Description

784-1/0/10098
05-MAY-04

SHEFFIELD
CORNISH STREET
Cornish Works

II

File and edge tool works, incorporating crucible furnaces and dwelling house. Mid-C19 and later. Red brick with stone dressings, slate roofs (except in rebuilt areas which have north light glazing and corrugated sheet roof panels) and brick stacks.
PLAN: Earliest buildings at north end of site enclose narrow rectangular courtyard. Site developed southwards along Cornish Street, eventually bordering three more courtyards.
EXTERIOR: Cornish Street frontage. Northernmost front building a former dwelling house, probably caretaker's house, of 3 storeys with hipped roof. Chamfered stone-capped plinth and first-floor cill band. Doorway, now blocked, to right, with painted timber surround of pilasters and entablature. Ground floor window, now blocked, with plain stone cill and stone wedge lintel. 3 similar windows to second floor, the central one slightly larger and the left one partly blocked. Timber sashes. First floor windows, probably altered in the later C19, a tripartite sash window with plain stone lintel to left and a narrow single light to right. Uppermost floor of 4-storey works block with truncated sidewall stacks visible behind.
First office and warehouse block, to south, 7 bays wide, of 4 storeys, with deep eaves and hipped roof. Chamfered stone-capped plinth and stone bands at first-floor cill level and between third and fourth floors. Metal wall-tie ends, And remains of large bracket to extreme left of second floor. Segment-headed cart entrance with rusticated stone surround, now blocked, to right. Doorway, with painted timber surround of pilasters and entablature, in second bay from left. Panelled door and overlight. Ground floor windows, blocked, have plain stone cills and stone wedge lintels, but are blocked and the one to the left of the cart entrance has been replaced by 2 closely-set windows with plain stone lintels. First floor windows similar, with plain stone cills and stone wedge lintels and 12-pane sashes. No window above doorway. Above cart entrance a tripartite sash window with painted timber surround of pilasters and entablature. Second-floor windows similar but shorter, the second from the left also narrower and the 2 above the cart entrance replaced, with plain stone lintels. Third floor windows similar, with timber casements.
Next building to south: office and works block of c1880. 3 storeys, gable to street. Main doorway and cart entrance to right, within combined stone surround, rusticated to cart entrance, and with cornice supported by large console brackets. Decorated keystone above doorway, with panelled door and overlight. Cart entrance, with plain replacement timber doors, has works name 'George Barnsley & Sons' carved and painted in capital letters above. To left, blocked single-light window with stone cill, semi-circular head with brick voussoirs and tall stone keystone. 5 large first-floor windows with continous stone cill-band and lintel. Opening top lights. 7 second-floor windows with stone cills and recessed brick panels beneath, semi-circular heads with brick voussoirs and tall stone keystones, that to fifth bay blocked. 12-pane sashes. Third floor has one pair of similar round-headed windows, with moulded stone cill. Stone-coped gable and decorative iron finial.
Next block to south: 3-and (in part) 4-storey works range, canted in centre to follow line of Cornish Street. Chamfered, stone-capped plinth. To right of centre, irregular fenestration with stone cills and either segmental brick heads or plain stone lintels. Prominent network of drainpipes. Brick stack in slope of roof. Fourth storey, set at an angle, visible behind. To left of centre, 3 storeys only. Later doorway replacing window. One other ground-floor window, blocked. 4 first-floor and 4 second-floor windows with stone cills and segmental brick heads, apart from the left-hand first-floor window which has a plain replacement lintel. Top opening lights.
Adjoining to south: ground-floor street wall of former works block, now unroofed. Chamfered stone-capped plinth, and raised stone band above windows. Stone-capped plain brick parapet above. Original fenestration pattern of 3 pairs of tall single-light round-headed windows with stone impost blocks and keystones still visible, but much altered by the insertion of later openings. Crucible furnace wall inset (and set at and angle to the street front) visible behind.
Next to south: Surviving ground floor of former works block, with originally 6 large round-headed windows, the central 2 replaced by a loading bay with steel lintel. The Cornish Street frontage is completed by a length of modern wall and gable end with loading bay.
Northern courtyard: the northern-most works block, of 4 storeys and basement (containing spring), includes 2 ground-floors piers of very large ashlar blocks carrying a brick projection to the floor above. The corresponding range to the south of the narrow courtyard has been substantially damaged. The chimney which adjoined it has gone, but its position is still visible as a brick circle in the courtyard. The range closing the courtyard to the west is of 2 storeys, with large windows, and the ground floor divided by iron columns. Fireproof construction visible at ground-floor level.
Courtyards to south: the rear of the 1880s office block appears to contain a dwelling, perhaps a later caretaker's house. Curved corner to range opposite cart entrance, but this block, and others to the south, have been substantially damaged and rebuilt, perhaps as a result of wartime bombing.
Crucible furnace: 2 stacks, each with 12 melting holes. Metal bands and brackets for pot racks remain. Furnace cellars (not inspected) may survive, converted to air-raid shelters.
INTERIOR: Northern-most works block of robust fireproof construction, with solid floors throughout (in places overlaid with timber). First office and warehouse block along Cornish Street frontage has open wooden stair, and is extensively fitted with timber cupboards and storage boxes. Office accommodation, probably of c1880 and later, extends southwards into second block. Stone stair with plain iron balusters and wooden rail, links ground and first floors within main entrance.
HISTORY: Works occupied by the firm of George Barnsley and Sons, file and edge tool manufacturers. The firm itself was founded in 1837, constructed Cornish Works c1850, and was responsible for the significant growth and development of the site in the later C19.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26670294

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)