Totley History Group
Totley History Group

Joseph Mountain & the Victoria Gardens

The Victoria Gardens and Joseph Mountain's house beyond

 

Joseph Mountain was born in Easingwold, North Yorkshire in 1833, the son of John and Ann Mountain. He was baptised there on 14 July 1833. John Mountain had died by 1837, leaving his wife to bring up three children in poverty. Ann is shown on the 1841 census as an agricultural labourer in Easingwold, together with Eliza, aged 11, Joseph aged 8 and William aged 5.

 

In 1851 Joseph was an apprentice plumber to John Daggett, living in nearby Boroughbridge. On 30 July 1855, Joseph married Elizabeth Martin in Sheffield. She appears to be the daughter of William Martin, an edge tool forger of Furnival Street. Joseph became an apprentice to Messrs. Pitt & Co., plumbers of Waingate and some years after set up business on his own account in the same street. A daughter, Emily Jane, was born in 1857.

 

His business prospered and by the time of the 1861 census he was employing one man and an apprentice. A second daughter, Clara, was born later the same year. Although the plumbing business remained in the Waingate, the Mountain family had moved to Grimesthorpe by 1864 where two sons were born, Joseph Samuel in 1865 and John Arthur in 1868. Joseph retained offices in Grimesthorpe at least until 1883, but a further move of home followed. In 1869 the family were living at The Grove, Millhouses. 

 

In the 1871 census, Joseph is described as a plumber and glazier, and is living near Abbeydale works. The census entry for his household is between those for William Tyzack, landowner and steel manufacturer, and William Cooke, spring knife manufacturer. The census isn't specific on the address of the houses which are just described as "Abbey Dale" but newspaper advertisements for the Sheffield Borough Building Society show Joseph Mountain, a director, living at Mountville, Beauchief. A daughter, Florence was born in the summer of 1871. 

 

At each of the places he lived, Joseph Mountain bought land and built extensively and for more than a decade he was very successful.  At one point he was worth £50,000, a small fortune at the time. He became a prominent public servant firstly as a Guardian of the Poor, representing both Brightside and Sheffield. He was a leading figure in the Park District Liberal Party and entered Sheffield Town Council in 1873 representing Brightside Ward. He was re-elected in 1876 and was raised to the aldermanic bench in May 1879. He was also Chairman of the Highways Committee. Joseph Mountain was nominated by his friends for the Mayoralty in 1881 but failed to win the election by just three votes.

 

Town Hall, High Court and Crown Court, Waingate built in 1808, remodelled and extended in 1866 and in 1897; designed by Watson of Wakefield

 

In the census of that year, Joseph and his family were living at Silverdale House, Station Road, Dore (now 2 Dore Road); Joseph is described as an Alderman, and a retired plumber. But financial ruin was not far away. Had the value of his properties remained intact, he would have been in a position of affluence but, unfortunately, there was an enormous depreciation in the value of land and property in the Sheffield area, and Joseph Mountain was one of the chief sufferers. Land that had been bought with the intention of building villas was now unsuitable even for agriculture, new roads having been built. Joseph had large numbers of properties that were tenantless and which should have brought in an annual income of £2,000; instead he had to pay the mortgages on them from rents on other properties that were let.

 

He was part owner with Amos Moss of the Ferham estate, a 50 acre site in Rotherham. The estate had been purchased for £27,000 in 1873. £2,000 was paid cash, the rest was borrowed by way of a mortgage. At the time of purchase the speculation was considered likely to be a very advantageous one. Against Joseph's strongly expressed wishes, however, no steps were taken to utilise the estate when it was first purchased and soon afterwards a decline in local industries set in. The demand for building land in the locality collapsed and, with the death of Mr. Moss, the whole burden of responsibility for the estate rested with Joseph who was unable sustain losses of £3,000 a year. In August 1883, he filed his petition for bankruptcy, almost entirely resulting from his speculation on Ferham.

 

The first meeting of creditors took place on 14 September 1883 at the Bank street offices of his solicitor, and son-in-law, D. H. Porrett. David Hunton Porrett, the son of Alderman George Porrett J.P. of Scarborough, had married Joseph's eldest daughter Emily Jane at the Church of St John the Evangelist, Abbeydale (where Joseph was a churchwarden) on 16 July 1880. The Ferham estate was liquidated by arrangement. General sympathy was expressed for Joseph, who was deemed to be not negligent, who did not live extravagantly and who did not squandor creditors' money. Unusually for a first meeting, his discharge was unanimously granted. Having been forced to give up his position on the Town Council because of his financial troubles, Joseph was now free to return to work on what had become his latest business venture: the Victoria Pleasure Gardens in Totley. 

The idea had been suggested to Joseph in 1882 of turning into pleasure gardens a building estate which had been practically unproductive, there being little demand for building land in that area. Joseph was anxious to do anything which would generate an income from the land and had tried to form a limited company but the applications for shares were insufficient and the scheme fell through. He was unwilling, however, to abandon the idea completely and set about converting the land into pleasure gardens himself. In this he was fortunate that the receiver, Joseph Hardy, kept the Totley gardens project quite separate from his other financial affairs. Hardy's thinking was that even if the gardens made a small loss to begin with, being only partly constructed, they could be sold as a going concern if needs be. 

 

Map of Totley Rise showing the approx. location of the Victoria Gardens.

The Victoria Gardens occupied a triangular site of about 15 acres, bordered by to the north by Abbeydale Road (now Baslow Road), to the southwest by Mickley Lane, and to the east by Tyzack's Mill dam wall and the Totley Brook. They were built on what Joseph had called the Mountville Estate; the name is derived from that of his own house in Beauchief. Shares in the Mountville Freehold Land Society had been offered to subscribers in 1877 (also the date of our map, above) with a view to laying out the estate in lots varying from 600 to 1,200 yards each, to be paid for by monthly contributions extending over a period of 10 years. The scheme failed to attract support but at least seven new houses were built as these were offered for sale together with two older properties, fronting the turnpike road, which were used as a greengrocers shop and as a working men's club and reading room.

It is claimed that about 10,000 people attended the opening of the Victoria Gardens on Whit Monday, 22 May 1883. In addition to trees, shrubs, flowers and lawns, the gardens included a ballroom, a refreshment room 180 feet long and 60 feet wide, its roof and walls mostly built of glass, with a large billiard room adjoining, and a 400 yard long promenade with extensive views over the Derbyshire moors.

 

There were plans for more grandiose developments to rival Manchester's Belle Vue, opened in 1836. Grounds would be laid out for organised cricket, tennis, bowls and archery and later for cycle racing. A 5 acre boating lake would be provided with a subway connecting to the rest of the gardens (presumably this would be the old rolling mill pond which is about that size). A museum was to be built, and shooting galleries, and a monkey house. There were to be balloon ascents, pyrotechnic displays and all manner of entertainments.

