Sheffield, Fargate c.1955

Photo ref: S108005

More about this scene

THE TITLE of this chapter was the tribute paid to Sheffield by Charles Burlington in 'The Modern Universal British Traveller' in 1779. The reputation of Sheffield for its cutlery and edge tools grew and grew throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, and by the early 19th century it had an international reputation second to none. The first great industrial step forward took place in 1624. In that year the cutlers of Sheffield presented a successful bill to Parliament. The bill - 'An Act for the Good Order and Government of the Makers of Knives, Sickles, Shears, Scissors and other Cutlery Wares, in Hallamshire, in the County of York, and the parts near adjoining' - was passed by the House of Commons in April and by the House of Lords in May. Thus the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire came into being. At the time of the passing of the Act there were 498 master craftsmen in Hallamshire: 440 knife makers, 31 shear and sickle makers and 27 scissors makers. Later in the century other specialist craftsmen were admitted and in 1682, when there were over 2,000 master craftsmen who had become members of the 'communality', they included scythe makers, file smiths and awl- blade makers.