Friday March 11th was a very stormy and windy day.
The following people were involved before the Dale Dyke
reservoir gave way ......
Mr Gunsen, the waterworks resident engineer.
William Horsefield, a water company workman.
Greaves, colleague of Horsfield.
Samual Hammerton, a farmer, friend of Greaves.
Mr H. G. Swindon, a water company overlooker.
Mr Fountain, friend of Swindon.
Stephenson Fountain, son of above.
Mr Jonathon Ibbotson of The Barrel Inn.
Mr Craven, a contractor.
Victims of the flood -
The first dwelling place was Annett House owned by Mr John Empsall.
The dwellers escaped but the house was totally destroyed.
The flood swept away a blacksmith shop owned by Mr Elliot. and a corn
mill owned by Mr Joseph Ibbotson. The flood continued it swept away
a school room, the headmasters new house and Martin Hawkes farmhouse.
It destroyed William Wilsons wheelwright shop badly.
The flood then swept on to Bradfield -
In Bradfield the flood claimed its first victim, a one day old child of
Mr Joseph Dawson, a tailor.
Mr Nichollis, a schoolmaster and his wife narrowly escaped death.
Mr Richard Ibbotson, his wife and five children had escaped before the
flood was even thought about, his wife had dreamt about the flood the
night before.
Mr George Hobsons house was flooded and damaged, the occupants
Mr George Hobson, his wife, 6 children and an infirm old man survived.
Mr George Wilsons house was also damaged, but he survived.
At Damflask the flood swept away Roebuck House which consisted of two
cottages and out buildings. In one of the cottages was William Marsden,
his wife and two year old child. They escaped but the house was
partially destroyed and a pig sty was swept away.
In the other cottage was Mr Tittcomb, his wife, two sons and four
lodgers, all escaped.
The Barrel Inn was swept away.
Mr Joseph Waltons cottage, swept away.
Thomas Kirkys house, swept away.
Henry Horsefield house, swept away.
In Damflask the flood claimed its second victim, Henry Burkinshaw,
better known as 'Sheffield Harry', who died at the house of
Thomas Kirk through ignoring the warning given him.
Mrs Kirk narrowly escaped with her cat and dog.
Mr Joseph Millers farm was destroyed along with his mill.
His 27 stone pig was killed when the sty collapsed.
The Wire Mill was partially destroyed, 4 people died -
John King.
Charles Platts.
William Longley.
Stephen Ibbotson.
A brick kiln owned by Mr William Crapper was swept away.
Storres Bridge forge owned by Mr Benjamin Tingle was damaged.
Loxley Old Wheel where the tilt and forge were greatly damaged,
2 horses killed. Two rows of houses here were also damaged.
Joseph Denton died.
A wooden bridge was swept away, & a haystack belonging to
Mr William Bancroft was carried from Stacey Wheel down to
the dam at Old Wheels.
The firebrick works of Mr Thomas Wragg, containing stocks of bricks,
sheds, kilns and other appurtenances, were entirely swept away.
Rowell Bridge where the grinding wheel of Messrs Darwin and Oates
was swept away.
Also swept away were the grinding wheels of Messrs Elliot and Pitchford
and the bridge.
At Rowell Bridge Wheel William Bradbury was killed.
The inn kept by Mr John Waters and his family, was totally
destroyed, his family escaped.
The Olive Paper Mill, owned by Mr Woodward, was considerably damaged.
The flood destroyed Kenyon and Hibberds grinding wheels and many stone
walls.
Little Matlock was the next stop.
Row of strong stone houses, tilts and forges owned by Messrs Chapman
and Mrs Denton, and the Rock Inn, all the tilts, forges, bridges
and trees were swept away. In the centre lay five stone houses, the
first of which was entirely smashed and washed away.
The second was occupied by Daniel Chapman, his wife, his young girl,
two apprentices, a brothers child and a servant girl, all of whom died.
The third was owned by Daniel Chapman's brother, Thomas Chapman and his
family, here they lost one child.
Further down at Chapmans Wheel - John Denton died.
Malin Bridge was next, The tilt and forge of Mr Thomas Harrison, where
two people, Joseph Gregory and Walter Booth died.
Broadheads Wheel then went, along with Scythe Wheel. The Wisewood Works
of Mr Horns also went. In a house nearby lived Mr James Trickett and his
family, all were killed. Close to this is three cottages out of which
only two men, Henry Spooner and Charles Wood survived.
Malin Bridge where more than 20 houses were lost in the space of a few
hundred yards and 102 lives were lost. The two bridges here also went
along with whole rows of cottages and grinding shops.
In a row of 12 cottages and two shops, the following were killed -
Joseph Crapper, his wife and child.
Mrs Etchell.
Joseph Goddard, wife and 2-3 children.
William Sellers and wife.
Henry Javesson, wife and son.
George Barrett, wife and child.
Ann Pearson.
Mr Price, wife and children, two servants and a lodger.
Ann Mount.
William Watson and family.
Thomas Spooner and family.
William Wolstenmore.
Mrs Caroline Sellers and Mr. Sellers.