 

Among the artists appearing on the first day were Joe Donaldson, the Metropolitan Star comic; Miss Maud Marion and Miss Florence Hall, serio-comic vocalists; Messrs Neal and Lawrence, "negro comedians and dancers"; Mons. Olvene, slack wire walker; and Messrs. Causton and Nuttall, clever gymnastic performers. There was a camera obscura, a large cage full of birds, and an exhibition of "things mysterious" entrance fee one penny. Because of bad weather, however, the explosives exhibition and a balloon ascent had to be cancelled. In the evening, Mr. Charles Harvey's String Band played in the pavilion for dancing and Mr. Frederick Charles Copley, of Sheffield, gave a fireworks display.

There was opposition to the pleasure gardens from the outset, from local people and even from some of Joseph's friends. But at first the gardens proved to be popular with the general public who could come out of town to Dore and Totley Station or, as was becoming increasingly popular, by bicycle en route for the Derbyshire countryside. 

 

A major deficiency, however, was the lack of alcoholic refreshments, although at least four special licences were granted for one-off occasions. Joseph's application for a full drinks licence was refused at the annual meeting of the Eckington licensing division on 15 September 1884. The application was opposed by some local publicans, the Cherrytree Orphanage and landowners of the adjacent properties. Ebenezer Hall, of Abbeydale Hall, who was the owner of much of the nearby land, retired from the Bench lest his impartiality should be questioned, but his opposition was well known.

 

In spite of this setback the Victoria Gardens continued to flourish. In October 1884 some 800 workmen from Messrs. Walker & Hall of Sheffield were entertained there by J. E. Bingham, the Master Cutler. Facilities were steadily improving. There was accommodation for tennis, archery and cricket, and generally for recreation and a bicycle track had been laid down.

 

A second application was made at the following year's brewsters sessions, held at Dronfield on 14 September 1885, when Joseph sought to the provisional transfer of the existing drinks licence from the Cricket Inn, having already agreed to purchase it from its owners S. H. Ward & Co., brewers of Sheffield. Further new buildings were planned, fronting on to the Abbeydale Road [Baslow Road], so that customers could obtain a drink without paying admission to the gardens, except on gala days. The property would include a large entrance hall with bar, smoke room, billiard room, kitchen, six bedrooms and stabling for 20 horses. The magistrates again included Ebenezer Hall who stood aside only after it was said that there was written evidence that he would not "on any account" consent to the granting of the licence. Other opponents included Mr. Bown, innkeeper of the Cross Scythes, the Overseers of the Poor of Totley, the vicar of Abbeydale, John Hall of Abbeydale Hall and other local landowners. The application was refused on the grounds that there were already adequate facilities for the local population. No consideration was given to the special circumstances nor to the lack of any alternative between the Beauchief(f) Hotel and the Cross Scythes.

The Victoria Gardens continued to survive for a few more years with income from mid-week dances, finishing in time for the last train back to Sheffield, and the occasional Grand Ball in the pavilion, which was also hired out for private parties and dances. Busloads of children visited the monkey house but by 1887 the venture was beginning to fail.

 

In September 1887, it was announced that the Town Council proposed to convert the Victoria Gardens into a convalescent hospital for smallpox patients from Sheffield. Alderman Brooksbank had reached an agreement with the Victoria Gardens Company for the use of the land and buildings for six months as a temporary hospital for convalescent patients from the Borough Hospital. In speaking about the plan, Ald. Brooksbank referred to the epidemic of smallpox and pointed to the urgent need for increased hospital accommodation.

 

Licensed Victuallers Hall, Abbeydale Road, Dore; built in 1878-1879 for the Licensed Victuallers Association

 

A meeting of Dore and Totley residents was held at the Licensed Victuallers Hall, Abbeydale Road; a resolution passed to oppose the scheme; a deputation sent to the Council's solicitors which included Rev. Aldred; and a writ issued to restrain the Council from carrying out the conversion or the erection new buildings for the proposed hospital.

 

The injuction was refused and by 7 October 1887 detailed preparations had been made for the isolation and conversion of the pavilion. These included the erection of a double fence six feet high at some distance from the building; the cutting off of all drains and installation of dry charcoal closets; the fitting of hot water pipes around the building; a new ingenious ventilation system in the roof with gas jet sterilization of escaping air; and internal reorganisation to provide living accommodation for the resident doctor, Dr. Pearson, working areas for three or four nurses and domestic staff and segregation of the sleeping quarters for men and women. The hospital could take thirty smallpox patients at any one time and would significantly reduce the pressure on the Borough Fever Hospital. The alterations were supervised by Messrs. Flockton and Gibbs, architects of many of Sheffield's finest public buildings.

 

Local fears, perhaps, had been misplaced as patients that were sent to the Victoria Gardens were those who had been assessed as being free from contagion. In the event, the hospital opened for nearly five months during which time none of its 488 patients died, nor was there any spread of infection to the surrounding district. The hospital closed on 29 February 1888, a new fever hospital having been opened at Lodge Moor a week earlier.

 

Bank Holidays had been very busy times for the gardens, but during Easter 1888 Victoria Gardens were still being thoroughly disinfected after the end of the hospital contract and the various premises were being cleaned, painted and decorated in readiness for re-opening. Joseph Mountain took the Corporation to court to recover £400 either as rent or as damages and was awarded a lesser sum. Local tradespeople who had stocked up for the usual crowds of pleasure seekers on their way to the gardens and to the Peak District were disappointed. With the gardens closed and cold weather, Dore and Totley were very quiet. But on 6 August, Bank Holiday Monday, the crowds returned and the local traders were hard pressed to meet their demands for provisions. Victoria Gardens were open with entry free of charge, except to the pavilion which was reserved for dancing. It was estimated that 3,000 people booked to travel by train to Dore and Totley and large crowds flocked into the gardens in the afternoon where there were shooting galleries, swingboats and other new attractions. Wet weather towards evening meant that many of the visitors paid the pavilion entrance fee.

 

A limited liability company was formed, the Sheffield Victoria Gardens Company (Limited), to run the business and Joseph's son, Joseph Samuel Mountain, became its on-site manager. Now it was the turn of young Joseph to attempt to obtain a drinks licence. At the annual brewster session at Eckington on 27 August 1888 application was made for a beer and wine licence only, spirits not being necessary as the prime need was for refreshment. Much the same arguments were presented as before and mention was also made of the change of ownership and the recent co-operation with the Corporation. It was estimated that between £400 and £500 had been spent on improvements to the gardens since the previous application in 1885. As before, the Bench observed that the local requirements were fully served by the existing licences. It was not necessary to establish another permanent drinking place for the needs of occasional visitors; occasional temporary licences would suffice. On hearing these words Joseph junior withdrew their third application.

Severe gales caused considerable damage to the perimeter fencing at Victoria Gardens at the beginning on February 1889 but they didn't prevent a full dress gala ball being held there on the 11th. The Bradway Brass Band played and the event was well attended. Easter was quieter than in earlier years but at times the roads were lined with visitors making their way to the gardens where the main attraction was a brass band contest organised by Mr. Charles Harvey. Total prize money was £24 with half of that going to the winners, the Wharncliffe Silkstone Band. Everything passed off orderly and successfully with very few casualties, it was observed, road accidents being commonplace in those days. 

