25 Sheffield Factories That Built Britain’s Working Class — Then Went Silent

0:00 A countdown of 25 historic Sheffield factories and workshops that defined the city's industrial identity and the eventual decline of its working-class trade. 0:44 Cannon Brewery 1:39 Bachelors 2:30 Thorntons 3:24 Thomas W. Ward, Albion Works 4:21 Shepherd Wheel 5:09 Abbeydale Works 6:04 Thomas Bolsover 7:03 James Dixon and Sons, Cornwall Works 7:55 George Wostenholm, Washington Works 8:52 Joseph Rogers and Sons, Norfolk Street 9:45 Viners, Bath Street 11:29 Samuel Osborne, Clyde Steel Works 12:23 Davy Brothers, Park Iron Works 13:21 Charles Camel, Cyclops Works 14:16 Edgar Allan, Imperial Steelworks 15:13 Thomas Firth and Sons, Norfolk Works 16:08 John Brown, Atlas Works 18:07 Hadfields, East Heckler Works 19:00 Steel, Peach and Tozer, Temple Borough 19:47 Jessops, Brightside Works 20:44 Lower Don Valley 22:34 Vickers, River Don Works 23:43 Henry Bessemer's steelworks, Carlisle Street 24:35 Brown-Firth Research Laboratories 26:08 Benjamin Huntsman's crucible works, Attercliffe What happens when an entire industrial city goes quiet? I count down 25 Sheffield factories, workshops and steelworks that built Britain's working class before their furnaces, hammers and production lines fell silent. I explore the people, inventions and industries behind Sheffield's working life, from Benjamin Huntsman's crucible steel and the rise of stainless steel to cutlery, brewing, sweets, machinery, armour and railway steel. I also look at how takeovers, cheap imports, overseas competition and the decline of British steel changed the city. These were never just factories. They provided wages, skills, pride and a future for generations of Sheffield families. I follow what remains today, from museums and converted works to shopping centres and surviving steel production, and remember the workers who made Sheffield the Steel City.