At the Stag Inn at Malin Bridge the following were killed,
William Armitage and family.
Elizabeth Crownshaw.
James Frith.
Henry Hall.
Behind the Stag Inn were several cottages in which they following died-
Thomas Bates, his wife, two children.
Greaves Armitage, his wife and two children.
Thomas Bullard and wife.
Opposite the Stag Inn was the Cleakum Inn owned by George Bisby, his
wife and four or five children. All were drowned.
In a row of five houses nearby lived John Eyre, Thomas Howe,
William Coates, Mark Fairest, Edward Harper and J. W. Ibbotson.
These houses contained three file makers and 18 file cutters.
The entire row was demolished.
The flood then moved to Linericks Wheel which it destroyed,
William Bethel or Bethney died there.
The two cottages above the wheel were flooded but their owners escaped.
The next stop was Hill Bridge.
Hill Bridge contained one stone bridge and twenty houses.
The bridge and four or five of the houses were swept away.
George Mills & his wife, drowned.
George Snape & his wife, drowned.
The Mason Arms was owned by William Pickering. William Pickering,
his wife, his wife's sister and a lodger all died here.
At Bowers Row, William Crookes died by jumping out of a window.
Brick Row, on the outskirts of Hillsbro' was next, houses destroyed
or flooded.
Hillsbro' Bridge which was destroyed. It was said that a whole house
reached here complete before collapsing.
At Brick Row Joseph Dyson, his wife and five children were killed.
Samual Senior killed.
Richard Snape killed.
The others drowned in this area were,
Mr and Mrs Atkinson and their three children,
William Atkinson and his family,
Isaac Drabble and his family,
the Turner family,
the Taplin family,
Thomas Winter,
Mr John C. Appleby and his mother and sister.
Next to Owlerton where it took the rolling mill and a large house away.
Here it killed Joseph Dean.
Marshalls Paper Mill was greatly damaged.
John Turton and his wife were killed.
The flood hit the barracks which it smashed, killing two children.
Wardsend Mill was next and also flooded was the Silver rolling mill
of Mr Peace, and the works of Messrs Marchington and Makin.
Here a massive weir and William Simpson clinging onto a boiler,
were swept away, later William Simpson was drowned.
Farfield Inn, two rows of houses which were greatly damaged.
Messrs Fawley's tannery at Neepsend, which was heavily damaged.
Whilst the flood was at Farfield it drowned -
Thomas Elston, his wife and his three children,
the Midwood family,
Hunkin, a file grinder, his wife and a niece.
Most of the houses were smashed.
At Neepsend it destroyed most of the houses and works including the
Gas Company's works.
Here died -
John Gannon, his wife and a daughter.
Mrs Albert and the two elder children.
Thomas Fairest.
The three Peters children.
William Needham and his wife and two children.
John Glover and his wife.
Mrs Bright and her two sons, daughter-in-law, three grandchildren
and a 15 year old boy died.
Mr and Mrs Needham however escaped.
In Harvest Lane several houses were destroyed and about
eight lives were lost.
Mrs Crump and son.
Mrs Green.
The Parkes family.
Mr and Mrs John Vaughan.
At Bacon Island the destruction was great.
Here that the Wright family and the child of Mr Johnson died.
At Philadelphia all of the houses were flooded along with the factories.
Nearby is the Waterloo Houses. The front of the row was entirely
destroyed but the only person to die was Mrs Whittington.
As the flood advanced it knocked down the boundary wall of Cornish Lane
and flooded the Stove Grate works, the Globe Works and the brewery.
The Green Lane works were also damaged severely.
The area around here was thickly populated, here drowned -
Dennis McLaughton.
Christopher Calton and his wife, a sisters child Priscilla Willett.
Patrick Ryders son.
It then went to Kelham Island and all the works here were greatly
damaged or flooded. At the end of the island were three houses owned
by John Easton, the Hill family and the Clark family. All died.
It then hit the Sheffield Workhouse which was badly damaged, but no
lives were lost.
In Cotton Mill Row Mrs Wallace was killed.
In Beaver Spring Mr Varney was killed.
From Corporation Bridge to Lady's Bridge, a distance of a third of a mile, the damage was considerable.
The bridge at Bridgehouses was carried away and a row of cottages called the Union Buildings were
flooded as was the Bridge Inn. In Nursery Street it flooded and smashed factories and houses.
No more than two lives were lost here, they were -
Jonathon Turner.
Richard Haslehurst.
It then reached the Wicker where it killed Mr Peacock and Thomas Gill.
As it continued great damage was caused but no more lives were lost.
The inquest was held on the 12th March 1864.
Presiding were:-
Mr Henry Pawson, a foreman.
Mr Thomas Prideaux.
Mr J.B. Fordham.
Mr J. Walker.
Mr C.J. Porter.
Mr Henry Pearce.
Mr T. Appleyard.
Mr John Hawson.
Mr John Bland.
Mr R. Booth.
Mr S. Dawson.
Mr F. W. Colley.
Mr T. Cole.
Mr F. J. Mercer.
Mr Edward Bennett.
Mr William Marples.