Malin Bridge

The village of Malin Bridge, about five miles from the Dale Dyke Dam, was a busy and self-sufficient community with, as well as the local metal industries and agriculture, several shops which served the residents. There were butchers, grocers, drapers, tailors, cobblers and general stores, four pubs and at least one tradesperson offered plumbing, glazing and painting.  

Malin Bridge took the full force of the Great Sheffield Flood, as grinding wheels, rolling mills, corn mills, tilt hammers, snuff mills and other water-related industries and workings plus homes, shops and inns were all inundated by the Flood water.  

A row of three cottages were demolished by the power of the water and the ten occupants of an imposing farmhouse near the junction of the rivers Loxley and Rivelin, all perished. In total, 102 residents of Malin Bridge lost their lives including five entire families. 

Below the confluence of the rivers Loxley and Rivelin and on the left bank stood a row of twelve cottages known as Bower’s Buildings. They bore the brunt of the full force of the river and, not being of the best quality construction, they vanished into the raging torrent along with their occupants, disappearing as though they had never existed. 

Down from Malin Bridge was the Limerick Wheel, a crinoline wire manufactory occupied by Messrs Johnson and Barker. The building sustained considerable damage with the end of the solid stone building being driven in, machinery damaged or destroyed, the boiler house swept away, and two large boilers left exposed and stripped of their coverings. For a considerable distance downstream, the riverbanks were strewn with rolls of crinoline wire, pieces of machinery and heavy tools used by the workers. The damage to the works was estimated at £10,000. 

You can read more about the Great Sheffield Flood in the Sheffield General Cemetery Trust’s publication Drowned Voices and follow the self-guided trail Drowned Voices – Stories of The Great Sheffield Flood.