 

On 14 February 1889 Joseph Mountain wrote to the Editor of the Sheffield Daily Telegraph to comment on a piece written by its correspondent "Rambler". Joseph confirmed that he had agreed to rent part of his land at Totley for the construction of temporary accommodation for workmen (i.e. navvies building the Dore and Chinley Railway) and said this land was near to the Victoria Gardens which would continue to be used for the health and recreation of the people. Whether these constructions were wooden huts or brick-built properties we do not know but it is worth remembering that Dorothy A. Trott, in her autobiography "A Tapestry of Life" said that Bricky Row had been built to house the tunnel navvies and that the residents were promised that they would be demolished when no longer required.

 

On 8 June 1889 an advertisement appeared in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph announcing the sale by auction of the Victoria Gardens, all its buildings and fittings, and 10 further lots comprising adjacent and contiguous plots of land, some with buildings owned by the Mountain family, some without properties and others where there were ground rents generated from tenanted properties that were not owned by the family. We have not seen the associated plans but it would appear that these plots included most or all of the Totley Rise crescent of houses and shops (Bricky Row) since it contained no fewer than 26 adjoining properties including at least three shops, some said to be built of brick and almost all said to front on to Abbeydale Road.  

 

The sale also included a lot with four houses fronting on to Mickley Lane (Brook Terrace?), a large detached house with outbuildings on Mickley Lane occupied by a Mr. Eaton; four pairs of semi-detached villas between the dam and a private road; and an empty corner plot of about half an acre between Abbeydale Road and this private road. This may have been the plot where the Vets now stands? This area is shown as unbuilt in the maps of 1877, 1899 and 1924 (last surveyed 1914-15). Yet Jo Rundle, in Totley Independent, December 2006, wrote that a row of cottages that stood here (presumably numbers 73, 75 and 77) was demolished around 1929 to be replaced by Jim Thompson's garage. We do not know whether any of the smaller lots were sold at the auction on 25 June 1889, but certainly the Victoria Gardens were not.

 

Joseph Mountain's house, 85-87 Baslow Road.

Joseph and Elizabeth Mountain had been living for some time in the detached house adjacent to the turnpike road frontage of the Victoria Gardens, at what is now called 85-87 Baslow Road. Joseph still had the appetite for a fourth attempt at obtaining a drinks licence and came up with a truly outrageous idea of how to obtain it. He converted his house into a hotel and made a deal with Mr. Ralph Armitage, of the Adelphi Hotel, Arundel Street, to run it. Armitage was to rent the place for £60 a year, payable quarterly, and the agreement was contingent upon his successful application for a drinks licence. He had no lease.

 

The application was duly heard at the Eckington Brewster Sessions on 1 September 1890 and resulted in comical exchanges between the Bench and Mr. Armitage's representative, Mr. Joseph Binney, long-suffering veteran of all four applications, when it was demonstrated that Mr. Mountain could, if he so wished, evict Mr. Armitage, demolish the fence between the hotel and the Victoria Gardens and thereby circumvent previous refusals by the Bench to grant it a licence. Application refused. Four days later an advertisement appeared in the properties-to-let pages of the Sheffield Daily Telegraph for the New Queen's Temperance Hotel - apply Joseph Mountain, Totley.

 

For the next couple of years, the Victoria Gardens carried on with a programme of entertainment that included a mixture of the tried and tested and the experimental. Brass band contests were particularly successful in drawing large attendances, especially during Easter, Whitsuntide and at August Bank Holiday. Despite modest prize money, they were taken very seriously indeed and the management of the gardens were to be congratulated for their efforts to promote fair contests with unbiased judging. The contest of 18 April 1892 was a case in point where 13 bands attended, the event being managed by Mr. Charles Harvey and judged by Mr. Henry Coward who shivered in his unheated tent for six and a half hours in freezing temperatures barely visible in the blizzard conditions to the majority of the audience. The contest was deservedly won by the Batley Old Band who received a first prize of £16.

 

Less successful, from the viewpoint of the promoters, were expensively backed attractions featuring Miss Maude Brooks of Liverpool. These involved a balloon ascent and parachute descent, whilst brass bands played for those outside and dance bands played in the pavilion. The balloon contained 26,000 cubic feet of gas and was engineered by Capt. Whelen of Huddersfield. It was capable of carrying only one person strapped below it in a harness, and the nineteen year old Miss Brooks was very slightly built. Thousands of pleasure-goers turned up to watch. The trouble was that the streetwise amongst them, and there were many, didn't pay to enter the Victoria Gardens but instead took up position outside. Some were close to the perimeter but others occupied the hillsides around Cherrytree Orphanage, St. George's Farm and even Mickley hamlet where they passed the 4½ hours it took to fill the balloon by consuming the contents of very large picnic baskets.

 

Eventually, Joseph Mountain, himself, escorted the brightly clad young lady to the balloon. On the occasion of 15 September 1890, Miss Brooks ascended to a height estimated at 4,000 feet (10,000-12,000 was normal), jumped, descended gracefully and landed in a field between the Victoria Gardens and Christ Church, with the balloon continuing some distance beyond Dore. On 1 August 1892, however, there was a strong wind. Miss Brooks landed uninjured in a field near Unstone and the balloon was eventually retrieved from Chaddesden, to the east of Derby.

Then on 6 October 1892 Elizabeth Mountain died suddenly at Victoria Gardens. She was 58 years old. Her funeral took place at Christ Church, Dore on 8 October. Her death affected Joseph greatly. Two or three weeks afterwards he suffered a stroke, and three months later a second one. He also suffered from heart disease and his health gradually deteriorated. In May 1893 he had a third stoke and never fully regained consciousness, dying some eight days later in the early hours of 23 May. He was aged 60. His medical adviser, Dr. Pearson, of Glossop Road, was in attendance. There was a very quiet funeral service conducted by Rev. J. T. F. Aldred and his body was interned in Dore Churchyard on 25 May. 

 

The Victoria Gardens were offered at auction on 31 October 1893. The first lot included the nine acres of gardens, pavilion, dining-rooms etc. together with fixtures and fittings and the adjacent house/hotel. The principal inducement held out to prospective purchasers was the desirability of the site for building purposes. The lot realised £2,200. Other smaller lots were sold too. A plot of freehold land said to be opposite the post office, comprising about half an acre, went for £150. Another freehold house with outbuildings (possibly "Glover House" at the corner of Mickley lane and the track that was to become Glover road) went for £210 and a house and shop, with three adjoining houses "at Totley Rise" changed owners at £340.

 

Jupiter appeared twice daily at the Victoria Gardens on the 14th and 15th of May 1894, the day the Totley Tunnel opened to passenger trains.

The new owners opened the Victoria Gardens briefly the following year with a two-day gala on Whit Monday, 14 May, and Tuesday 15 May 1894, the first day the Dore and Chinley Railway carried passenger traffic. The Midland Railway Company laid on special trains. The main attraction, engaged "at enormous expense" was the "World-famous aerial marvel, Jupiter". Jupiter was a beautiful horse that was raised from the ground by a balloon whilst being fired at with roman candles and other pyrotechnic paraphernalia.

