Sheffield Archives and Local Studies: History Key Stage 2 Unit 7 (Local
History Study – How the locality was affected by a significant local event)
The Great Sheffield Flood 1864
Sheffield in the 1800s
General view of Sheffield
from the station, 1800s
(Sheffield Local Studies
Library Picture Sheffield:
s11478)
• Look at this picture showing Sheffield in the 1800s.
• Why do you think people might have wanted to get water from outside the town centre?
• Dirty water in polluted, overcrowded towns like Sheffield was a problem.
• A disease called cholera (spread by dirty water) killed over 400 people alone in Sheffield in
1832.
• Sheffield Waterworks Company was set up in 1830 to provide Sheffield with clean,
unpolluted water from outside the town.
The Dale Dyke Reservoir
•
•
As Sheffield grew in size, in order to cope with the demand for clean,
disease-free water, Sheffield Waterworks Company built a series of
reservoirs (large pools where water is collected and stored) in the
Loxley Valley in the hills around Bradfield.
One of these reservoirs was Dale Dyke Reservoir (also known at
the time as Bradfield Reservoir) built between 1859 and 1864.
View of Dale Dyke Reservoir, 1864
(Sheffield Local Studies Library Picture
Sheffield: t01546)
Sheffield Waterworks plan showing
the intended Dale Dyke Reservoir,
1852
(Sheffield Archives: YWA/10/1/2)
The Bursting of the Dale Dyke Dam
•
•
•
•
Picture of the bursting of
Dale Dyke Dam, 1864
(Sheffield Local Studies
Library Picture Sheffield:
s00972)
•
•
During severe storms on the night of
11th March 1864 part of the wall of the
reservoir dam (the barrier holding back
the water) collapsed.
A workman had spotted a crack in the
dam wall earlier in the day and the
Sheffield Waterworks Company Senior
Engineer, John Gunson, was called out
to investigate.
Some local people heard about the
crack in the dam and got ready to leave
their homes, fearing a flood, but most
people in the area had no idea about
the problem with the dam wall.
Before John Gunson realised how
serious the problem was (and could
send out an official warning) the dam
burst.
This sent water gushing in a 30 foot
high wave down the Loxley Valley,
sweeping away trees, bridges, buildings
and people as they slept in in their
beds.
The Sheffied Flood was the biggest
disaster to hit Britain during the reign of
Queen Victoria (1837 – 1901).
Plan of the Loxley Valley showing areas
affected by the Sheffield Flood of 1864
(Sheffield Local Studies Library Picture
Sheffield: u01724)
Path of the Flood
• The red arrow on the left
shows the route of the flood:
from Loxley to Malin Bridge
(where the worst damage was
caused) through Hillsborough
(where the flood met the river
Don) and down through the
Wicker into Sheffield town
centre.
• The water was still 6 feet high
at Lady’s Bridge at the Wicker.
• Can you spot the person in
the water in the picture on the
left?
View of flood water racing through the
Wicker, 1864 [reproduced in The Collapse
of the Dale Dyke Dam by G. Amey]
(Sheffield Archives: AME/LOCAL)
Damage and Destruction
Photograph of Wisewood Rolling Mill
building destroyed in the flood, 1864
(Sheffield Local Studies Library Picture
Sheffield: t00156)
• 39 houses were completely
destroyed in the flood along with
17 workshops/warehouses, 4 mills,
3 shops and 2 pubs/inns.
• Hundreds more buildings were
partly destroyed.
• Over 4000 houses were flooded.
Scene of a garden at Hillsborough
after the flood, 1864
(Sheffield Archives: MD8058)
Photograph showing remains of housing
at Malin Bridge, 1864
(Sheffield Local Studies Library Picture
Sheffield: t01739)
Site of the Stag Inn, Sheffield (only the
cellars remained after the flood), 1864
(Sheffield Local Studies Library Picture
Sheffield: t00162)
Photograph of ruins at Owlerton, 1864
(Sheffield Local Studies Library Picture
Sheffield: s00961)
Picture of damaged houses on Brick
Row, Hillsborough, 1864
(Sheffield Local Studies Library Picture
Sheffield: s00580 )
Scene of flood damage at Malin
Bridge, 1864
(Sheffield Archives: MD8058)
• What do you think
people are doing in
these pictures?
