About two o'clock on Saturday afternoon a portion of the Castle Mills, situate in Blonk Street, belonging to Messrs Wm. Parker and Co. gave way and fell to the ground with a tremendous crash. The first warning of the approaching desolation was the fall of a huge stone forming part of the hulls, which were afterwards destroyed. A large trough immediately followed, and then a quantity of ground blades. The whole of one long story of workshops on the north-west side of the building was seen to bend in the middle, and then come down with a frightful crash. Those working in that part of the building were buried beneath the fallen roof. Shovels, pickaxes and crowbars having been procured, men set to work amongst the debris and in the course of an hour eight persons were got out more or less uninjured. The men continued to work away with vigour for some time longer, when it was at length discovered that no other parties were missing, and they desisted from any further search. The fallen building had contained twenty troughs, eighteen of which were at work. Different opinions exist as to the cause of the accident. Some believe that the foundations near the boiler gave way, whilst others conjecture that the superincumbent weight of machinery, throwing too great stress upon the iron girders which supported the brick arches, had brought the whole to the ground. The damage is variously estimated at from pound;2000 to pound;2500. A dray-horse was killed by the falling building.'

Image from The Illustrated London News.

(Sheffield Local Studies ref. MP 2035(i) L)