Kelham Island Industrial Museum, Sheffield (must see)

The Kelham Island Museum is an industrial museum located on a man-made island which was created in the 12th century. The island came to be as a result of the construction of a mill race (a small channel), which diverted water from the River Don to power a corn mill belonging to the Lord of the Manor. It was subsequently named after the Town Armorer, Kellam Homer, who owned a grinding workshop on the mill race, in 1637.

John Crowley's Iron Foundry was built on the site in 1829 and remained in operation until the 1890s when it was replaced by a power station, in 1899, to provide electricity for the new fleet of city trams. The power station operated until the 1930s when the building was used for storage and workshops. Together with Russell Works (incorporating the Hawley Gallery and the Crucible Shop), this property now serves as premises for the museum, established in 1982, housing the objects, pictures and archive material representing Sheffield's industrial story.

The displayed here exhibits include England's largest surviving Bessemer converter; the prototype Sheffield-Simplex car (one of only three left in the world); the Benjamin Huntsman Clock, the first manufactured object to contain Crucible Cast Steel (displayed in the Enid Hattersley Gallery); and more.

Part of the program are regular demonstrations of the 1905 River Don Engine, a 12,000 horsepower (9 MW) steam engine, which originally powered a local armor plate rolling mill and later rolled steel for nuclear reactors. It was last used in production in 1978, at the River Don Works.

The museum also houses reconstructed little workshops, such as that of Stan Shaw, a small-time craftsman, who worked there and demonstrated knife making to the public until his death in 2021. The onsite vast photographic archive is often used by authors for illustrating local history books.

The museum is free to enter.