Other attractions included Misses Gallimore and Kenyon, Nubia and Black "negro eccentrics", Miss Maud Medley, Misses Sampson and De Mar, Miss Ella Rezine and W. H. Foster. The Trojan Athletes appeared in their unique performance on the Trojan Rotating Perch. Also at great cost the management hired the Venezia Troup of acrobats, who had appeared by Royal Command at Windsor Castle before the Queen. The Prince of Wales' Prize Brass Band and a string band played for dancing on the green and in the large pavilion. There was "accommodation for 10,000 persons come rain or shine" which was just as well as the weather was showery on both days. Entrance at 1 o'clock, price 6d. The event was reported to be the most successful ever held at the gardens.

 

By 3 November, it would appear that demolition of the buildings had begun as the sale of fixtures and fittings included 48 large glazed window panes, 20,000 bricks and the same number of slates.

 

To be concluded...

 

Totley History Group has been researching this area of the village for many years from its early days as farmland, through its various incarnations as the Mountville Estate (1877-1883), the Victoria Pleasure Gardens (1883-1894), the Michael Joseph Hunter years (1894-1906), James Gledhill's Rhubarb Triangle and Poultry Farm (1906-1931) and finally the Laverdene Estate (1931 to present day). As well as this article on Joseph Mountain and the Victoria Gardens, we have also published a short article on James Gledhill and released some documents relating to the Mountville Estate.

Joseph Mountain in Public Records

Births, Marriages and Deaths

Name  Event  Place Date  Age
Joseph Mountain Birth

Easingwold,

Yorkshire

1833  

Joseph Mountain and

Elizabeth Martin

Marriage

Sheffield,

Yorkshire

30 Jul 1855  

Emily Jane

Mountain (daug.)

Birth

Sheffield,

Yorkshire

Jul-Sep 1857  

Clary (Clara)

Mountain (daug.)

Birth

Sheffield,

Yorkshire

Apr-Jun 1861  

Joseph Samuel

Mountain (son)

Birth

Sheffield,

Yorkshire

1866  

John Arthur

Mountain  (son)

Birth

Sheffield,

Yorkshire

Apr-Jun 1868  

Florence

Mountain (daug.)

Birth

Sheffield,

Yorkshire

Jun-Sep 1871  

Emily Jane

Mountain and

David Hunton Porrett

Marriage

St. John's,

Abbeydale,

Dore,

Derbyshire

16 Jul 1880  

Joseph Samuel

Mountain and

Emma Rodgers 

Marriage

Sheffield

Oct-Dec 1887  

Elizabeth

Mountain

Death

Totley Rise,

Derbyshire

6 Oct 1892 58

Elizabeth

Mountain

Burial

Christ Church, Dore,

Derbyshire

8 Oct 1892  
Joseph Mountain Death

Totley Rise, Derbyshire

23 May 1893 60 
Joseph Mountain Burial

Christ Church, Dore,

Derbyshire

25 May 1893  

Florence Mountain

and Montague

Jessop Stevenson

Marriage

Ecclesall Bierlow,

Yorkshire

Oct-Dec 1893  

Clara

Mountain

Death   22 Jul 1910 48

David Hunton

Porrett

Death   22 Sep 1918 68

David Hunton

Porrett

Burial

Christ Church, Dore,

Derbyshire

25 Sep 1918  

Joseph Samuel

Mountain

Burial

Christ Church, Dore,

Derbyshire 

5 Jul 1920 56

Emily Jane

Porrett

Death   23 Feb 1942 84

Emily Jane

Porrett

Burial

Christ Church, Dore,

Sheffield

25 Feb 1942  

 

 

1841 Census, Uppleby, Easingwold, Yorkshire

Name Age/Born Occupation Birthplace

Mountain Ann

35

c. 1806

ag. lab. 

Yorkshire

Mountain Joseph

8

c. 1833

 

Yorkshire

Mountain Eliza

11

c. 1830

 

Yorkshire

Mountain William

5

c. 1836

 

Yorkshire

 

 

1851 Census, Boroughbridge, Yorkshire

Name Relation Condition Age/Born Occupation Birthplace

Daggett

John

Head

Married

38

c. 1813

plumber

& glazier

Yorkshire,

Boroughbridge

Daggett

Mary

Wife

Married

41

c. 1811

 

Yorkshire,

Ampleforth

Daggett

Ralph

Son

 

13

c. 1838

 

Yorkshire,

Sheriff Hutton

Daggett

Margaret

Daug.

 

11

c. 1840

 

Yorkshire,

Sheriff Hutton

Daggett

John

Son

 

8

c. 1843

 

Yorkshire,

Sheriff Hutton

Daggett

Anne

Daug.

 

5

c. 1846

 

Yorkshire,

Sheriff Hutton

Daggett

William L.

Son

 

3 months

c. 1851

 

Yorkshire,

Boroughbridge

Ward

George

Apprentice  

19

c. 1832

apprentice

Yorkshire,

Sutton on the

Forest

Mountain

Joseph 

Apprentice

 

Unmarried 

 

17

c. 1834 

apprentice

Yorkshire,

Easingwold

Layton

George

Visitor

 

Married 

 

37

c. 1814

farmer

62 acres 

Yorkshire,

Raskelf

Layton

Mary

Visitor

Married

35

c. 1816

farmer's

wife

Yorkshire,

Barnham

Thackray

Margaret

Visitor

 

3

c. 1848

farmer's

niece

Yorkshire,

Linton

 

 

 

1861 Census, 34 Waingate, Park, Sheffield, Yorkshire

Name Relation Condition Age/Born Occupation Birthplace

Mountain

Joseph

 

 

 

Head

 

 

 

 

Married 

 

 

 

 

27

c.1834 

 

 

 

plumber

& gas fitter

employing

1 man &

1 boy

Yorkshire,

Easingwold 

 

 

 

Mountain

Elizabeth

Wife 

 

Married 

 

27

c. 1834

 

Yorkshire,

Sheffield

Mountain

Emmila J.

Daug.

 

3

c. 1858

 

Derbyshire,

Hathersage

Smith

Tobias

Apprentice

 

16

c. 1845

apprentice 

Derbyshire,

Hathersage

 

 

 

1871 Census, Abbey Dale, Ecclesall, Sheffield, Yorkshire

Name Relation Condition Age/Born Occupation Birthplace

Mountain

Joseph

Head

 

Married 

 

37

c.1834 

plumber

& glazier 

Yorkshire,

Easingwold 

Mountain

Elizabeth

Wife 

 

Married 

 

36

c. 1835

 

Yorkshire,

Sheffield

Mountain

Emilia

Daug.

Unmarried

14

c. 1857

 

Yorkshire,

Sheffield

Mountain

Clari

Daug. 

Unmarried

9

c. 1862

 

 

Yorkshire,

Sheffield 

Mountain,

Joseph S.

