153 years ago today : The Sheffield Great Flood

No new Sheffield football clubs were formed in this year, no doubt as a result of the Great Flood, an unparalleled disaster that (with the exception of maritime disasters) was the greatest loss of life in the Victorian era in Britain. On the night of 11 March 1864, assisted by a strong south-western gale, the newly built dam, known as the Dale Dyke Dam in Bradfield Dale near Low Bradfield on the River Loxley, collapsed while it was being filled for the first time, killing at least 270 people.