Sheffield at Work

Sheffield has been dubbed ‘Steel City’ but it was and still is much more than that, and it is for much more than manufacturing metal ingots that Sheffield earned its national and international reputation. For centuries it produced cutlery, files, a vast range of agricultural implements, Old Sheffield Plate, silverware, crinoline wires, umbrella frames, the railway lines that transformed Britain’s transport system, and shells and armour plate for the armed forces. And then there are the mushy peas, Liquorice Allsorts, Henderson’s Relish and Izal disinfectant! Today Sheffield is a prime example of a post-industrial city and has the reputation of being the country’s greenest city. Its two universities attract more than 60,000 students every year. The Lower Don Valley, described in the 1970s as an industrial wasteland, is now crowded with edge-of-town shopping, entertainment and sporting destinations. But manufacturing still continues, with firms manufacturing forged and cast steel for the engineering, nuclear and petrochemical industries worldwide and special steels for the aerospace, oil and automotive industries. At the other end of the scale individual craftsmen still produce bespoke knives in small workshops. Join authors Melvyn and Joan Jones as they uncover the working life of Sheffield past and present through informative text and a wide range of related images.