Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet

Sheffield


In the days before steel mills, metalworking was carried out in hamlet communities like Abbeydale, situated by rivers and dams that were harnessed for water power. This industrial museum, now swallowed up by Sheffield's suburban sprawl, gives an excellent run-down of that innocent era, with restored 18th-century forges, workshops and machinery including the original, working water wheel. It's 4 miles southwest of the centre on the A621 (towards the Peak District).