Totley History Group
Peter Flint and the Totley Hall Estate
by Josie Dunsmore
Totley Hall Estate, consisting of two adjacent farms or “parcels of land”, the Hall and abutting fields, together with several pieces of woodland, was held in the 17th and 18th centuries in three separate parts (or moieties) by absentee landowners who rented it out to local tenants. However, all three parts came together in 1791 under joint ownership of Rev D’Ewes Coke of Brookhill Hall, Pinxton, Mansfield, and his wife Hannah, who had three sons D’Ewes, William and John, and a daughter Hannah. However it is doubtful if Rev D’Ewes Coke even visited Totley during the twenty years he held the estate – relying on agents and tenant farmers to maintain the land while he took their rental money.
One of the Coke tenants in Totley was Peter Flint, son of John and Jane, who was baptised on 10 Sept 1758 and married Ann Sanderson at Dronfield on 7 Dec 1783. Records show that the couple had three children – Jane, Sarah and William. However, during 1798 – 99, wife Ann and infant children Sarah and William all died, and within a year Peter remarried Elizabeth Fearnehough, aged 28, by Licence on 26 Sept 1799. Peter’s age is given as 36 years, when in fact he was 41, but he is described as a “farmer of Totley”.
It may be that Peter was given the tenancy of one of the two Totley Hall farms as early as 1791 when the Rev D’Ewes Coke and his wife Hannah inherited the Totley Hall Estate. Peter’s name appears in Totley records in 1794 as serving on the Overseers of the Poor Committee, which was made up of “substantial men” chosen by the Landholders in the Hamlet of Totley. This would indicate that he was well-known and respected in Totley at that time.
By at least 1801 Peter was tenant farmer of Totley Hall, living in the farm on Totley Hall Lane with his second wife Elizabeth; whilst the second estate farmers were the Platt family – first Robert, who was a tenant in the 1780s, and then Thomas. The Platt family appeared to be struggling to cope as, in 1807, Peter Flint took over half their farm which abutted his own, and then took on both farms a year later. From this date Totley Hall Farm seems to have been much as it is in 2016, farmed by Edwin and Jenny Pocock, with a few exchanges and the addition of 30 acres of Broad Carr by the 1841 Totley Inclosure Award. During this time three girls were born to Peter and Elizabeth at Totley Hall Farm, but only two, Martha and Ann, survived infancy.
When Peter Flint took on the tenancy of Platt’s Farm as well as his own, Fairbanks, Surveyors of Sheffield, were commissioned in 1809 to survey the united farmland by John Coke Esq (who was acting for his father Rev. D’Ewes Coke). The result was that Peter Flint produced a rough “Eye Sketch” which may be the first map of the farm. Fairbanks added two detailed lists of field names, acreage and land use to the sketch of “Old” Farm (Peter Flint’s, 55 acres) and “New” Farm (Thomas Platt’s, 47 acres). Both farms were mostly pasture and meadow with some arable land growing oats, wheat and turnips. (See Plan 1.)
Plan 1. Peter Flint's rough "Eye Sketch", 1809
It is interesting to note that a block of Peter Flint’s fields had names which indicate ancient woodland – Near Stor Ley, Far Stor Ley, Upper Far Stor Ley, Knowle Field (also known as Nether Far Stor Ley) and Stubbing with adjacent Hustard having young oak trees recorded grown there in the latter part of the C 16th. Platt’s Farm also had Upper and Nether Lee Fields. (Stor, star or storth refer to young woodland, whilst lee or ley imply a clearing in the wood.) The former ancient woodland is an area being explored by FOGW, who will hopefully shed more light on the extent of the woodland in ancient times.
Another interesting field name is Kiln Field (sited in the area of the Totley Hall Lane playing field) which probably had a kiln for pottery, corn drying or smelting). Tenter Field (where woven cloth was stretched out on tenter hooks to dry) had lost its earlier 1600’s name and become simply Housecroft. The ruined foundations of a barn can still be found in Barn Field.
