Cocker Brothers Cementation Furnace

Adj. 31-33 Nursery Street, Sheffield

Other site, structure or landscape

Assets that cannot fit any of the other categories. This category includes sites of archaeological interest, where the original form and function may not be apparent without the use of archaeological techniques and interpretation.

Asset type

Preserved archaeological site.

Age

The cementation furnaces date to the first half of the nineteenth century, with a crucible furnace added by c.1852.

Rarity

The remains at the site were curated for preservation in situ. Cementation furnaces were introduced into Sheffield in the early eighteenth century, with over 200 present by 1860, and the last built c.1880. Very few now remain, with most standing examples statutorily designated. Buried remains have also been subject to great loss owing to subsequent redevelopment on former industrial sites within the centre of Sheffield. The remains at the site are thought to be one of the best preserved examples in the country.

Group Value

Research has confirmed that crucible and cementation furnaces were particularly associated with Sheffield and its environs, with innovation and development of the technology directly contributing to the city's international pre-eminence of reputation in the manufacturing of quality metal goods. The survival of important steel making structures at this site preserves evidence of this important technology and forms part of an important curated group of remains across the city that have been identified for preservation in situ.

Historic Interest

The Cocker Brothers wire mill was founded on the site in the first half of the nineteenth century, and formed part of the families wider industrial concerns including another site nearby on Blonk Street. It forms an early example of an integrated steelworks, containing furnaces for steel conversion and refining, and workshops for the manufacturing of files, wire, needles, hackles, pins and spiral springs. The premises changed hands several times during the twentieth century when it was known as the Perseverance Steel Works and later the Sentinel Steel Works. Between 1954 and 1976 the works were demolished and the site remained unused until its redevelopment as a pocket park c.2010. The site is of historical interest in relation to its association with the development of early nineteenth century industrial concerns within Sheffield, and particularly in relation to the illustrative technological interest embodied in the visible above ground remains.

Archaeological Interest

The site preserves the buried remains of a cementation furnace, intact at chest level and complete with stoke holes, flue system and a wall scar preserving the hyperbolic profile of the furnace cone. This site compares favourably with that at the Bower Springs Furnace, a Scheduled Monument. Although, in contrast to the latter, the Nursery Street site also likely contains the buried remains of additional furnaces (including a further cementation furnace and crucible furnace) and greater survival of walls, surfaces and deposits of the associated works. The remains are of significant research interest and have the potential to contribute to topics identified in the South Yorkshire Historic Environment Research Framework including improving understanding of the relationship between existing and emerging technologies of the post-medieval period; innovation in steel-making and tool production; the development of large-scale industrial concerns; and the potential evidence of undocumented or poorly documented industrial processes.

15 Aug 2022

15 Jun 2022