the works were demolished leaving a derelict wasteland. In 1990 the equally vast Meadowhall Mall opened and has since become a destination for millions of shoppers.

WATER MILL TO INDUSTRIAL POWERHOUSE
The Weir provided power for a changing succession of small water-powered mills here from around 1600. Then it was a cutlers workshop known as Parker Wheel. In the early 18th century this had expanded to include a second cutlers wheel and a small iron forge and later still a paper mill which eventually took over the whole site By the 1830s there were two forges and two corn mills and ten years later a steel rolling mill. From the 1850s steam was taking over from water power and by 1897 the corn mills were derelict. But two years later Robert Hadfield. the brilliant metallurgist and steel baron. who was born on nearby Attercliffe Common chose this site to build his new steel plant - the East Hecla Works (named after his first Hecla Works at New Hall Road, also on the River Don - Mount Heca is a volcano in Iceland). It expanded rapidly in the arms-race leading up to the First World War. By 1914 he was employing 6,000 and by the end of the war 15,000. The works covered the whole of the area now occupied by Meadowhall and its car parks. To maximise the site area and control flooding the weir was rebuilt, and the river straightened and canalised below the weir as it appears now. Although known as Hadfield's Weir it probably never served his works with power. Above the weir the river still has a more natural-looking bank with a variety of native and more exotic trees some of which were planted by the steelworks. The East Hecla Works were connected to the main Sheffield-Rotherham railway and to a system of private sidings which passed between different steelworks. allowing them to move heavy forgings and castings between them. The Five Weirs Walk runs along one such line which ran between Hadfields and Jessops, crossing Weedon Street without any sort of precaution other than a man with a red flag! Another line - the Sheffield and District - crossed the site on a raised embankment, part of which can still be seen. The forgotten remains of these old railway embankments are now a rich wildlife area. Hundreds of rabbits can be seen here at dusk. Hadfield's was one of Sheffield's biggest factories throughout the first half of the 20th century but was divided in two after de-nationalisation in the 1950s, one part becoming Dunford Hadfields and the other Osborn Hadfields. Dunford Hadfields closed in the early 1980s after bitter picketing during the 1981 Steel Strike.

MEADOWHALL
The site remained derelict for eight years before construction of the Meadowhall Shopping Centre began. Eventually this resulted in the opening up of the river banks to public access and the construction of the Meadowhall Riverside Park which includes a children's play area and a fishing area.

RIVER WILDLIFE
The water quality of the River Don has improved markedly over the last few decades, and the river and its banks are now able to support an increasing range of plants and animals. But evidence of the industrial legacy of the area still remains. One of the most intriguing signs of this legacy is the large number of Fig trees growing along the banks. These are a relic of a time when raw sewage was discharged directly into the Don and the water temperature of the river was close to 20 degrees Centigrade, due to warm water pumped out of the steelworks. This gave perfect conditions for the tropical Fig seeds to germinate. The bank sides support a wide range of other plant species as well; indeed more species have been recorded here than in many of the more rural parts of the Don catchment upstream. This mix includes a range of native species like Ash and Willow, together with alien species such as Japanese Knotweed and Himalayan Balsam. Japanese Knotweed and Himalayan Balsam are problematic for native species as they rapidly becomes dominant, displacing the native flora. Himalayan balsam does at least support large numbers of bumblebees, attracted to the large pink flowers. Water birds have now returned to this stretch of the Don: Mallard ducks are the most common, but if you are lucky you may catch a glimpse of a Kingfisher, Heron, or Grey Wagtail. In the evening the banks are alive with wild rabbits, and bats hunt up and down the river seeking their insect prey.

RIVER STEWARDS
The Five Weirs Walk and Canal Towpath, known as the Sheffield Blue Loop - are patrolled by the River Stewardship Company, a not for profit social enterprise which works with communities, users and businesses along the waterside to promote good management of part these waterways. Their work includes keeping the walkways and channel clear, improving the habitat, organising and training volunteers, educational and flood-awareness.

To contact the River Stewardship Company / Fleet Curse Blue Loop
Tel 0114 2636 420
To report pollution or dumping call the Environment Agency Tel 0800 807060

Five Weirs Walk Trust — www.fiveweirs.co.uk

Japanese Knotweed (Fallopia japonica) is a large, herbaceous perennial plant, native to Japan, China and Korea. In North America and Europe the species has spread so prolifically it has been classified as an invasive species as it has no predators. It is particularly common along watercourses. In Chinese it is known as Huzhang literally "tiger stick". Other names include Fleeceflower, Himalayan Fleece Vine, Monkeyweed, Hancock's Curse, Elephant Ears, Pea-shooters, Donkey Rhubarb (although it is not a rhubarb), Sally rhubarb and Cemetery Weed.

SPONSORS
This interpretation board part funded from the GHB Ward bequest and through the generosity of the Ramblers and Peak and Northern Footpaths Society.

GHB Ward known as Bert Ward was sometimes called the 'Prince of Ramblers'. Born in 1876 in Sheffield he worked in the steelworks and was an active member of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers (now part of Unite). He was also a lifelong socialist involved with the establishment of the Labour Party. But his passion was cycling, walking and the right of all to roam in the Peak District. In 1900 he founded the Sheffield Clarion Ramblers and later the Federation of Ramblers Associations and was a key organiser of the trespass movement from 1907 to 1935 which eventually led to National Trust's purchase of the Longshaw Estate and the designation of the Peak National Park in 1945. He died in 1957 and a Trust was set up in his memory which has funded this Board.

www.ramblers.org.uk     www.peakandnorthern.org.uk

Photo Credits Historical views provided by Sheffield City Council Local Studies Library www.picturesheffield corn Himalayan Balsam picture provided by Jim Rouquette.