Wortley Top Forge

Wortley Top Forge is a forge of 17th-century origin, with significant alterations and development during the 18th and 19th centuries, and a 20th-century restoration. The building is constructed of tooled, squared stone, with rubble to the rear, and has a Welsh slate upper roof and a stone slate lower roof.

The forge has a rectangular plan, with a continuous rear outshut housing the blower wheel, and pits to the front right and centre for wheels 1 and 2. The front wall features a large round-arched opening for each wheel, each flanked by a smaller, square-headed doorway. Three square window openings are located at high level. A two-bay arcade, built into adjacent cottages, has brick voussoirs supported on two cast-iron round columns, with a re-set stone inscribed 'M 1713 W' (referring to Mathew Wilson, the manager). A central raised roof section is present.

At the rear, the blower wheel is set within a round arch with brick voussoirs. The rear wall is opened up by four large segmental arches with brick voussoirs. The interior contains original machinery, including Wheel 1, a one-piece iron casting (missing wooden paddles) likely replacing an earlier wooden wheel, measuring 12 feet in diameter and operated by a breast-shot system with a cast-iron axle, and Wheel 2, a mid-19th-century cast-iron wheel with separate felloes and later wooden paddles, 13½ feet in diameter and also breast-shot. The blower wheel, fed by a cast-iron pentrough dated 1850, was used to supply air to the furnaces for welding. The forge also contains Hammer 1, a massive wooden construction with cast-iron replacement parts, operated by a cam on the underside of the helve and fitted with a wooden spring beam, and Hammer 2, a mid-19th-century cast-iron hammer driven by a cam on the underside of the helve. Four wooden jib cranes are present, one at each hammer and two at the entrance.

A bloomery was present on the site in the early 17th century, followed by a finery in the mid-17th century. A lease was granted in 1640, and from 1658 until 1746, the forge was managed by the Spencer family. Subsequent owners included the Cockshutts (1746-1819), Thos Andrews II (1871-1907), and The Wortley Iron Co. The Sheffield Trades Historical Society purchased the forge in 1953. From around 1840, the forge successfully produced railway axles from wrought iron, and ceased operation in 1912. The site is also a scheduled Ancient Monument.