Archaeological Building Recording of Canada Works, 118-138 Charles Street, Sheffield, South Yorkshire

In November 2005 ARCUS were commissioned by J.F.Finnegan Ltd. to undertake a programme of archaeological building recording of the remains of the Canada Works, Charles Street, Sheffield (SK 3550 8689). The buildings are to be demolished during redevelopment of the entire site, and the survey has requirement of the South Yorkshire Archaeology Service condition, in line Environment 1990). with government policy outlined in been requested as a (SYAS) as a planning PPG15 (Department of The fieldwork was limited to the range fronting on to Brown Street, and involved a measured survey plan of all floors of the surviving building at a scale of 1:100 and a cross section at 1:50, accompanied by a rapid photographic survey and building description. The remaining nineteenth-century range on the former Canada Works site is the last component of a suite of workshops fronting on to Charles Street, which have been demolished piecemeal during construction, with plain brick the twentieth century. It is of relatively simple construction, with plain brick window sills and no stone ornamentaion. The construction of the lower two floors involves brick strengthening piers which support beams carrying the overlying floors, with narrower walls at the window bays. It is evident from the plain construction that the well-ordered frontage on Brown Lane, was merely the rear element of the Canada works. There is no sign of a public entrance here; the latter is presumed to have been via the Charles Street frontage, at the north end of the lost north-west range. The archaeological evidence shows that the range originally incorporated a taking-in bay and workshop space at ground floor level, with access to adjacent workshops arranged around the courtyard. The workshop was well-lit, with an industrial hearth and powered machinery; the latter driven from a source unknown, but probably sited in the north west range which once had a chimney stack. Upper floors were similarly well-lit, probably also housing storage and office space at first floor, formerly subdivided into smaller rooms at first floor. The range is in no way architecturally notable, other than representing a simple type of multi-storey courtyard engineering workshop, of a type once common in Sheffield but becoming increasingly rare, due to limited opportunities for adaptive re-use. The survey did not confirm the presence of any cellars under the range, and it is therefore recommended that a watching brief is maintained during demolition of the building to determine any such feature and make an appropriate record.

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