Son

Unmarried

5

c. 1866

 

Yorkshire,

Sheffield

Mountain

John A.

Son

Unmarried

2

c. 1869

 

Yorkshire,

Sheffield

 

 

 

1881 Census, Silverdale House, Station Road, Dore, Derbyshire

Name Relation Condition Age/Born Occupation Birthplace

Mountain

Josh.

Alderman

Head

 

 

Married  

 

 

47

c.1834

 

retired

plumber

etc. 

Yorkshire,

Easingwold

 

Mountain

Elizabeth

Wife 

 

Married 

 

46

c. 1835

 

Yorkshire,

Sheffield

Mountain

Clari

Daug. 

Unmarried

19

c. 1862

 

 

Yorkshire,

Sheffield 

Mountain,

Joseph Sam

Son

Unmarried

15

c. 1866

 

Yorkshire,

Sheffield

Mountain

Flori

Daug.

Unmarried

9

c. 1872

scholar

Yorkshire,

Sheffield

Swift

Mary

Servant

Unmarried

19

c.1862

domestic

servant

Derbyshire,

Dronfield

 

 

 

1891 Census, Totley Rise, Totley, Ecclesall Bierlow, Derbyshire

Name Relation Condition Age/Born Occupation Birthplace

Mountain

Joseph

Head  

 

Married  

 

57

c. 1834

sanitary

engineer

Yorkshire,

Bowbridge

Mountain

Elizabeth

Wife 

 

Married 

 

56

c. 1835

 

Yorkshire,

Sheffield

Mountain

Clari

Daug. 

Single 

28

c. 1863

 

 

Yorkshire,

Sheffield 

Mountain,

John A.

Son

Single

23

c. 1868

plumber 

Yorkshire,

Sheffield

Mountain

Florrie

Daug.

Single

19

c. 1872

 

Yorkshire,

Sheffield

Joseph Mountain's gravestone, Dore Christ Church

The inscription reads:

 In Loving Memory

of

 

ELIZABETH,

WIFE OF JOSEPH MOUNTAIN,

WHO DIED 6TH OCTOBER 1892

AGED 58 YEARS

 

ALSO OF THE ABOVE

JOSEPH MOUNTAIN,

WHO DIED 23RD MAY 1893 AGED 60 YEARS

 

ALSO OF CLARA; THEIR DAUGHTER,

WHO DIED JULY 22ND 1910

AGED 48 YEARS.

Joseph Mountain's daughter, Emily Jane and son-in-law David Hunton Porrett, Dore Christ Church

The inscription reads:

 

IN LOVING MEMORY OF

 

DAVID HUNTON,

SON OF

D. H. & E. J. PORRETT,

WHO DIED 3RD OCT. 1893,

AGED 7 MONTHS.

 

ALSO OF

DAVID HUNTON,

BELOVED HUSBAND OF

EMILY J. PORRETT,

WHO DIED 22ND SEP. 1918,

IN HIS 69TH YEAR.

 

ALSO OF THE ABOVE NAMED

EMILY J. PORRETT,

A DEVOTED WIFE AND MOTHER

WHO DIED FEB. 23RD 1942,

IN HER 85TH YEAR.

 

IN LOVING MEMORY OF

ANN HERBERT,

VERY DEAR SISTER OF ELIZABETH,

WHO DIED NOV. 23RD 1963, AGED 81 YEARS.

 

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Future Meetings

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Unless stated otherwise our meetings are held in Totley Library on the 4th Wednesday of each month at 7.30pm.

Pauline Burnett's book The Rise of Totley Rise has been revised and updated. It tells the story of this small piece of land from 1875 when there was only a rolling mill and chemical yard alongside the river a mile from Totley, through Victorian and Edwardian times, two world wars and up to the present day. It has 94 pages including a useful index and many illustrations from private collections. The book is available now from Totley Rise Post Office priced at £5, or through our website when an additional charge will be made to cover packing and postage.

A few copies are still available of Sally Goldsmith's book Thirteen Acres: John Ruskin and the Totley Communists. Totley was the site of a utopian scheme funded by art critic and social reformer John Ruskin. In 1877 he bought 13-acre St. George’s Farm so that nine Sheffield working men and their families could work the land and, to keep themselves busy, make boots and shoes. Sally tells an engaging story from our history with a quirky cast of characters including Ruskin himself, the poet and gay rights activist Edward Carpenter and Henry Swan, a cycling, vegetarian artist and Quaker. The book is available to order online from the The Guild of St. George by following this link.

A recently discovered box of WWII correspondence reveals the story of how a small group of ladies from Dore and Totley recruited knitters from the west of Sheffield and how their efforts made them the country's greatest provider of Comforts for the Minesweeping crews of the Royal Navy. The story is told in Knit For Victory, a new book from Totley History Group. Written by Pauline Burnett, it has 82 pages and many illustrations. It is on sale in local shops and via our website.  Further information about the correspondence is in this inside page of our website: Dore & Totley Minesweeping Trawlers Comforts Fund

The story is told in Totley War Memorial WW1 of the ten men from our village who gave their lives in the Great War. Written by Pauline Burnett, Jim Martin and Dorothy Prosser, a chapter is devoted to each of the soldiers with a family tree followed by as much information as could be discovered about the men and their families. There is also information about their military careers and the actions in which they lost their lives. The book has 64 pages and is illustrated throughout with photographs of the men, their families and the houses where they lived.

Totley All Saints' Church Parish Magazines for the years 1985-2006 with notices of baptisms, marriages and funerals and accounts of spiritual, educational, charitable and social matters in the village. Scanned in full, including advertisements from local traders.

In 1893 during the building of the Totley Tunnel there was an outbreak of smallpox amongst the navvies which spread to some of the local population. 17 people were buried in communal graves in Dore Churchyard, 6 from "Green Oak" (Lemont Road). The severity of the outbreak was principally caused by overcrowding and insanitary conditions in lodging houses .

Kathleen Grayson was a 39 year old housewife when WW2 broke out. She volunteered for the ARP and became an ambulance driver. During an air raid on Sheffield in July 1941, and despite her own injuries, she managed to get a seriously injured casualty to hospital. For this she was awarded a commendation from King George VI. Together with her friend Hilda Duffy, Kathleen also assembled a team of knitters to provide essential warm clothing for the men serving on the minesweepers patrolling the North Sea.

We have recently bought at auction the WW2 memorabilia of Douglas Platts whose family home was at Hillside, 98 Queen Victoria Road. After the war Douglas returned to his civilian occupation working in the family scissors manufacturing business. He lived in our area for the rest of his life.

We are very grateful to Mrs Valerie Taylor of Dore for lending us the title deeds to Lower Bents Farmhouse which is reputed to be the oldest surviving building in the area with a proven history back to 1621. We have now scanned and transcribed the deeds which could be particularly interesting to anyone with a connection to the local Fisher, Dalton and Marshall Families. 

Until 1844, when Dore Christ Church parish was created, Totley township was part of Dronfield parish. We have now transcribed the burial records for former Totley residents at St. John the Baptist, Dronfield for the period 1678-1870 and at St. Swithin, Holmesfield for the period 1766-1901.