Picture of ruins of the Cleakum Inn,
Malin Bridge, 1864
(Sheffield Local Studies Library Picture
Sheffield: s00976)
Reporting the News
Sheffield Telegraph Newspaper, 12th
March 1864
(Sheffield Local Studies Library
Newspaper Collection)
‘We have to narrate this morning one of the
most terrific calamities that has ever visited
this part of the country…houses have been
washed down, streets have been turned in to
rivers…some have been swept down in the
streets and drowned, some have died in
rooms that were for the moment turned into
miniature reservoirs, full from ceiling to floor
of water…’
‘It was our painful duty to record on Saturday
that a frightful flood had been caused by the
bursting of the embankment of the new
reservoir of the Sheffield Waterworks Company
at Bradfield…Down to Malin Bridge about two
miles from Sheffield, the water was hemmed in
by the steep sides of the valley… Above Malin
Bridge everything in the way of the flood was
clean swept away…’
Sheffield Independent Newspaper,
14th March 1864
(Sheffield Local Studies Library
Newspaper Collection)
Juliana Gatty’s Diary, 12th March 1864
(Sheffield Archives: HAS41/9)
• Look at the extracts from Juliana
Gatty’s diary written just after the
flood (use the transcript on the right
to help you!)
• Which unusual place does Juliana
say dead bodies were washed into?
• The Midland Station (Sheffield’s
Railway Station) was located in the
Wicker in 1864 rather than its
present location.
• How many bodies does Juliana
report as being found in the Sheffield
Workhouse?
“Terrible news of a great flood in
the Don Valley. The New
Reservoir at Bradfield has burst &
the water tearing down to
Sheffield has swept off everything
in its course. Lower Bradfield
entirely gone but one house. The
Barrack wall washed down. The
Wicker 5 foot in water & bodies
washed into the Midland Station.
The water rose above the Lady
Bridge. . . . Poor June in great
anxiety about her brother. . . .”
Death and Escape
Photograph of Henry
Whittles’ ruined
house at Hill Bridge,
1864
(Sheffield Local
Studies Library
Picture Sheffield:
s10953)
• How did Henry
Whittles manage
to save his wife
and five children
from drowning in
the house
pictured above?
Henry Whittles’ account
from Harrison’s History of
the Sheffield Flood, 1864
(Sheffield Archives:
HAR/LOCAL)
‘‘I was awoke by the flood breaking open the doors and
windows. I thought at first it was someone breaking in to
rob the house. I jumped out of bed, and set off to go
downstairs. The first step I took was in the water. I ran
back, took my wife out of bed, and also the two children
who were in the same bed. One of the children was only
nine days old. When I had taken them out of bed, the
outside walls of the house went directly, and the bed on
which my wife and children had been lying was swept
away. Another little boy, two years old, I snatched from the
bed, just as it was going down, and flung him over my
head into another corner of the chamber, which hung by a
piece of the wall, and where there was a mattress.”
“The whole house was then swept away, except the corner on
which I had placed my wife and children, on the little bed. The
corner stood, and I held them there a long time. They were
covered with water…The water tore my shirt off my back…I held
my wife and children on the mattress in the corner for more than
an hour. While I was holding them, I saw two persons float past
in the water, so near to me that I could have touched them both;
but if I had attempted to do so I should have lost my wife and
children, as they were only kept where they were by my holding
on to them. The water smelt awful, like a grave that had been
newly opened...’’
Photograph of Mrs Kirk of Damflask with
her dog and cat, who all survived the flood
despite her house being swept away, 1864
(Sheffield Local Studies Library Picture
Sheffield: s08752)
• Mrs Kirk of Damflask was one of the lucky few
who heard about warnings about the crack in
the dam wall and got ready to leave her house
before the flood struck.
• She had a very narrow escape after risking
her life to return to the house just before it was
swept away in the flood.
• Why did she return to the house?
‘Mrs Kirk had gone to bed, but got up at once when
the warning was given, and hurried out of the house
and across the bridge, with nothing on but her night
dress. At this moment, she remembered that her cat
and dog, both favourite animals, were in the house.
She went back to fetch them, and returned across
the bridge with the cat under one arm and the dog
under the other. She had not been out of the house
more than a minute or two when the house and
bridge were swept away.’
Account from Harrison’s History
of the Sheffield Flood, 1864
(Sheffield Archives:
HAR/LOCAL)
Account from Harrison’s History of the
Sheffield Flood, 1864
(Sheffield Archives: HAR/LOCAL)
‘At Hill Bridge, was the Free Masons’ Arms
Public House, kept by William Pickering. The
house was almost destroyed… and all the
furniture swept away.
