Upper Coppice Wheel. Rivelin Valley, Sheffield, S6 5SQ

Upper Coppice Wheel , Rivelin Valley, Sheffield, S6 5SQ

Former water-powered grinding Wheel and water management system

Upper Coppice Wheel and associated water management system are the remains of a water-powered site that was in use from mid-18th century until the early 20th century. It was initially used for cutlery grinding and later wire drawing. Few traces of the buildings remain.

The Upper Coppice water management system extended to the east and west of the site of the former mill buildings, feeding from the adjacent river. The short head goit is culverted under the path by the weir and joined here by the tail goit from Rivelin Corn Mill. The small mill dam is silted and overgrown, with a stream flowing through. Water can usually be seen cascading into the wheel pit and then flows directly into the head goit of Second Coppice Wheel rather than back into the river.

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 between the mill ddam and the river. The trail can be accessed from various points along Rivelin Valley Road, and surrounding footpaths.

The Upper Coppice weir is immediately below the Grade II listed Packhorse Bridge, which dates from about 1775 and carried the packhorse track from Crosspool to Stannington.

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.

Upper Coppice 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 Upper Coppice 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).