After studying and digging, it turns out the building below, shown in the drawing above, was demolished in 2002,was in fact part of the walker Blast furnace, where all the cannon made by walkers were cast . Eight years to late to save this piece of rotherhams history,barmy that it was demolished.
How it came to be demolished,will need a lot of looking into,but somebody needs a good slap.Picture courtesy of unofficial rotherham.
The holmes goit,or head race that ran the walker works,and a lot of works in the area still exists.
To look at it now just a weedy water course it is hard to belreve that,it was responsible for making the cannons used throughout nelsons navy
Walkers Holmes site at masborough was the biggest.Still unsure exactly what was at the site,blast furnaces and also steam powered equipment.
With the help a drawing of the holmes site from the time and an 1854 OS map, I have managed to pin down where at the holmes walkers works was.
The holmes estate was bought from the Earl of fitzwilliam,that included Holmes farm.
Above you can see the holmes railway station to the right,the walkers blast furnace in the background,and another walkers structure to the left.
In the middle is peter stubbs warrington works,with six chimmneys at its centre.
The image below is from an 1854 OS map courtesy of sue from rotherham web.Showing the above area with holmes station named at top right.
You can match the above drawing with the map below using the railway line and train station.
The picture at the bottom of the page showing habershons also as this structure marked.
Above a scan of a 1940s os map with same area ringed,now occupied mostly by the famous Habershon steel works.When Walkers left, Habershons took over and became one of the largest specialised steels companies in the UK,supplying specialized hard to make steel components,for the hurricane and spitfire during world war 2
Below is a google Earth image of the area in the drawing at the top of this page showing what a sad state the site is in now.There is nothing there to show what the walkers did, and there playing a major part in the battle of trafalgar,which is all a bit sad and ridiculous,and the habershons, that were on the site nothing now remains.
Below in Stark contrast to the shot taken from Google Earth,is Habershons in its prime.The area circled and labelled 1, is the same area in the drawing of the holmes Walker works at the top of the page,note the six chimneys.
Below wortley top iron forge,which is very probably how the walker works looked.
Walkers first masborough site from 1746 click here. Conisborough burcroft site
This is a picture of the peter stubbs warrington works that was demolished in 1969,immediately next to the Walker works,now that is what I call a steel works.You can spot the 6 chimneys in the drawing at the top of the page.