View of demolished Hill Bridge, Walkley
Lane, Hillsborough, showing the ruins of
the Free Masons Inn on the left 1864
(Sheffield Local Studies Library Picture
Sheffield: s00909)
• According to the account on the
right, how did the 8 year old girl who
was inside the ruined pub (shown in
the picture) on the night of the flood
manage to survive when everyone
else drowned?
In the house, at the time of the flood, besides
Pickering himself, were his wife, his sister, a
lodger, and a little girl, a niece, eight years of
age. All were drowned, except the little girl.
She slept by herself in a bed in a chamber
on the top storey of the house, higher than
the line to which the water rose.
When the neighbours went to the house on
the morning after the flood, they found that
nearly everything had been swept away; but
on going to the upper chamber they were
astonished to find the little girl in bed and
fast asleep. They awoke her, and took her to
a place of safety. The house was swept
away except a little corner on which the girl’s
bed stood.’
• How do you think this
man, Joseph Chapman,
from Hillsborough,
whose house was
destroyed in the flood,
managed to survive?
• Joseph climbed into
the box and was kept
afloat and safe whilst
his house and his
possessions were
swept away.
Joseph Chapman, a tailor from
Hillsborough
(Sheffield Local Studies Library Picture
Sheffield: s08751)
‘In a house at Hill Bridge, lived Robert
Graham, his wife, and six children.
They were awoken by the water
breaking into their bedroom…in a few
minutes a brick wall of the house fell
upon them, and knocked them down
into the water.
View of ruins of Hill Bridge, Hillsborough,
1864
(Sheffield Local Studies Library Picture
Sheffield: t00166)
• How did Robert Graham and
his family manage to escape
from drowning?
Account from Harrison’s History of the
Sheffield Flood, 1864
(Sheffield Archives: HAR/LOCAL)
Robert Graham…managed to get his
wife and children out of the water, and
place them all upon a bed…The water
raised the bed off the floor and floated it
about. Graham had great difficulty in
preventing his wife and children from
tumbling out, but he begged them to
keep quiet, and not to try to escape.
They remained where they were, in the
bed, floating about, until the flood
subsided, and the bed again rested
upon the chamber floor…At length
assistance came, and all the family
were rescued.’
Picture of Rollo the dog and a child,
1864
(Sheffield Local Studies Library Picture
Sheffield: u01735)
• What do you think is happening in this scene?
• Rollo the dog was said to have saved the child from drowning.
Picture of damaged houses on
Neepsend Lane, 1864
(Sheffield Local Studies Library
Picture Sheffield: ss00593)
• How
did John Parke, who lived on
Orchard Lane, Sheffield manage to
avoid drowning?
“The door of Parke’s house was
burst open by the water, and a
horse floated into the room…”
Account of John Parke’s of Orchard
Lane, Sheffield, from Harrison’s History
of the Sheffield Flood, 1864
(Sheffield Archives: HAR/LOCAL)
“I was just about to unfasten
the door, when it was burst in,
the water throwing us back
with tremendous force. I was
whirled round the house, and I
heard my poor wife cry “I
cannot stand, I am going”, but
I saw neither wife nor children
again.
I remember no more, but
those who saw me tell me that
I was washed out of the
window, and I seized one of
the shutters, drew myself up
by that, and from thence to the
chamber window, and to the
roof of the house” .
Pictures of Daniel Chapman’s
House at Little Matlock, Loxley,
1864
(Sheffield Local Studies Library
Picture Sheffield: t00152 and
s00975)
• In the house opposite lived Daniel
Chapman, who lived there with his
wife Ellen, his young child, two
apprentices, a nephew, and a
servant girl. All were swept away
and drowned.
• Look at the grave register entry for
Daniel Chapman’s family grave
below.
• How old was he when he drowned?
• What was the name of his child who
died in the flood?
Loxley Chapel Grave Register entry for
the Chapman Family, 1864
(Sheffield Archives: Acc. 1994/91/1)
Card in memory of those who died
in the flood, 1864
(Sheffield Archives: X160)
• According to the above memorial card, between what times did the
flood strike?
• Why do you think the flood happening at such a time would have
caused a particularly high number of deaths?
Police Reports
Sheffield Police Book, 1864
(Sheffield Archives: SY295/12/4)
• After the flood, the Sheffield
Police recorded the damage and
deaths it had caused.