The two farms now formed a compact block of land either side of Totley Hall Lane and bordered Gillfield Wood. There was also a block of three outlying fields above the Shepley Spitfire where the allotments are now, named Bridge, Francis and Trickett fields. The Estate also owned Trickett Wood, Upper and Nether Gillfield Wood and Barkers Wood (now known as Little Wood). Peter Flint paid £90 rental twice a year on Lady Day and Michaelmas for the joint farms and £3-15s-9d property tax for the woodland.
In 1811 Rev D’Ewes Coke died and the Totley and Brimington Estates (which had come into the family through Hannah, nee Heywood of Brimington Hall via her uncle Anthony Gallimore) were passed back to his wife with the rents going to her second son William. He was Chief Justice of Ceylon, so was another absentee landlord. His interests were overseen by his brothers D’Ewes and John Coke.
After the death of his father, D’Ewes Coke commissioned Fairbanks to do a survey of the Totley Estate on his brother’s behalf. In 1813 Fairbanks produced a detailed sketch of the farm and woodland in his field/note book, which he later converted into a map.
The orientation of the field book sketch is opposite to other maps. Presumably Fairbanks started his drawing in Totley Hall Lane. What is special about this is that he made a detailed drawing of the farms and buildings. Peter Flint’s plot had a House (the old Totley Hall), Barn with Threshing floor, Stable, Fodder and Cow house, Folds and Garden. Platt’s old farm had a Barn, Cow house, Fodder Sheds, Corn Chamber, Stock Yards and Folds with two Houses and Garden on a Plot by the Lane (Pocock’s). (See Plan 2.)
Plan 2. Fairbanks 1813 sketch map
By 1818 it seems that Totley Hall Farm buildings and farmland were in a run-down condition. A detailed report by Jonah Fairbanks for D’Ewes Coke was made on 10 May 1818. Fairbanks reported that Peter Flint’s farmhouse walls needed pointing as well as slates at the west end. Half of the barn at the Old Farm (8) was “in great want of repair” and needed the roof removed and new lathes before slating over and pointing at an estimated cost of £15 – 15s – 0d. Peter Flint offered to see to the much needed repairs of doors to most of the outbuildings himself.
Fairbanks commented that the farm was being better managed than in 1813 but there was still room for improvement. The pasture land was overgrown with thistles and many weeds were being allowed to seed in the stubble of the arable fields.
A number of specific fields were referred to by name as needing attention. The Hustard (15) (which abuts Pheasant Wood) needed draining and ditches scouring. This field was covered in oak wavers (i.e. 25 - 30 year old), single stemmed trees in 1574. The clear felling of the trees would have made the land wetter. There is still an old ditch along the north edge of Pheasant Wood draining into Totley Brook which may be one of the ones referred to on the report.
Another field singled out for improvement was Upper Hustard (22) which needed clearing of bushes to make it more productive, but the few mature trees should remain. There was a Quarry spoil heap in Nether Lee Field (30) and barn in ruinous condition in Long Field (26). Fairbanks recommended that the barn be taken down and the stone and strong timber reused to build a smaller animal shelter-type shed for the cattle. New fencing and the planting of a white thorn hedge were also recommended in Nether Lee (29). It is perhaps worth noting that all bar one of the fields needing attention were on the original Platt farmland and not Flint’s. (See Plan 3.)
Plan 3.Fairbanks 1813 map with 1818 reports superimposed
The reason for the farm having become so run down becomes apparent from Fairbanks additional notes. He recommends a reduction to be made to the rental in consequence of the decrease of agricultural stock and the considerable increase in parochial assessments since 1813. Fairbanks is unsure how much to allow in order for Peter Flint (and the other tenants) to discharge their arrears in rent. Peter Flint reckoned he could pay off his arrears of £55 within two years. These had accrued as a result of some of his crops failing very much in the summer of 1817. It is worth noting that this crop failure was not confined to Peter Flint as D’Ewes Coke’s other tenants in Dore, John Grey, John Flint and William Taylor (farming for his widowed mother-in-law Mary Watson) were also in arrears due to crop failure.
