As part of National Heritage Open Days we welcome you to experience Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet at the time of the Sheffield Blitz! Join us on Sun 12 Sept 11am - 4.45pm and enjoy free admission as part of this exciting national campaign.

Heritage Open Days celebrates England's fantastic architecture and culture by offering free access to properties that are usually closed to the public or normally charge for admission.

Every year on four days in September, buildings of every age, style and function throw open their doors, ranging from castles to factories, town halls to tithe barns, parish churches to Buddhist temples. It is a once-a-year chance to discover hidden architectural treasures and enjoy a wide range of tours, events and activities which bring to life local history and culture.

Free of charge and literally on people's doorstep, Heritage Open Days is an event for everyone, whatever their background, age and ability!

Families can enjoy living history tours and kids will learn broom handle drills and what to do when an incendiary bomb comes through the roof! Plus find out more about that historic night in December 1940 when Sheffield was blitzed!

Our Abbeydale Family Sunday season continues with the Lammas Festival on Sunday 8 August 11am - 4.45pm - FREE admission.

Join us to welcome the first grain harvest with all the tastes, sights and smells of a Victorian Poachers Kitchen! 

Families can enjoy a range of summer activites such as willow weaving, scarecrow and corn dolly making and find out more about seasonal produce and planting with Sainsbury's and Friends of Botanical Gardens.

Mr Tyzack will lead his popular Hamlet tours and families can enjoy live traditional music and learn the Lammas dance!

More details coming soon!

Families took a step back in time to see how Sheffield's creative spirit was forged with traditional crafts and skills demonstrations at our second Abbeydale Family Sunday event of the season

Sheffield's nautical links were celebrated as visitors tested their sea legs whilst learning how gun, steel plating, engine shafts, crankshafts for Spitfire Engines and navigational instruments were famously crafted in the city.

More than 500 curious visitors sampled a range of time-honoured skills and watched inspiring demonstrations from the likes of Ridgeway Forge, whose traditional forge work are reminiscent of how our ‘steel city' was built on the vibrant metal work industry.

Gerry Marlow of the Sheffield Woodturning Club shared his expertise with local enthusiasts giving demonstrations on his lathe.

The Hamlet's living history characters entertained youngsters with children's activities and the ever popular Hamlet tours with Abbeydale Works owner Mr Tyzack.

Families were treated to traditional tales of the sea and learning a line or two of merry sea shantys, hearing all about Sheffield's shipbuilding past.

Students from Hillsborough College Silversmithing and Jewellery evening courses brought Abbeydale's workshops to life showing how unusual objects such as cuttlefish can be used to cast silver ornaments and jewellery.

More traditional skills and techiniques were on display from Heeley City Farm with Iron Age hand spinning and weaving techniques and the Sheffield Lacemakers showed families the much-loved art of recreational lacemaking. The Friends of Botanical Gardens were also at hand to show the fruits of their labour with a display of home grown plants for sale.

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The Sheffield University Drama Society gave visitors a glimpse of the history behind another Sheffield Industrial Museums Trust heritage site, Shepherd Wheel, currently undergoing restoration. Their free performance of 'The Wheel Turns' will take place in Bingham Park on Saturday 10 July at 1pm, 3pm and 5pm to raise money for project.

The next Abbeydale Family Sunday, our popular Lammas Festival, will take place on Sunday 8 August 11am - 4.45pm. Admission is free.

Join us on Sunday 4 July for the second event in our Abbeydale Family Sunday programme celebrating Traditional Crafts and Skills.

Demonstrations include Cane Seat Making (Christine Merrick - Sheffield Antiques), The Sheffield Lacemakers and The Hallamshire Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers.

A dress rehearsal of 'The Wheel Turns' by Sheffield University Drama Society - 3 short plays about the history of Shepherd Wheel - will take place in The Orchard. The main public performamce takes place Saturday 10 July at 1pm, 3pm, 5pm at Bingham Park, near Shepherd Wheel (on the right as you walk up from Rustlings Road). Performances are free but voluntary donations are gratefully received and will go towards the restoration of Shepherd Wheel. Performanaces last 1 hour apx

There will also be Living History Tours and children's activities all making up a great free family day out!

There was water,water everywhere at Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet this Sunday as famlies enjoyed the first Abbeydale Family Sunday of the 2010 season with activities showcasing Sheffield Industrial Museums Trust use of renewable energy sources through the years.

'Mr Tyzack', Living History owner of Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet took tours around the Hamlet highlighting the part waterwheels played in the Hamlet's industrial heritage as a rural scythe and steelworks and one of the largest water powered industrial complexes on the River Sheaf.

The Education through Angling team teamed up with Sheffield City Council's City Ecology Service to give youngsters the chance to learn more about the creatures crawling around nearby rivers, taking them under the microscope before releasing them safely back into their natural habitat.

Kids could also make a creepy crawly of their own with arts and crafts activities taking place throughout the event.

Also attending and demonstrating renewable energy sources was Solar Active and Bumford Solar whose Solar Panels help to heat the boiler at Kelham Island Museum which in turn runs the mighty River Don Engine.

The Friends of Botanical Gardens Plant Sale demonstrated planting as part of their first Plant Sale at Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet and at the Heeley City Farm stand kids could have a go at badge-making in advance of the upcoming Heeley Festival next weekend.

Don't miss the next Abbeydale Family Sunday - Traditional Crafts and Skills - taking place on Sunday 4 July and packed with local craftspeople demonstrating their trades.