In 1584, William Beighton, a cutler of Stumperlowe left to his sons in his will "all my interest terms titles and possession which I have in and upon one watter whele called Potar Whele which I have of the grant of the said Lord". This is the earliest reference to a wheel on the site. The description of this wheel matches one that a Mr Shepherd held the tenancy of in 1794. There were no similar wheels in the area, which leads us to the conclusion that the references are to the same wheel. From the 1820s, the wheel was occupied by a family called Hinde. They worked there for over a hundred years until the end of Shepherd Wheel's working life in about 1930. In William Beighton's time, the land was originally owned by Gilbert Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, who was Lord of the Manor of Sheffield. When he died, his estates passed to Thomas Howard, who became Duke of Norfolk. The land remained with the Dukes of Norfolk until 1900, when Sheffield City Council bought Whiteley Woods to make a public park. Shepherd Wheel was included in this public park. The present buildings date from c1780, during the time that Edward Shepherd—after whom the site is now named—was the tenant of the wheel (1749–1794). Throughout the 19th century the wheel was held by the Hinde family, who operated it until its closure in 1930.
The site has three different areas to visit; two hulls or workshops, a waterwheel and the dam or pond. Inside the hulls, you will be able to see the grindstones and other working machinery. The working water wheel provides power via gearing to drive the grindstones. You can also walk up towards the dam where you can see the weir that diverts the water from the River Porter and into dam, where the water is stored to power the water wheel. Both grinding workshops at Shepherd Wheel were powered by a single waterwheel. The wheel is 5.5 metres high and 2 metres wide and is made of cast and wrought iron, elm and oak and bronze. The water to turn the wheel comes from the large dam where water is diverted from the River Porter. The waterwheel turned twenty grindstones and several “glazing” stones. The grindstones were used to create a fine, sharp cutting edge on the blade. The final smoothing of the blade was done on the glazing stones, before they left Shepherd Wheel for polishing. Some of the grinders who worked at the wheel may have worked for the tenant who rented the building. Others might have rented time on the stones for their own grinding work. Industrial buildings with just one function like this could be found all over Sheffield, and are quite different to somewhere like Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet, where many jobs were carried out on the same site.
The collections at Shepherd Wheel consist of tools and equipment displayed within the grinding hulls of the building. The objects include grindstones, saddles and edge tools, all of which are on display. Assistance dogs are welcome. The site is mainly wheelchair accessible. There are many objects which may be handled.
Location : Shepherd Wheel, Whiteley Woods, Off Hangingwater Road, Sheffield S11 2YE
Transport: Sheffield Train (National Rail) then bus. Bus Routes : 83 and 8A stop nearby.
Opening Times : Weekends + Bank Holidays 10:00 - 16:00
Tickets : Free
Tel: 0114 2722106