In July 1818 the tenants had written a letter to acting agent John Coke making “great complaints” and stating their inability to pay rent as valued by Fairbanks some years previously - Peter Flint’s annual rental being £170. John Coke sought Fairbanks’ opinion on whether he thought their complaints justified. The outcome was that when D’Ewes Coke inherited the Dore and Totley Estates from his mother, who died in Sept 1818, he decided to acquiesce to the tenants’ request and actually visit the properties at the same time as Fairbanks to see the new survey plans.
From correspondence, accounts and the farm reports it is obvious that Peter Flint was just not coping with the running of the two amalgamated farms. Despite all the faults that Fairbanks found in 1818 he noted improvements since 1813, so it seems that Peter Flint was making an effort to make a go of things. The poor harvest of 1817 and increasing debt must have added additional worries to his heavy burden. He found his new Landlord very different to his previous masters. D’Ewes Coke was a hands-on sort of landowner and, as the Duke of Rutland’s land agent since 1811, very used to getting the best use out of the land. By the end of 1820 the writing was on the wall for Peter Flint. After a new survey and report on the Totley property made by John Wyck, D’Ewes Coke wrote to Fairbanks that “he speaks so unfavourably of its condition and possible management that I have stated to P. Flint my intention to remove him on Lady Day”. He asked Fairbanks if they could recommend an “industrious man” to take over though he proposed to keep the Hall in his own hands and let the farmhouse to the new tenant of the Farm. D’Ewes Coke mentioned taking on the three Trickett fields and maybe four or five more acres himself if it was desired to reduce the extent of the farm, perhaps acknowledging that it was overly large for one man to manage.
In 1821 when he left the farm, Peter Flint was 62 years old and had tenanted Totley Hall Estate Farm for well over 20 years. However, it seems that he was not left destitute. Dore Inclosure Award c1827 shows Peter Flint had a self-owned a house in Townhead Road above Cromwell Cottages with an adjacent garden and croft, as well as an allotment on Blackamoor. He was also a tenant of three fields in Totley (Upper, Middle and Nether Flatt) owned by Offley Shore, until his death in 1836, aged 78. He was buried in Dronfield but his wife Elizabeth, a midwife, outlived him.
After Peter Flint left the Totley Estate Farm the new tenant farmer appointed appears to be John Wilson.
Peter Flint wasn’t the only person to be given his marching orders due to inefficiency when D’Ewes Coke took a hand in setting the Totley Estate back on its feet. In 1831 D’Ewes Coke quarrelled with Surveyors and Agents Fairbanks. D’Ewes Coke had asked for a new map of the Totley Estate but, instead, Fairbanks produced new Maps of the Coke Estate in Dore and Brimington. D’Ewes sarcastically thanked them for these, but refused to pay, saying that it was the Totley map he wanted. He had been unimpressed by the 1813 map and had suggested previous errors should be rectified and adjacent landowners indicated. The 1809 map was merely a sketch by the farmer, while in 1818, Fairbanks had merely revised the 1813 map, renumbering the fields and providing a written report. Lord Middleton (Lord of the Manor) allowed his Agent to make a copy of his own 1821 Survey of Totley for D’Ewes Coke’s use instead, so a map of Totley by Fairbanks was no longer needed.
By 1831 the well-organized, efficient D’Ewes Coke, who didn’t suffer fools gladly, had had enough. The missing Totley map was the last straw and he dispensed with the services of Fairbanks. This put an end to an extremely fertile source of information regarding Totley Farm Estate in the early 19th century. It is possible to discover the names of future tenant farmers and owners using censuses and directories, but there are few details about the ups and downs of farming available for research as in the tenancy of Peter Flint.
