Deep Pit Coke Ovens

Manor Fields Park, City Road, 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

Archaeological remains

Age

Built circa. 1817-1820, and out of use by 1850. The extents is defined by the outline shown on the 1855 Ordnance Survey map.

Rarity

The ovens at Deep Pit are a well preserved example of beehive oven coking technology dating to the earlier phase of their development. Though there are better preserved examples of coke ovens existing, those at Deep Pit are of great local importance due to their early date, the use of no refractory clay in the earliest examples, and the mix of build forms and constituents. Also of great interest were the rails recovered from the site. Given the early nineteenth-century date of the use of these ovens these are an important example of waggonway rails predating the use of the steam locomotive.

Group Value

Coke production was a major secondary product of the coal industry and an important resource for the metal industry, which was rapidly expanding in Sheffield around the time the ovens were built. Whilst the industrial activity at the site is no longer visible above ground, it is reflected in the survival of Deep Pit as a local placename.

Historic Interest

The Deep Pit colliery at The Manor was sunk sometime between 1797 and 1815, at which time it was possibly transporting coal from the site by means of a horse-drawn wagonway. Whilst it is not known who first opened the colliery, by 1817 it appears to have been operated by the Sheffield Coal Company whose journal records the purchase of the coke ovens there. A later document of 1820 recorded George Fox and Thomas Greensmith as employed as coke burners. It contains similar information for many pits in the Sheffield area, but there is no other mention of coke ovens. A survey of 1828 recorded Deep Pit as 80 yards deep. The Old Series Ordnance Survey map of 1840 shows Deep Pit and a building on the site of the coke ovens comprising a principal north to south orientated range with short western wings at either end. The 1855 Ordnance Survey map illustrates two banks of ovens, one on the site of the main range of 1840 and a further bank to its east, then labelled as ‘ruined’. By the production of the Ordnance Survey map of 1892 the buildings had been cleared and the area planted with trees.

Archaeological Interest

The coke ovens at Deep Pit are of a form known as a 'beehive oven', comprising an oval structure with an opening in both the roof and face, built from refractory bricks and constructed in long banks. The technology dates from the mid-18th century and was used into the 20th century. Preservation, when investigated in 2006, was observed to be fair, with the ovens truncated to just above base level, preserving evidence of their construction and industrial residues. Two phases of construction were identified, including earlier 19th century stone built structures to the north and later brick built ovens, which are believed to have post-dated the adoption of ganister clay in the area in the 1820s. Other remains, including part of a waggonway, were also recorded, illustrating the potential for further associated structures and deposits. The remains of the coke oven complex were reburied in 2006. The report at the time concluded that the remains were of 'great local importance' and that 'having been preserved in-situ, the ovens should continue to be protected'.

18 Sep 2023

10 Jun 2023