School History Resource History Key Stage 2 Unit

School History Resource: History Key Stage 2 Unit 7 Local History Study – How the locality was affected by a significant local event Dale Dyke Dam Disaster 1864

Victorian Sheffield General view of Sheffield from the station, 1800 s (Sheffield Local Studies Library Picture Sheffield: s 11478)

Dale Dyke Reservoir, Bradfield Sheffield Waterworks plan showing the intended Dale Dyke Reservoir, 1852 (Sheffield Archives: YWA/10/1/2)

View of Dale Dyke Reservoir, Bradfield, 1864 (Sheffield Local Studies Library Picture Sheffield: t 01546)

Bursting of the Dam! Picture of the bursting of Dale Dyke Dam, 1864 (Sheffield Local Studies Library Picture Sheffield: s 00972)

Eyewitness Account Eyewitness account of the flood by Joseph Ibbotson of Bradfield, from Harrison’s History of the Sheffield Flood, 1864 (Sheffield Archives: HAR/LOCAL) My house stands fifty or sixty yards from the mill, on rocky ground, higher than the roof of the mill, facing across the valley. On hearing a noise and a shout "The flood is coming !" I instantly leaped out of bed, and looked out of the window… I ran out of the house down to within fifteen or twenty yards of the flood. Language cannot convey any just description of the awful thundering, crashing roar of the torrent. It was as if the earth itself was being rent asunder. . . I…repeatedly exclaimed, "This must be a wild dream; it cannot be reality. " It seemed as if the bowels of the earth were being torn up, or as if some unheard of monster were rushing down the valley, lashing the hill sides with his scaly folds, crunching up buildings between his jaws, and filling all the air with his wrathful hiss. Trees snapped like pistols, mills and houses stood and staggered for a moment, and then disappeared in the boiling torrent. Within the short space of five minutes, the bridge, the triple storied mill, the school house, and the master's house, were standing unharmed, and before the minutes were out they had all vanished. The flood swept by in all its majesty - a mighty wall of water running on a level with the roofs of the three storied buildings it demolished, and sweeping away everything in its path…

Path of the Flood

Damage and Destruction: Loxley Flood damage at Rowell Bridge Wheel, Loxley 1864 (Sheffield Local Studies Library Picture Sheffield: w 00404 ) Damage at Little Matlock Wheel (Messrs Thomas and Daniel Chapman and John Denton), Loxley 1864 (Sheffield Local Studies Library Picture Sheffield: t 00154 )

Malin Bridge Picture of ruins of the Cleakum Inn, Malin Bridge, 1864 (Sheffield Local Studies Library Picture Sheffield: s 00976) Photograph showing remains of housing at Malin Bridge, 1864 (Sheffield Local Studies Library Picture Sheffield: t 01739) Searching for survivors and the dead at Malin Bridge, 1864 (Sheffield Archives: MD 8058)

Hillsborough Scene of damaged houses on Brick Row, Hillsborough, 1864 (Sheffield Local Studies Library Picture Sheffield: s 00580 ) Scene of a garden at Hillsborough after the flood, 1864 (Sheffield Archives: MD 8058)

Wicker The flood water racing through the Wicker, 1864 [reproduced in The Collapse of the Dale Dyke Dam by G. Amey] (Sheffield Archives: AME/LOCAL) The Wicker after the flood, 1864 (Sheffield Local Studies Library Picture Sheffield: s 00585)

‘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…’ Sheffield Telegraph Newspaper, 12 th March 1864 (Sheffield Local Studies Library Newspaper Collection) News Sheffield Independent Newspaper, 14 th March 1864 (Sheffield Local Studies Library Newspaper Collection) Juliana Gatty’s Diary, 12 th March 1864 (Sheffield Archives: HAS 41/9) “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. . . ”

Card in memory of those who died in the flood, 1864 (Sheffield Archives: X 160)

Survivors and Escape Photograph of Mrs Kirk of Damflask, 1864 (Sheffield Local Studies Library Picture Sheffield: s 08752)

Joseph Chapman, a tailor from Hillsborough (Sheffield Local Studies Library Picture Sheffield: s 08751)

Picture of Rollo the dog and a child, 1864 (Sheffield Local Studies Library Picture Sheffield: u 01735) Souvenir mug showing the rescue of a child by Rollo the dog (Sheffield Local Studies Library Picture Sheffield: u 01737)

POLICE RECORDS Sheffield Police Book, 1864 (Sheffield Archives: SY 295/1/2/4)

Helping the victims • After the flood a Relief Committee was set up in Sheffield 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. Relief Fund Register showing items provided to flood victims, 1864 (Sheffield Local Studies Library: 361. 52 SSTF)

Inquest • 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). • 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)

• 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. 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, 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 magnitude and importance demanded”.

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: CA 7/1, claim no. 414)

Case Studies • 7 Case Studies – each case study is based on a family who were caught up in the Sheffield Flood. • Working in groups - each group will be given a family to investigate. • Use the documents in your investigation pack to answer the questions posed and try and work out what happened to your family in the flood.

Case Report 1: Ibbotson Family, Damflask Remains of Damflask Wire Mill (F. Shaw & Co. , Wire Drawers) by the River Loxley following the flood, 1864 (Sheffield Local Studies Library Picture Sheffield: y 00808)

Case Report 2: Chapman Family, Little Matlock, Loxley Ruins of Daniel Chapman’s house at Little Matlock, Loxley, after the flood, 1864 (Sheffield Local Studies Library Picture Sheffield: t 00152)

Case Report 3: Watson Family, Malin Bridge Ruins at Malin Bridge after the flood, 1864 (Sheffield Local Studies Library Picture Sheffield: t 00163)

Case Report 4: Pickering Family, Hill Bridge, Hillsborough View of demolished Hill Bridge, Walkley Lane, Hillsborough, showing the ruins of the Free Masons Arms on the left 1864 (Sheffield Local Studies Library Picture Sheffield: s 00909)

Case Report 5: Elston Family, Neepsend Gardens Ruins at Neepsend Gardens, Neepsend Lane, after the flood, 1864 (Sheffield Local Studies Library Picture Sheffield: s 00591) Case Study 6: Medwood Family, Neepsend Gardens

Case Study 7: Parkes Family, Harvest Lane/Orchard Street, Neepsend Ruins of a house at Neepsend after the flood, 1864 (Sheffield Local Studies Library Picture Sheffield: w 00447)