• According to the Sheffield Police,
what was the total number of
people killed in the flood?
• How many children under the age
of 10 were killed?
• Were more boys or more girls
killed?
• How many pigs died in the flood?
• Did the flood kill more children
under the age of 10 or more tame
rabbits?
Sheffield Police Book, 1864
(Sheffield Archives: SY295/12/4)
• This is a
page from a
Sheffield
Police book
recording the
names of
people who
died in the
flood.
• How old was
the youngest
person who
died (listed on
this page)?
• How many
members of
the Bisby
Family who
lived at Malin
Bridge died?
Sightseeing and Souvenirs
Picture showing the Dale Dyke
Reservoir after it burst, 1864
(Sheffield Local Studies Library Picture
Sheffield: s00973)
• The Sheffield Flood attracted great interest all
over England.
• After the flood, sightseers came from all over
the land to look at the dramatic and devastating
scenes it had caused.
• Souvenirs of the flood such as the mug below
were made.
• Do you think some people might have been
unhappy about the flood attracting sightseers and
souvenir hunters?
Picture showing remains of Brick Row,
Holme Lane, 1864
(Sheffield Local Studies Library Picture
Sheffield: s00973)
Souvenir mug
showing the
rescue of a
child by Rollo
the dog
(Sheffield Local
Studies Library
Picture
Sheffield:
u01737)
Helping the victims
•
After the flood a Relief Committee was set up in
Sheffield and an appeal for funds to help the
sufferers was made.
•
People from all over the country donated money
(Queen Victoria herself donated £200).
•
The Relief Committee provided thousands of
pairs of shoes and items of clothing to people
who had lost their possessions in the flood.
•
What particular items can you identify below
which were provided by the Relief Committee to
the flood victims?
Relief Fund Register showing items
provided to flood victims, 1864
(Sheffield Local Studies Library: 361.52
SSTF)
Inquest
• An investigation known as an inquest was held in Sheffield to try and
work out what caused the flood and the deaths and destruction that
followed.
• The inquest was led by Sheffield Coroner, John Webster (pictured right)
who was responsible for investigating causes of deaths in Sheffield).
• At the inquest, the Sheffield Waterworks Company denied that the flood
had been caused by any faults in their building of the dam:
John Leather (Engineer): There is
the possibility of a landslip. A
landslip under the side of the
bank may have produced it…
Coroner: Then you do not ascribe
the bursting of the reservoir to
unsound principles of
engineering or to bad
workmanship?
John Leather: Certainly not.
Inquest extracts [reproduced in The
Collapse of the Dale Dyke Dam by G.
Amey]
(Sheffield Archives: AME/LOCAL)
Coroner: Can you tell us the cause of
the breakage?
Ralph Blakelock Smith (Waterworks
Company Legal Advisor) We cannot,
nor can any of the witnesses.
Coroner: If you cannot point out a
reason for the embankment breaking,
we have a right to assume that it has
failed from bad workmanship.
Ralph Blakelock Smith: I demur from
that. It has been suggested that it is
not bad workmanship, but a natural
failure in the ground which human
foresight could not prevent.
•
At the inquest, rather than the dam bursting because of bad workmanship,
the Sheffield Waterworks Company argued that it may have burst because
of a ‘landslip’, due to weaknesses in the ground on which it was built.
•
Look at the drawing below showing the line of the break in the dam and the
underlying ground on which the dam was built.
•
How stable do you think the ground was? Are there any parts of the ground
which sound to you like they might not have been very strong?
Sheffield Waterworks Company
drawing showing breach in the
Dale Dyke Dam and the
underlying ground, 1864
(Sheffield Archives: YWA/10/1/3)
Who or what was to blame?
Two Government
inspectors, Robert
Rawlinson and Nathaniel
Beardmore, who were
sent to inspect the dam
after the flood, reported
that the dam burst
because of bad
workmanship and
design.
John Webster, Coroner:
“According to the
description of Mr
Leather and Mr
Gunson, the work was
so perfect that it was
impossible to improve
upon it. Now, in my
opinion, there must
have been something
fatal in either its
design or its
construction or it
certainly would not
have burst”.
The Sheffield Waterworks Chief
Engineers, John Gunson and
John Leather (and a Waterworks
Company Investigation) claimed
the burst was an accident which
couldn’t have been avoided,
caused by an unforseen landslip.
Inquest Jury: “In our opinion, there has not
been that engineering skill and that
attention to the construction of the works,
which their…importance demanded”.
