There will be a talk and slideshow on the subject of what is said to be Britains biggest peace time disaster - the great Sheffield flood The lecture will be by Malcolm Nunn at Lansdowne Chapel on Cemetery Road at 7.30pm, Thues 8 March. There is a charge on the door of £2 to cover costs.

The event is being organised by Sheffield General Cemetery Trust - as a number of the drowned were buried in the General Cemetery. The cemetery is also the site of the chest tomb of John Gunson, the Chief Engineer of the Dale Dike Dam, and the man who was initially blamed for the disaster.

We have chosen this date as it is close to the anniversary of the flood - when the Dale Dike Dam burst at around midnight on March 11 1864.

Further details from the cemetery gatehouse on 268 3486.

I've been to a talk about the flood by Malcolm Nunn before, it was really good! His talk and the pictures really made the history come alive :thumbsup:

That sounds great, I will have to try to remember to come to that.

Have you been in touch with Karen Lightowler too? She has been researching the Sheffield flood for years, and I am sure she would be interested. She has a page here

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~engsheffield/k_lightowler/a_lightowler.htm

Is it ok to spread the word around the history departments at the universities or have they already been informed?

Cheers,

John T.

Kiveton & Wales History Project / SHU

Another web site dealing with the flood can be found here...

http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=192435

It includes the full text of Samuel Harrison's account.

There is also the Sheffield Flood Claims Archive - a fascinating glimpse into the lives of those affected by the flood...

http://www2.shu.ac.uk/sfca/

Thank you for all your replies. Please pass on details to anyone who might be interested- its the first time the cemetery trust has organised any talks in a while, so we're not up on local history contacts as yet.

Yes I must contact Karen Lightowler to invite her, will have a look at the website for contact details.

FYI - the cemetery trust is also organising two more events this spring. If they're successful we hope to hold more next spring.

Tuesday 17 April, 7.30 pm, The Lower Porter Valley (Sharrow/London Road/bottom of Ecclesall Road area) : slide-show and talk by Martin Olive, former Sheffield local studies librarian

and,

Tuesday 1 May, 7.30 pm “A Cemetery Unrivalled in this Country for beauty and convenience”: slide-show and talk about the history and historic landscape of Sheffield General Cemetery, by Joan Sewell, landscape historian

All at Lansdowne Chapel, Cemetery Road, S11. Entrance: £2 on the door.

There are also regular tours of the cemetery at 2pm every first Sunday in the month, starting from the Cemetery Gatehouse off Ecclesall Road. In fact theres one tomorrow.

Cheers

Hi,

It all looks great and I look forward to meeting you at one of the events. I'll certainly spread the word and PM you the contact details for the relevant people at the history departments - they'll be more than happy to put posters up for you and send out an e-mail to staff.

John

(Sharrow resident as well as Sheffield history enthusiast - so I'll certainly try to be there on the 17th. Unfortunately, our baby is already a week late so I doubt I'll be able to make it next week!)

Hi.

Yes I must contact Karen Lightowler to invite her, will have a look at the website for contact details.

Karen is already aware of this she has posted a message on the ENG-SHEFFIELD site.

I'll post it on our site Sheffield & District Family History

Kind Regards
Tuppie