Cornish Works

File and edge tool works on Cornish Street, Sheffield, dating from the mid-19th century and later. The complex comprises crucible furnaces and a dwelling house, built in red brick with stone dressings, slate roofs (except in rebuilt areas which have north light glazing and corrugated sheet roof panels), and brick stacks.

The site is organised with the earliest buildings at the north end enclosing a narrow rectangular courtyard. Development proceeded southwards along Cornish Street, eventually creating three additional courtyards.

The Cornish Street frontage begins with a northernmost three-storey former dwelling house, probably the caretaker's house, featuring a hipped roof, chamfered stone-capped plinth, and first-floor cill band. A blocked doorway with painted timber surround of pilasters and entablature sits to the right, alongside a blocked ground-floor window with plain stone cill and stone wedge lintel. The second floor has three similar windows with timber sashes, the central one slightly larger and the left one partly blocked. The first floor shows probably later 19th-century alterations: a tripartite sash window with plain stone lintel to the left and a narrow single light to the right. A four-storey works block rises behind, its uppermost floor with truncated sidewall stacks visible.

South of this stands a four-storey office and warehouse block, seven bays wide, with deep eaves and hipped roof. It has a chamfered stone-capped plinth and stone bands at first-floor cill level and between the third and fourth floors, with metal wall-tie ends and the remains of a large bracket visible on the second floor. A segment-headed cart entrance with rusticated stone surround (now blocked) opens to the right. The main doorway, in the second bay from the left, has a painted timber surround of pilasters and entablature with panelled door and overlight. Ground-floor windows are blocked with plain stone cills and stone wedge lintels, except one to the left of the cart entrance which has been replaced by two closely-set windows with plain stone lintels. First-floor windows feature plain stone cills, stone wedge lintels, and 12-pane sashes. Above the cart entrance stands a tripartite sash window with painted timber surround. Second-floor windows are similar but shorter; two above the cart entrance have been replaced with plain stone lintels. Third-floor windows feature timber casements.

The next building southward, dating from around 1880, is a three-storey office and works block with a gable to the street. The main doorway and cart entrance to the right sit within a combined stone surround, rusticated at the cart entrance and topped with a cornice supported by large console brackets. A decorated keystone adorns the doorway, which has a panelled door and overlight. Above the cart entrance, the works name "George Barnsley & Sons" is carved and painted in capital letters. To the left is a blocked single-light window with a stone cill, semi-circular head with brick voussoirs, and tall stone keystone. Five large first-floor windows have a continuous stone cill-band and lintel with opening top lights. Seven second-floor windows feature stone cills, recessed brick panels beneath, semi-circular heads with brick voussoirs and tall stone keystones (that in the fifth bay blocked), and 12-pane sashes. The third floor contains one pair of similar round-headed windows with moulded stone cill. The gable is stone-coped with a decorative iron finial.

To the south stands a three-and in part four-storey works range, canted at the centre to follow Cornish Street's line. It has a chamfered stone-capped plinth. To the right of centre, irregular fenestration features stone cills and either segmental brick heads or plain stone lintels, with a prominent network of drainpipes. A brick stack sits in the roof slope, with the fourth storey set at an angle visible behind. To the left of centre, the range is three storeys only, with a later doorway replacing a window and one other blocked ground-floor window. Four first-floor and four second-floor windows have stone cills and segmental brick heads (except the left-hand first-floor window which has a plain replacement lintel), with top opening lights.

Adjacent to the south is the ground-floor street wall of a former works block, now unroofed. It has a chamfered stone-capped plinth and a raised stone band above windows, topped by a stone-capped plain brick parapet. The original fenestration pattern of three pairs of tall single-light round-headed windows with stone impost blocks and keystones remains visible, though much altered by later insertions. A crucible furnace wall, inset and set at an angle to the street front, is visible behind.

Next southward stands the surviving ground floor of another former works block, originally with six large round-headed windows; the central pair have been replaced by a loading bay with steel lintel. The Cornish Street frontage concludes with a length of modern wall and gable end with loading bay.

The northern courtyard's northernmost works block is four storeys with basement (containing a spring). Its ground floor has two 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 that adjoined it is gone, though its position remains visible as a brick circle in the courtyard. The range closing the courtyard to the west is two storeys with large windows, the ground floor divided by iron columns. Fireproof construction is visible at ground-floor level.

The rear courtyards show the 1880s office block containing what may be a later caretaker's house. A curved corner exists on the range opposite the cart entrance, but this block and others to the south have been substantially damaged and rebuilt, possibly due to wartime bombing.

Two crucible furnace stacks each contain 12 melting holes. Metal bands and brackets for pot racks remain. The furnace cellars (not inspected) may survive, converted to air-raid shelters.

Internally, the northernmost works block displays robust fireproof construction with solid floors throughout (in places overlaid with timber). The first office and warehouse block along the Cornish Street frontage contains an open wooden stair and is extensively fitted with timber cupboards and storage boxes. Office accommodation, probably dating from around 1880 and later, extends southwards into the second block. A stone stair with plain iron balusters and wooden rail links the ground and first floors within the main entrance.

The works were occupied by George Barnsley and Sons, file and edge tool manufacturers. The firm was founded in 1837 and constructed Cornish Works around 1850, undertaking significant expansion and development of the site throughout the later 19th century.