• Did the jury at the inquest agree with the
Government inspectors and the Coroner (that
the dam design and building was at fault) or
agree with the Waterworks Company (that it
was an accident with no-one to blame)?
Flood Claims for Compensation
•
•
With the inquest judging that the Sheffield Waterworks Company was responsible for
causing the flood, thousands of compensations claims for damages were made
against the company by people who had suffered.
People claimed for loss of property, possessions, livelihood and for injury and death
of relatives.
Sheffield Flood Claims Register, 1864
(Sheffield Archives: CA7/1, claim no.
414)
• Look at this claim made by
William Watson, an ‘Anvil
Smith’ (he made heavy
blocks of iron/steel on which
hot metals would have been
shaped).
• Where did William Watson
live?
• From the information given,
what can you guess
happened to his wife and two
children?
Sheffield Flood Claims Register, 1864
(Sheffield Archives: CA7/1, claim no.
1211 and no. 173 )
• The claims for things lost in the
flood by two people: John Walsh,
a Confectioner (someone who
makes/sells sweets) and Levi
Fox, a Toy Dealer have got
muddled up!
• Can you work out which claims
were made by John Walsh and
which ones by Levi Fox?
• Amongst the list of sweets above is there anything you might not
expect to find sold in a sweet shop today?
• Match up these claims to the person
you think made them
Richard Nesbit Ryan,
Formerly Theatrical Manager
and Comedian; Now Author,
Poet and Publisher (claim
4061)
John Dean, Hairdresser and
Artificial Florist (claim 6035)
George Goddall, Late an
Innkeeper, now out of
business (claim 4069)
Thomas Cowley Fawley,
Farmer (claim 4675)
Sheffield Flood Claims Registers,
1864
(Sheffield Archives: CA7/4, 5 and 7)
Sheffield Flood Claims Register, 1864
(Sheffield Archives: CA7/3, claim no.
2796)
•
•
•
•
•
We heard the
account of Henry
Whittles earlier who
saved his family
from drowning in
the flood.
According to the
flood claims
register what was
Henry’s job?
What were the tea
spoons he lost in
the flood made
from?
How many pairs of
Henry’s children’s
boots were lost?
What happened to
his books?
Sheffield Flood Claims
Register, 1864
(Sheffield Archives: CA7/9,
claim no. 59)
•
•
These are extracts showing
a claim by Mary Pickering
for the loss of life of her son
William Pickering, landlord
of the Free Masons Arms,
Hill Bridge.
How much did she claim in
damages for the death of
her son?
Photograph showing
ruins of the Free
Masons Arms on the
left where William
Pickering died,1864
(Sheffield Local
Studies Library
Picture Sheffield:
s00909)
• Look at this claim by Victoria Smalley
claim for compensation for herself (and
her child) for the death of her husband,
Thomas Smalley, in the flood.
• What was Victoria’s address?
• What job did her husband Thomas do?
• Victoria claimed for £1000. Was she
awarded the full amount she claimed?
• How much of the money awarded was
to go to her and how much to her child?
Sheffield Flood Claims Register, 1864
(Sheffield Archives: CA7/9, claim no. 41)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Look at 7 year old William Elston’s
claim for compensation on the right
for the death of his parents,
Thomas and Elizabeth Elston.
It was argued that William would
‘never be able to earn his own
living’ due to him being disabled.
William claimed for £500 but how
much was he actually awarded?
An award of £100 for the loss of life
of someone on whom a person
depended was less than many
others received for loss of their
possessions.
For example, Walter Sykes, a
Powder Flask Maker, was awarded
£487 for loss of his possessions
which mainly consisted of a large
collection of books (claim number
5989).
The poet (and former actor, theatre
manager and comedian) Richard
Nesbit Ryan (mentioned earlier)
received £100 for the loss of his
writings.
Do you think the flood claim awards
of money were fair?
Sheffield Flood Claims Register, 1864
(Sheffield Archives: CA7/9, claim no. 47)
Recap
• What was the month and year when
the Great Sheffield Flood happened?
• What was the name of the reservoir
at Bradfield which burst causing the
flood?
• What was the company called who
built the reservoir?
• According to Sheffield Police reports,
how many people died in total in the
flood?
• What was the Relief Committee set
up to do?
• What was the role of Sheffield
Coroner, John Webster, after the
flood?
Sheffield Archives and Local Studies
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•
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•
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•
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•
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