Plan 1: Sheffield Archives – FC/CP 11(1)
Plan 2: Sheffield Archives – FC/CP 11(19)
Plan 3: Sheffield Archives – FC/DRO 73S
(Documents published by kind permission of Sheffield City Council, Libraries, Archives and Information)
Appendix 1. Transcribed field details from Peter Flint's 1809 "Eye Sketch"
Old Farm (i.e. Peter Flint's)
| Number | Field Name | Land Use | Rough Acreage |
| 1 | Bridge Field | Pasture | 3.00 |
| 2 | Francis Field | Pasture | 5.00 |
| 3 | Tricket Field | Pasture | 6.00 |
| 4 | Homestead | 0.50 | |
| 5 | Hall Croft | Arable | 4.00 |
| 6 | Meadow | Meadow | 4.00 |
| 7 | Meadow | Arable | 4.00 |
| 8 | Stubbing | Pasture | 2.00 |
| 9 | Near Stor Ley | Meadow | 2.50 |
| 10 | Far Stor Ley | Meadow | 3.00 |
| 11 | Upper Far Stor Ley | Meadow | 3.50 |
| 12 | Knowle Field | Meadow | 4.00 |
| 13 | Gill Field | Pasture | 7.00 |
| 14 | Hustard | Pasture | 4.50 |
| Total | 53.00 |
New Farm (Platt's)
| Number | Field Name | Land Use | Rough Acreage |
| 15 | Homested | 0.50 | |
| 16 | Hall Croft | Arable | 3.50 |
| 17 | House Croft | Meadow | 3.00 |
| 17a | Kiln Meadow | Pasture | 4.00 |
| 18 | Meadow | Pasture | 2.50 |
| 19 | Upper Hustard | Pasture | 5.00 |
| 20 | Cecil Field | Meadow | 5.00 |
| 21 | Far Cecil Field | Meadow | 4.00 |
| 22 | Sun Field | Meadow | 4.00 |
| 23 | Barn Field | Pasture | 1.50 |
| 24 | Long Barn Field | Pasture | 3.00 |
| 25 | Three Acre Field | Pasture | 2.50 |
| 26 | Little Field | Pasture | 2.25 |
| 27 | Nether Field | Pasture | 3.50 |
| 28 | Upper Field | Pasture | 3.00 |
| Total | 47.25 |
Appendix 2: Some Totley Hall Estate Tenant Farmers 1791-1911
| Owner | Tenant | Years |
| Rev. D'Ewes Coke and wife | Farm 1: Peter Flint | c.1795-1811 |
| Hannah, nee Heywood | Farm 2. Thomas Platt | c.1791-1807 |
| 1791-1811 | Both farms: Peter Flint | 1808-1811 |
| Mrs Hannah Coke | Peter Flint | 1811-1818 |
| (Rentals went to Sir William | ||
| Coke, 2nd son of above | ||
| Chief Justice of Ceylon) | ||
| 1811-1818 | ||
| D'Ewes Coke | Peter Flint | 1818-1821 |
| (eldest son of Rev. D'Ewes | John Wilson | 1821-1836 |
| Coke) | William Wilson | c.1838-1840 |
| 1818-1856 | Robert North | c.1841-1851 |
| Francis Lillyman Coke | Charles Alsop (farm bailiff) | c.1857-1860 |
| (eldest son of above) | Frederick Hunt | 1861-1873 |
| 1856-1873 | ||
| William Sacheverall Coke | Frederick Hunt | 1873-1880 |
| (2nd son of D'Ewes Coke) | ||
| 1873-1881 | ||
| William Kent Marples | No tenants | |
| 1881-1883 | ||
| William Aldam Milner | William Smedley | c.1891 |
| 1884-1931 | Farm manager | |
| Thomas Andrew | 1901-1911 |
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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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