Whilst researching the history of the Dalton Family we found it useful to transcribe a number of early Wills and Inventories. These and those of many other Totley, Dore and Holmesfield people dating from between 1594 and 1856 have now been added to our website.

St. Swithin's Church, Holmesfield pre-dates Dore Christ Church and was the place where many of the people from Totley worshipped and were baptised, married and buried. Read the inscriptions on more than 750 gravestones in the churchyard including those of Mr. and Mrs. William Aldam Milner of Totley Hall, Jessie Matilda Tyzack (nee Fisher) of Avenue Farm, and Rev. J. A. Kerfoot of St. John's, Abbeydale.

Thomas Youdan was a music hall proprietor and benefactor who was living at Grove House, Totley in 1867 when he sponsored the first football knockout competition in the world for The Youdan Cup.

The words Millhouses Cricket Club can be seen in the background of team photos which are likely to date from between 1905 and the early 1920s, very probably pre-war. They were lent to us by Garth Inman who can identify his great uncle, Cecil Inman, in some of the photos and would like to know when they were taken and, if possible, the names of others present. Please take a look to see whether you can put names to any of the faces. 

Josiah Hibberd was seriously injured whilst working on the construction of the Totley Tunnel in 1892. He died on 9 May 1897 at the age of 38 having apparently spent most of previous five years in hospital.

Bradway House was built around 1832 by Henry Greaves, a farmer, together with two adjacent cottages. We have traced most of the occupants of the property from these early days up to the start of World War Two.

We have transcribed the baptisms records at St. John the Evangelist, Abbeydale from when the church was consecrated in 1876 until just after the start of World War 1. The records are arranged in alphabetical order based upon the child's name and show the date of baptism, the names of the parents, their home location and occupation.

Nick Kuhn bought an original 1920s poster which had this owners' blind stamp in one corner. The stamp almost certainly refers to a house named Wigmore that was built in the late 1920s or early 1930s. The first occupiers that we can trace are John Howarth Caine, a district mineral agent for the LNER, his wife Florence Jane (nee Prince) and daughter Doris Mary. The Caine family lived at Wigmore until 1936 by which time the house would have been known simply as 12 The Quandrant.

George Griffiths died on 13 December 1888 following an explosion during the sinking of number 3 airshaft at Totley Bents. His widow Florence died shortly afterwards and his two daughters Maud and Annie were adopted separately. Whilst Annie lived the rest of her life in Yorkshire, Maud emigrated to Australia in 1923 with her husband, John Burrows, daughter Margaret and son Jack, pictured above.

George Wainwright was said to have been born in Bamford, Derbyshire in 1714. He learned the trade of linen weaving and moved to Totley after his marriage on 1744. He became an ardent follower of John Wesley who paid many visits to Sheffield and who would have passed through or close to Totley. Preaching was at first conducted out of doors and when Wesley's preachers became harassed by a mob of Totley ruffians in 1760, George offered them safety of his own home. He remained a Methodist for all of his long life, dying in Dore in 1821 at the reputed age of 107.

Oakwood School was started by Mrs Phoebe Holroyd in 1925 initially as the Firth Park Kindergarten and, by 1927, as the Firth Park Preparatory School. Phoebe was still working at the school almost fifty years later when she was well into her seventies. We would like to hear from anyone with memories of the school. 

James Curtis was born at sea aboard HMS Chichester in 1790. He enlisted as a Private in the 1st Grenadier Regiment of Foot Guards in Sheffield in 1812 and served in Spain and Portugal during the Peninsular War. He later fought in France and Belgium taking part in the Battle of Waterloo. In later life James lived at the Cricket Inn where his son-in-law William Anthony was the licensed victualler. He died in Heeley in 1882 aged about 91. 

Charles Paul lived in Totley in later life. He was a local historian and archaeologist who was an authority on the history of Sheffield, especially the two areas he knew best: Attercliffe and Ecclesall. His books and letters to local newspapers were published under the Latin form of his name Carolus Paulus.

Towards the end of the 19th century Totley Hall gardens became a well known beauty spot that attracted many hundreds of visitors from Sheffield on open days and the rock gardens became one of its most popular features. Mrs Annie Charlesworth sent us six glass transparencies of the rock gardens taken, we believe, in the early years following the Great War.

Anton Rodgers send us photographs of three water-colours that had been bought by his grandfather at a sale of the contents of Abbeydale Hall in 1919. One was of a scene said to be in York by A. Wilson. A second was of a seated child with a dog believed to be pianted by Juliana Russell (1841-1898). The third was of Lake Como, by Ainslie Hodson Bean (1851-1918) who lived for much of his life on the Riviera and in North Italy.

A Canadian correspondent sent us photographs of a set of silver spoons that were bought in a small town in British Columbia. The case contained a note signed by Ebenezer Hall indicating that they were a wedding gift to Maurice and Fanny Housley. We think we may have traced how they got to Canada and where they might have been since.

Green Oak Park was opened on 23 March 1929 on land that had been bought by Norton District Council from John Thomas Carr, a farmer and smallholder of Mona Villas. In later years, the buildings were used by the Bowling Club (the green having been built in 1956) and by the park keeper. However, the buildings appear to have been constructed in several phases, the oldest of which predates the park to the time when the land was used for pasture.

We believe the old Totley Police Station at 331 Baslow Road was built around 1882. Two lock-up cells were excavated just below floor level in the summer of 1890. We have traced the Derbyshire Constabulary police officers who lived there from John Burford in 1886 to George Thomas Wood who was there when Totley was absorbed into Sheffield in 1934.

David Stanley lived in Totley Rise in the later years of his life. Born in Bulwell, Nottinghamshire, he joined the 17th Lancers when he was 19 and rode in the Charge of The Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava where he was seriously wounded. For the first reunion of veterans in 1875, he told his story to a reporter from the Buxton Herald.

This picture postcard was addressed to Miss Abell, Holly Dene, Totley Brook Road and posted in Rotherham on 10 December 1907. Edith Annie Abell was born on 4 February 1887 in Sheffield and her family came to live in our area in the 1900s, staying for the rest of their lives.

Charles Herbert Nunn enlisted in the British Army on 23 August 1915 and was sent to France on 18 December 1915 to served with the British Expeditionary Force. In March 1916 it was discovered that he was underage and he was returned home. Shortly after his 18th birthday he re-enlisted and was again posted abroad where, in addition to this trio of medals, he was awarded the Military Medal. 

This certificate was awarded jointly by the Red Cross and St. John's Ambulance to Isaac Henry Williams, of Lemont Road, for his services during WW1 as a stretcher bearer. We are seeking anyone who can help us pass it on to a living relative.

In 1832 Samuel Dean pleaded guilty to stealing a quantity of lead from the Totley Rolling Mill and was sentenced to seven years transportation to Australia. He sailed on the Mangles and upon arrival in New South Wales he was sent to work for William Cox, the famous English explorer and pioneer. After receiving his Certificate of Freedom in 1840, Samuel became a farmer and went on to have a very large family. Samuel was born in Whitechapel around 1811 to parents Samuel Dean Snr. and Susannah Duck. His descendant Sarah Dean would like help in tracing his ancestry.

