Nether Cut Wheel. Rivelin Valley, Sheffield, S6 5SF

Nether Cut Wheel, Rivelin Valley, Sheffield, S6 5SF

Former water-powered grinding Wheel and water management system

Nether Cut Wheel and associated water management system are the remains of a water-powered mill site dating from around 1719. It is the last mill in the valley to be worked by waterwheel – grinding continued there until at least 1939, making it one of the few in the valley to have been working in living memory. The building was demolished as late as 1956 and all traces of it were removed.

The water management system extends to the north-east and south-west of the site of the former mill buildings. Nether Cut Wheel is one of a few in the valley that had no weir – the mill dam was fed directly via the tail goit from Upper Cut, now running through a tunnel under Rivelin Valley Road. The large mill dam still holds water and is quite open. The tail goit runs into the head goit of Little London Wheel (next downstream).

The Nether Cut Wheel site is located close to Glen Bridge, on the downstream side of the S-bend on Rivelin Valley Road. The site is owned by Sheffield City Council and there is open access. A public footpath (the Rivelin nature and heritage trail) passes the site. The trail can be accessed from various points along Rivelin Valley Road, and surrounding footpaths.

A marker post installed at the site by Rivelin Valley Conservation Group gives a brief history and links to a website where further information and pictures can be found.

Nether Cut Wheel is one of the 20 water-powered mills built in the Rivelin Valley (search for ‘Rivelin Waterpower Sites’ on this website for more details). This sequence of Rivelin mills and mill dams forms an essential part of Sheffield’s heritage. They also have a broader national and even international significance in relation to the history of the Industrial Revolution in Sheffield.

Further information and pictures of Nether Cut Wheel and other sites in the Rivelin valley can be found at https://rivelinvalley.org.uk/rivelin-trails-2/. See also the books ‘Walking the Rivelin’, by Sue Shaw and Keith Kendall (6^th edition, 2019, Rivelin Valley Conservation Group) and ‘Water Power on the Sheffield Rivers’, by C. Ball, D. Crossley, N. Flavell (Editors), (2nd Edition (2006), South Yorkshire Industrial Society).