What Next?
This video clip is of the latest view from our Culvertcam, which is motion triggered so may appear to be out of date if there hasn't been much action on this part of the site.
The time lapse video above shows the culvert roof slab by Exchange Street between the 5th August and 11th of September. After marking out where the hidden supporting ribs are (see image below courtesy of Tallginge) the contractor has drilled lifting holes through the slab and sawn through the reinforced slab to reduce it to smaller sections for removal by crane. Five orange coloured hydraulic struts are then fitted to stabilise the retaining walls when the reinforced concrete ribs are removed. A further 70 metres of culvert to be 'daylighted' is out of the view to the right but can be partly seen on Castlecam. The retained culvert beneath Exchange Street (to the left of the fence) is locally known as the 'Megatron', a huge vaulted brick structure and an exciting destination for our Summer and Autumn Culvert Tours. Special precations are being taken to reduce disturbance to the small colony of bats in the upstream culverts, not least avoiding their breeding season.
This excellent photo taken a few years ago by urban explorer Tallginge shows the reinforced concrete ribs supporting the River Sheaf culvert roof between Exchange Street and Castlegate. If you look carefully you can see four replacement ribs where the culvert was repaired after a Second World War bomb punched a hole through the culvert. What you can't see in this image is the Castle Orchard Weir which is close to the end of the culvert at the River Don
This image taken from the 'Engineer' magazine looking downstream from Exchange Street shows a couple of young engineers in 1912 inspecting what could be the first reinforced concrete culvert in Sheffield . Re-usable temporary formwork arches are lined up with supporting grooves cast into the mass concrete retaining walls on either side of the river Sheaf. Recent surveys have shown that the steel reinforcement is now rusting and the vaulted structure is now too weak to support traffic.
In this aerial photograph of 1921 you can see at 1, the WH Smith distribution offices under construction . 2, The flat slab covering the River Sheaf . 3, the location of the now hidden 'Megatron'. 4, the Shambles. 5, the remains of the castle motte (mound). 6, the Old Sheffield Town Hall, 8, the slaughterhouses and 9, Lady's bridge
In this aerial photograph of 1937 you can see the now competed WH Smith offices on the left with car parking on the roof slab of the River Sheaf culvert. In the foreground Castlegate has replaced the old slaughterhouses next to the River Don and the new Castle Market and Sheaf Market buidings are complete behind