Grenoside Reading Room

The History Van is a local mobile heritage project, led by historian, educationalist and museum specialist, Jenny Bland. The project visits schools, village halls and community groups in South Yorkshire and North East Derbyshire, bringing history to life creatively and in many kinds of ways.

For more information see their website www.the historyvan.com

Jenny has sent us a copy of the project's first Newsletter

The aim of our Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) funded project is to create an on-line easily accessible collection of material (a digital archive) about the history of the Civil Parish area and display material on a dedicated Ecclesfield District Archives website.

This means that it will be easier for a wide range of people to find out about the local history of the area just by looking it up on their computer. The project co-ordinator, Christine Handley, is working with the local history groups across the area (Chapeltown, Ecclesfield, Grenoside and High Green) who are all and individuals to both share information and learn more about local history.

The HLF project runs until the end of October 2016 and during that time we will be:
● gathering material which will be sorted, catalogued, indexed and digitised to create the archive;
● running training courses to develop skills in all aspects of archiving; and in interviewing and recording memories;
● supporting young and older people to enable them to interview and record residents talking about their life experiences in the local area; and
● organising family workshops, drop-in activities, exhibitions and displays to publicise the project and local history.

There will be plenty of opportunities for everyone to get involved, you don't have to be a history expert. Young or old, we all have a story to tell and a photograph or memory to share.

For more details of events and training sessions, and to get involved, please contact the Project Officer, Christine Handley, at the Council Offices, Mortomley Lane, High Green, Sheffield S35 3H5; telephone: 0114 2845095; or email christine.handley@ecclesfield-gcgov.uk

At the annual general meeting of the trustees of the Grenoside Old School Charity held on 6th February 2015, the annual report and accounts for the year ended 3 April 2014 were presented. To view these please click on the link below:
Report and Accounts to 3 April 2014

Crucible Furnace Cellar at 2 Top Side, Grenoside
NB For visits to Crucible Furnace at Top Side
See Poster

The invention of crucible steel, the first method of producing a homogenous high-quality steel, was crucial in transforming Sheffield into a major metal-working centre of innovation. A late-C19 writer claimed that by 1835 there were 56 crucible furnaces in Sheffield and by 1847 there were 97. The Grenoside example is one of around only eighteen furnaces known to survive.

The Grenoside crucible furnace is significant in understanding the development of the crucible steel trade in Sheffield as it is early in date and built in a rural location. While the majority of the other remaining furnaces are urban and later C19 or even early C20 in date, documentary evidence places the date of this crucible furnace at c 1797, which is earlier than any other known surviving example.

The crucible furnace cellar at 2 Top Side, Grenoside, is a Grade II listed building. 
For the full text of the listing in 'British Listed Buildings' see link below:
Crucible Furnace at 2 Topside Grenoside