Ellen Topham was born in 1889 in Nottingham. Her parents had been living together since 1862 but had never married so it was most unusual that, after their deaths, Ellen was accepted into Cherrytree Orphanage. Even more so since her father, Snowden Topham, had been acquitted somewhat unexpectedly in a widely reported manslaughter trial. Ellen remained at Cherrytree until her death from pulmonary tuberculosis at the age of 15.

Mabel Wilkes was a resident in Cherrytree Orphanage between 1897 and 1905. Her granddaughter Sally Knights sent us these images of a book presented to Mabel as a prize for her writing. Sally also sent us some personal memories of her grandmother and a photograph of a locket which contains portraits of Mabel and her husband Septimus Gale.

John Henry Manby Keighley was living at Avenue Farm when he enlisted in 1916. He fought in France with the Cheshire Regiment but after home leave in early 1918 he went missing. The Army were unable to determine whether he had deserted or returned to the front and been either killed or captured by the enemy. In August 1919 he was formally presumed killed in action but it appears he did not die but returned home to his family.

Horace Ford was admitted to Cherrytree Orphanage on 26 October 1888 at the age of six. He left at the age of 14 to become an apprentice blacksmith and farrier. Soon after his 18th birthday Horace enlisted in the Imperial Yeomanry to serve his country in the war in South Africa. His letter home to his Orphanage mentor tells of the lucky escape he had in battle.

Pat Skidmore (née Sampy) lived on Totley Brook Road from 1932 to 1948 before her family moved to Main Avenue. In this short article she remembers her time at Totley All Saints School where she was a contemporary of Eric Renshaw and Bob Carr.

As we have nowhere to exhibit memorabilia and artifacts, we have created a Virtual Museum instead. The latest addition to our collection is this double-sided Totley Rise Post Office oval illuminated sign which was on the wall of 67 Baslow Road before the Post Office business transferred to number 71. Please contact us by email if you have things that you own and would like to see added to the virtual museum.

Conway Plumbe was a man of many talents who came to live in Totley Rise around 1912. As a young man he had poems published by Punch magazine and is remembered in modern collections of WW1 poetry. A number of his paintings were accepted by the Royal Academy. An engineering graduate of London University, he joined the Civil Service where he rose to a high level as a factory inspector, publishing two books on the subject and giving a series of talks on workplace health and safety on BBC radio during WW2. In retirement he wrote a philosophical-spiritual work called Release From Time.

Inside Totley Rise Methodist Church there is a Roll of Honour commemorating the soldiers from its congregation who served their king and country during the Great War. For all but one of the 28 names the soldier's regiment is recorded in the next column. The exception is David Cockshott for whom 'killed in action' is written alongside yet he appears on no war memorial in our area and no record of a mortally wounded soldier of that name is to be found. We think we have solved the mystery.

Mrs. Kate Plumbe moved from Mansfield to Totley Rise with a number of her family in 1913 and became closely involved with the Totley Union Church. Her daughter Winifred became a missionary and headmistress in Calcutta for over 38 years following which she returned home to live with her sister Hilda on Furniss Avenue. Hilda had also been a teacher, missionary and, like her mother, a volunteer at St. John's VAD during WW1.

Thomas Glossop was a cutler and razor manufacturer who was well known amongst cricketing and gardening circles. Despite going blind, he was able to continue his hobbies with remarkable success

The Totley Union Cycling Society Prize Giving and Fete was held on the fields near Abbeydale Hall on 18 July 1914. Anne Rafferty and Gordon Wainwright have named some of the people in two wonderful photographs of the event. Can you identify any more for us? 

The Tyzack family are well known in our area for owning iron and steel trades at Walk Mill, Abbeydale Works, Totley Rolling Mill and Totley Forge. This article covers the history of the family from the late 18th century when William Tyzack the founder of the company was born until the early 20th century when Joshua Tyzack farmed at Avenue Farm, Dore.  

Walter Waller Marrison moved to Totley around 1897 with his wife and their two young sons. He was a house builder who constructed properties around Totley Brook and Greenoak before ill health forced him to take up less physically demanding work. In 1904 he took over the tenancy of the grocers and off licence at number 71 Baslow Road. After his death in 1908, his widow Kate and later their eldest son Jack continued to run the business until it was sold in 1934.   

Ron Wijk of Nieuw-Vennep in the Netherlands has sent us two scanned images of drawings of old cottages made by the celebrated Dutch painter, Anton Pieck (1895-1987) simply annotated "Totley", and wondered whether we could identify their locations.

We would like to thank Christopher Rodgers for bringing to our attention this fascinating log of the 85th Sheffield (St. John's and Totley Orphanage) Wolf Cub Pack for 1927-45. The log is published jointly by Sheffield Scout Archives and Totley History Group as a free PDF download. It is illustrated by no fewer than 92 photographs and is supported by a comprehensive index and biographies of some of the main participants.

Following our Open Meeting event on School Days, Roger Hart, Howard Adams and John Timperley have each written to us with their memories of Norwood School, which was located in the rooms attached to the Dore & Totley United Reformed Church on Totley Brook Road. 

On 22nd July 1909 the children of Dore and Totley Schools celebrated by a pageant the union of England under King Ecgbert which took place at Dore in AD 827. The pageant was devised and written by Mrs Sarah Milner and her daughter Marjorie and performed in a field close to Avenue Farm in front of a large audience. Photographs of the event survive together with a fragment of the script.

John Edward Greenwood Pinder had lived all 46 years of his life in Totley but on census night, Sunday 2 April 1911, he was not at home; he was in Derby Gaol serving a sentence of three months hard labour. From the age of 20, John had been in and out of local courts for a series of minor offences including drunkenness, assault, wilful damage and night poaching. Finally he was sent to gaol for cutting down and stealing 86 small trees which he sold in Sheffield market for Christmas.

We have already transcribed the census returns for Totley, Totley Rise and Dore. Now we have transcribed Census Strays. These are people who were born in Totley but are missing from our earlier transcriptions. They may have been living, working or studying elsewhere or just away from home on the night the census was taken. Two people were in prison. Others were in Union Workhouses, hospitals and asylums. Fully indexed strays from the 1851, 1861, 1881, 1891, 1901 and 1911 censuses are available now. 

We wish to thank Gillian Walker for allowing us to digitize an archive of material about the 1st Totley Scout Group. Most of the material was collected by Arthur Percival Birley in the period 1949-51 and there are many interesting documents pertaining to the building of the scout hut on Totley Hall Lane. In addition four Newsletters survive, two from the 1940s and two from 1971.

We are grateful to Angela Waite and All Saints' Parish Church for giving us access to baptismal and kindergarten birthday rolls dating from 1926 to 1941. We have transcribed the names, addresses, birthdates and baptismal dates and created an alphabetical index of entries for you to search. 

