Cornish Place

Cornish Place is a Listed building situated in the Neepsend area of the City of Sheffield. The building was formerly the factory of James Dixon & Sons, a Britannia metal, Sheffield plate and Cutlery manufacturer. In the late 1990s the disused building was cleaned and converted into apartments, it is regarded as the most impressive cutlery works that still stands in Sheffield and rivals the cotton mills of Lancashire and the West Riding in terms of architectural quality and heritage. The most impressive parts of the building are the east and west ranges which have Grade II* listed status while the rest of the works have the lower Grade II rating. The “Cornish” in the buildings name is thought to derive from the manufacture of Britannia metal which is made up of 93% tin which came from Cornwall.

The firm was founded as Dixon & Smith in 1805 and was based on Silver Street in the centre of Sheffield. James Dixon’s association with the Cornish Place site began in 1819 when a rolling mill on the spot came into the possession of Dixon & Smith. In 1822 Dixon set up business on his own and the rolling mill was converted into a workshop for the manufacture of silver and plated goods. During the 1830s the firm acquired land to the south of the original buildings and new workshops were constructed. The first phase of the works were a U shaped series of buildings which fronted onto Cornish Street and the River Don and consisted of workshops, casting shops and offices.

The works were extended as the firm became more successful with the more notable part of the building, the east range, being built between 1851 and 1854 when the works were being converted to steam power. This range which completed the enclosure of the inner courtyard, consisted of an L shaped construction with the long side facing onto Ball Street and the short side fronting onto the River Don and joining up with older workshops. Further building took place between 1857-59 when warehouses and a showroom were added at the southern end of Ball Street. The west range was constructed around 1860 and because of its prominent position on Green Lane was given more decorative architecture with the works name carved on the parapet. By the 1860s the works covered an area of about four acres and over 700 people were employed there.

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