Flockton, 2015.
William Flockton was the son of a carpenter and builder who established himself as an architect in Sheffield in 1833. He formed a number of companies including Flockton, Lee & Flockton and Flockton & Son. Taking over the company, his son went on to form Flockton & Abbott and Flockton & Gibbs amongst others. A family tree and company timeline is shown below. Some of the buildings were designed primarily by Edward Gibbs, and are included within the Flockton oeuvre.
Between these practices they designed many important buildings in Sheffield including those in Weston Park, multiple churches and the complex of buildings on Mappin Street and Portobello Road for the University of Sheffield.
SSA purchased the Flockton Archive in 2015, a collection of drawings and documents showing the breadth of the architect's work - both in Sheffield and as far afield as Madrid. Whilst some of the buildings have remained in their original use, some of the drawings show buildings that have long been demolished or those which were never actually built. The drawings span a varied range of clients, from single clients who wanted a new house to larger businesses and countywide companies. There are a lot more Flockton buildings than you would think, spread out across Sheffield.
Using the drawings, information from Pevsner's guides and detailed research, an interactive map has been created which can be viewed on the website. It will be updated organically with more information as we go along.
Many of the buildings designed and built by Flockton and his companies are still standing, though many of them have now found different uses than those originally intended. To help publicise the history of these buildings to a wider audience, the SSA have developed some walking tours to allow people to find out more about how these buildings sit in the context of Sheffield and a bit more about their history.
Three walks have been created, one which focuses on the central area of Sheffield, one that stretches out to Fulwood, and another that leads down to the River Don. The walks can be downloaded as a pdf below, or followed along on the interactive map. There will be some guided tours too, so keep and eye out on our social media for more information.
