The Steel Industry of South Yorkshire

THE SEQUENCE of events by which Sheffield has become the most important centre in the world for the manufacture of steels of the highest class provides an interesting study for the sociologist and the regional geographer.The factors which have led to its remarkable progress, in competition with other districts in situations apparently more favourable to expansion, are not obvious at a first glance, and a more detailed examination shows that a purely material explanation is insufficient, and that certain human and social elements have to be taken into account in the discussion.It will be convenient to begin with a simple survey of the regional conditions, and then to proc^d to an outline of the historical development of the highly specialized industry that is characteristic of the area.IT IS not difficult to trace the influence of the typical valley section already so familiar to members of the Sociological Society.Starting from the fishing villages at the mouth of the Humber, one passes through large tracts of fertile agricultural lands forming the southeastern comer of Yorkshire and the north of Lincolnshire.Ascending the Don, the land remains flat until the site of Sheffield is reached, where the hilly country is entered, and the fertile low land begins to give place to heathery pastures and then to barren moors.At this point five small rivers converge, any one of which may be followed upwards into the moorland.Formerly, the steep sides of the valleys along which they flow were thickly wooded, and remains of the old forests are still to be seen.Passing across the Millstone Grit of the moors, the limestone hills of Derbyshire are reached, usually after crossing transverse valleys, and in these hills the veins of lead and zinc ore, of fluorspar and barytes, have been mined for centuries.The customs of metalliferous mining have a long life, and it is possible to-day, in wandering through some of the limestone valleys of this district, to meet with lead mines worked by two or three men, whose methods and appliances are almost precisely those described and figured by Agricola in his " De Re Metallica " in 1556.These minâ re still governed by laws dating from that time, and administered by special mining courts.The moorlands, still the preserve of game, the agricultural flats, and the fishing villages, have undergone comparatively little change in the same time, but at a few points, and notably at the convergence of the streams at Sheffield, great industriai

Economic geography · Geography · Regional science · Sociology · Metallurgy and Cultural Artifacts