Steel and Steam Engines at the Kelham Island Museum, Sheffield

In Brief. 

The Kelham Island Museum is a compact but surprisingly comprehensive museum on the industrial heritage of Sheffield. Located by the River Don, in a former factory site, the museum captures the history of manufacturing in Sheffield and the diverse products made from its steel, from saws to ships. The museum is densely packed with exhibits, and includes as a highlight the River Don Engine, the most powerful working steam engine in Europe, which is worth seeing in action.

A Bessemer Converter outside the museum.

What's Here?

The Kelham Island Museum is located in an industrial site by the River Don, adjacent to a mixture of historic industrial buildings, typically repurposed, and modern offices and flats. The museum is near part of the Upper Don Walk, which provides a chance to see other post-industrial areas, though this is much more low key than the Leeds Waterfront.

The museum itself has a collection of themed spaces, so that it is possible to follow the evolution of steel-making technologies, the saw industry, the working environment for different jobs, etc.  There is also a substantial collection of steel products, showing the diversity of the industry; for example, there is a display of wood planes of all shapes and sizes!

The formidable River Don Engine.


The centrepiece of the museum is the River Don Engine, which runs at scheduled times several days a week.  At 12,000 horsepower, this formidable machine makes for an impressive demonstration, and it also turns out to have had a long and interesting production life, rolling steel for warships, spitfires and oil rigs, among other things.

Practicalities.

Distance from Manchester Town Hall: 42 miles

Drive Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Price: Free - donations requested

Parking: There is a small, free onsite carpark.

Food and Drink: There is a pleasant, bustling cafe on the same site, for coffees or lunches; I had a decent coffee and a satisfactory cookie. There is also a pub next door to the cafe.

Retail therapy: There is seemingly a shop, but writing this a week after my visit, I don't remember it, so it didn't make much of an impression! 

Child Friendly: Although the exhibits are not generally aimed at a younger audience, there are certainly plenty things to see.

Toilets: Yes.

Do it justice in: 90 minutes.

Inside-Outside: 90:10

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