Edmund Sanderson, a Sheffield estate agent, aquired the land on either side of the old drive to Totley Grove in 1874 and divided it into plots for development. He called it the Totley Brook Estate. But before many houses were built, the estate road was severed in two by the building of the Dore & Chinley Railway line. The eastern end of the road became the cul-de-sac we now call Grove Road

John Roberts was born in Sheffield in 1798. He became a partner in one of the leading silversmiths firms in the city before moving to Abbeydale Park in 1851 and extending the house in Victorian gothic style. He paid for the building of St. John's Church and was believed to dispense more in charity than any other person in the neighbourhood including his protege Ebenezer Hall.

The Coke Family owned the Totley Hall Estate from 1791 to 1881. With the aid of a family tree to guide us, Josie Dunsmore takes us through the story of their tenure. 

When the Rev. D'Ewes Coke inherited the Totley Hall Estate in 1791 it had two farms. Josie Dunsmore tells the story of how the two farms were combined under the tenancy of Peter Flint with the aid of field maps drawn by Flint himself and later by the Fairbanks family.

Do you think you recognize this face? More than sixty photographs of the girls and teachers at Hurlfield Grammar School for Girls in the 1940s were given to Totley History Group by Avril Critchley, who was herself a student at the school. The collection includes fifteen form photographs from June 1949. There would have been a number of girls from the Totley area attending the school in those days.

Christine Weaving tells the story of her 2 x great uncle George Edward Hukin, a Totley razor-grinder, and his life-long friendship with the academic, poet, writer, and free-thinker Edward Carpenter.

Eric Renshaw (pictured here on the right with Bob Carr) grew up and lived in Totley from 1932 to 1960. Many of his memories are of a sporting nature.

We are very grateful to Gordon Grayson for giving us this splendid sale document for the Norton Hall Estates, following the death in 1850 of Samuel Shore. The estates included a large part of Totley and the document has maps and illustrations, plus schedules of land and property with the names of tenants. We have also added a transcription of the entries for Totley and Dore. 

Watch this Youtube video of the talk given by Dr. Mark Frost and Sally Goldsmith on Ruskin, Totley and St. George's Farm. The talk was hosted by Totley History Group on 20th May 2015 as part of the Ruskin in Sheffield programme. Also enjoy a video of the outdoor performance Boots, Fresh Air & Ginger Beer written by Sally.

When Jacqueline A. Gibbons became interested in what made her father tick, it began a journey through WW1 archive records and led to her flying from Toronto to visit the house and village where he lived and the countryside that he so much enjoyed. Jacqueline reminds us that in the early 20th century Sheffield was a driving force of industry and that Totley was the place where many of its remarkable people lived and where they formulated their ideas.

Edgar Wood was the designer of The Dingle, 172 Prospect Road, built in 1904 for Rev. William Blackshaw, the founder of the Croft House Settlement. The house, together with its western terrace and boundary walls, has now been awarded Grade II listed building status. 

What was probably "the most perfect little garden railway in existence" in 1910 was to be found in the grounds of Brook House, Grove Road, the home of its designer and constructor, Guy Mitchell. Look at some wonderful photographs and read reports in newspapers and a full appreciation in Model Railways magazine. 

We have now completed our transcription of Totley School's Admission Records for the period from 1877 to 1914. There is also a useful index to the names of the scholars and to their parents or guardians. We are very grateful to Sheffield Archives and Local Studies Library for allowing us to transcribe and publish these records and for permission to reproduce the photograph of a specimen page of the register.

On 8, 9 and 11 November 2014 Totley History Group held an exhibition at Dore & Totley United Reformed Church to commemorate the centenary of the First World War. Below are additional links to some of the photographs we were lent and stories we researched especially for the exhibition.

 

Oscar Creswick was a local farmer who served with the Army Service Corps in Salonika and who after the war returned to Totley to become the innkeeper of the Cricket Inn and a member of the village's successful tug of war team.

 

Walter Evans was a market gardener who also ran a small grocery shop on Hillfoot Road when war broke out. He fought with the Machine Gun Corps at the fourth battle of Ypres. After the war, Walter ran a grocers shop at the top of Main Avenue.

 

Fred Cartwright was another Totley soldier who survived the Great War. He fought in France and Belgium and although he wasn't wounded he was gassed and was home on sick leave when his daughter was delivered by Nurse Jessop during a snowstorm in January 1917.

 

Maurice Johnson joined the Yorkshire Dragoons, a territorial unit, on 1 Jan 1914 and so was called up at the very start of the war. He fought throughout the war on the Somme, at Ypres and at Cambrai. After demobilization in 1919 Maurice returned to his old occupation in the steel industry.

 

Bill Glossop lent us a letter written by his father, William Walton Glossop to his wife describing life in the army during training in the north east of England and asking her to keep him in mind with the children.

 

The photo above provides a link to an album of photographs taken of WW1 Hospitals at St. John's, Abbeydale and the Longshaw Estate.

 

Nora Green, of Chapel Lane, was only 14 when war broke out. In 1914 she was ill with diphtheria and was sent to the isolation hospital at Holmley Lane, Dronfield. Nora recovered and wrote a letter of thanks to one of the hospital staff and the reply she received survives. 

 

We have collected together on this page the names of local men who appear on various War Memorials and Rolls of Honour in Totley, Dore, Abbeydale, Norton, Holmesfield and Dronfield.

 

Unfortunately we were unable to identify all the photographs we were lent of Totley Soldiers. Please take a look at this album to see if you recognize any of the missing names.

This walk visits locations that have strong associations with Totley during the First World War. It includes the homes of the ten soldiers from the village who lost their lives, the auxiliary hospitals, war memorials, and even the rifle range on which the soldiers trained. Take a look at the first draft of a new walk by the authors of "Totley War Memorial WW1 1914-1918"

We wish to thank the Trustees of Cherrytree for giving us permission to publish transcriptions of the Cherrytree Orphanage Admissions Book entries for the years 1866-1929. There is also an alphabetical index for you to look at.

With more people having access to faster broadband and mobile networks, we have uploaded seven full and unedited oral history recordings and also added more short excerpts for you to listen to.

Our transcriptions of local trade directories have been expanded to cover the 95 years from 1837-1932 and have also been indexed. From the days when there were a handful of farmers, stone masons, saw handle makers & scythe grinders to the wonders of the Totley Bridge Garage Company, Betty's Boudoir and The Heatherfield Shopping Centre.

We continue to add to our Totley Newspaper Archive. Recent entries have included several about The Plumbe Family, Thomas Glossop and accidents during the construction of Totley Tunnel.

Totley Church of England Parish Magazines for the years 1922-1939 and 1948-1967 with notices of births, marriages and deaths and accounts of spiritual, educational, charitable and social matters in the village. 

Around 90 photographs taken by Stuart Greenhoff for his thesis A Geographical Study of Dore and Totley including several of Totley Moor Brickworks. Superb!  

Chronologically ordered snippets of information recorded by Brian Edwards during his many years of research into our local history.

Read the inscriptions on more than 700 gravestones in  the churchyard.

 

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