Sharing memories and exploring heritage in the north of Sheffield
Nature meets the old and the new at Kelham Island. Community contributed photo.
The area north of Sheffield's city centre is mostly famous for its industrial heritage, but there is a lot more to the area than factories and steel. The area has been occupied since prehistory, and grew significantly as a result of the industrial boom. Today, it is home to a diverse number of people and communities and is witnessing a changing landscape, especially with the rapid re-development of Kelham Island over the past decades.
The Roots and Futures project aims to explore the heritage of Netherthorpe, Upperthorpe, Kelham Island and Neepsend and understand what it means to the communities living there. This exhibition draws together material created by the community and curated by the project team based upon their suggestions and interests.
Thanks to community contributions to the Roots and Futures project over the past two years, you can now explore layers of meaning beyond the famous industrial heritage of the area. Throughout this exhibition, you will find that heritage can take different forms, expressed through people, stories, places, artwork, and things.
This digital exhibition can be explored by following a QR code walking trail through Kelham Island Museum where it is embedded with the Museum’s physical exhibits.
Alternatively, the digital exhibition can be viewed alone - feel free to look at the themes that attract your attention or listen to the stories while walking around the area.
In the north of Sheffield, community takes on many different forms. It is echoed in collaborative projects, spaces of faith, people's homes, and workspace relationships. Belonging in this space is about creating relationships at all sorts of levels. This can be seen clearly in the lived heritage of the area, which hosts artistic collaborations, places of worship, housing built for families, and tightly-knit places of work. Communities intersect and interact constantly to shape a unique place.
It is impossible to talk about the heritage of Sheffield without mentioning its industrial past. This is especially true here, in the areas of Upperthorpe, Netherthorpe, Kelham Island and Neepsend. The area started developing quickly in the mid-1800s, when people came from all over the world to work in factories. Today, this industrial heritage is still visible in the architecture of the area, but it is also anchored in people’s memories and creative processes.
The north of Sheffield sparks creativity. The artistic legacy of the area is constantly changing and growing, with creative expressions of all kinds shaping the space. This area has welcomed word-famous musicians to its recording studios and provided the inspiration and setting for local artists to leave their mark on the landscape through public artworks which bring colour, shape and creativity to the streets.
The map below shows the locations of notable places, stories, artwork and things featured in the exhibition. Feel free to make your own route through the area and combine a stroll with a scroll through the virtual exhibition.
Kelham Island Museum Trail
The trail at Kelham Island Museum accompanies the digital exhibition by participants in the Roots and Future project. The trail provides some historical information on the places, people, community, and the industry of Kelham Island, Neepsend, Netherthorpe and Upperthorpe
Kelham Island has been a centre of metalwork for nearly four centuries, making it one of the oldest industrial sites in Sheffield. There is nowhere more appropriate to discover the people, processes and power that went into establishing Sheffield as an industrial city
Follow the trail through the museum to experience the atmosphere of Sheffield’s industrial past. Click on the QR codes to reveal the Roots and Future online exhibition and encounter how both the ‘past’ and ‘now’ share the same space
Please check our website for the latest information on opening times and what’s on.
Opening Times Sheffield Industrial Museums Trust
Tue-Fri 10am–5pm Kelham Island Museum
Sun 11am–5pm Alma Street
Closed Saturdays S3 8RY
Open Mondays, 10am–5pm during Sheffield school holidays (from Monday 26 July) www.simt.co.uk
