Memory Lane - Recollections of Stuart Dunn

A Childhood Spent in the Village of Dore

Growing Up on Causeway Head Road

Stuart’s earliest memories are when he was about three in 1945. The last vestiges of war were apparent. His back garden was full of vegetables as were those of his neighbours. There was an Anderson shelter in the garden which was a great place to play with his friends. The black curtains of the enforced blackout were still used in his house for some time.

They lived in 94 Causeway Head Road and he looks back at the facilities they had. A refrigerator must have been a luxury he realises now. The family had a car from 1947, which was unusual. The house was surrounded by fields, with cows grazing, and he would spend his early years playing in these fields or cycling around the roads on his tricycle.

This early photograph, taken before the development of Dore, shows Limpit Cottage on Causeway Head Road.
Note the lamp post and the sycamore tree.

Here is the same cottage, lamp post and sycamore tree in the 1960s. It is at the junction of High Street and Causeway Head Road.
The cottage and tree are still there today.

During the war years his mother Jean Dunn, née Rhodes, had a Canadian or American soldier (he cannot remember which) billeted in their house. His father, John, had been in the Royal Navy and did not come home until 1947, as he was involved in the war with Japan and its aftermath.

He remembers Causeway Head Farm buildings before the main development around Causeway Head Road. The main entrance to the farm was at the junction of Causeway Head Road and Parkers Lane. Causeway Head Road was marsh to the side towards Rushley Road. In 1947/8 the land was drained and pre-fabs were built.

On the opposite side of the road from Stuart’s house there was Causeway House where one of his friends lived, a very grand building owned by the steelmaker, Eldon Lee of Arthur Lee & Sons. This house was demolished to make way for Hassells housing development and only the coach house remains now as an individual dwelling.

From number 94, the family moved to 29, Causeway Head Road, White Corners, that was once a Barnardo’s Children’s home and then a home with an internal doctor’s surgery. After the family moved in the doctor’s surgery and other rooms continued to be rented by Dr Exell from them.

Education - the Early Years

He started going to Miss Trott’s preschool class in the Church Hall just after the war ended. This was held in the back rooms of the hall, now Christ Church Dore Community Centre. Sunday School was held in the same place and was extremely popular. A chance to meet with all the other children of the village.

At 5 years of age he started formal education at Dore School in the Old School buildings. He always walked to school on his own or with friends. There were very few cars and a few on horseback in the village.

Later Stuart (aged 7 years) went to Birkdale School in Sheffield and remembers getting the bus from Dore unless it was snowing. The bus went as far as Ecclesall tram terminus where he had to get a tram into town.

Visiting Dore Hall Farm

Uncle Joseph Denniff and his wife Auntie Connie were farmers at Dore Hall Farm. There were two entrances, one from Vicarage Lane, one on Dore Road about 150 yards below the junction of Causeway Head Road and Dore Road, with a cobbled driveway and side stone paved area, leading to the farmhouse. There were times when lunch was not available at home and Stuart made his way to the farm.

His aunt would feed all the farm labourers, about 15 in total, around a long refectory table with benches either side. The sights and smells of that kitchen are imprinted on his mind. It was always warm and a broth or meat and two veg was on offer. There was a large black Yorkshire range with a black pot for the stewed meat or broth and a black kettle. Fresh bread from the baker and grocer, Huby Frith, was a welcome addition. Adjacent to the kitchen was a scullery where Connie would prepare food.

The house itself was four or five bedrooms and well furnished, although he only got to see it once, as he was only allowed in the kitchen. Stuart explains everyone in the village knew him, same as with the other children, and people looked out for them all. His grandparents, Sydney (a scrap metal merchant) and May Rhodes (née Denniff), also lived around the corner in White Lodge, Church Lane. Dore Hall Farm was demolished in the later 1950s and its land used for housing development.

 

Childhood Interests

 

The interests of the boys of Dore during the 1940s and 50s were similar to the subsequent generation; football, cricket and scouting. He would go and watch county cricket with his father, at Bramall Lane.

He was also a choir boy at Christ Church and attended choir practice once a week.

 

Then in 1960, at the age of 17, he got his first job serving petrol at Dore Garage.

Being brought up in Dore was certainly a good introduction to life, and the world of work for Stuart.

The 1745 Dore Psalm Board

The Reappearance of the Dore Psalm Board

Psalms of the Old Testament are pieces of poetry that tend to be read in some modern church services, but have been sung through history and people would either learn the words or read them from the Bible. You may be familiar with hymn boards on church walls. Before this there were psalm boards. Hymns only became popular in the mid 18th century. Dore Archives Research Team has tracked down the Dore Church Psalm Board.

The Furness Connection

Dore Church was designed and built in 1828, by Richard Furness, then consecrated in 1829, and prior to this there was a chapel of ease in the village. It is thought that this psalm board originated during its time and hung on the chapel wall.

Richard Furness Wrigglesworth, great, great grandson of Richard Furness, has helped piece together some of the Psalm Board story. His great grandmother, Eliza Wrigglesworth née Furness, was the only one of Richard Furness’ daughters to marry and have children. He had inherited the Psalm Board from his father and has kindly given it to Christ Church Dore.

The Mystery of Its Origins

The front of the Psalm Board clearly shows the date 1745. The writing on the back the Psalm Board is signed by Joseph Hancock and his son, Henry William, of Rushley Farm. It is now faded and fragile but possibly refers to stone recovered from ‘Pegges Folly,’ on Strawberry Lee, used to build Dore Church. The Psalm Board was presumably recovered from the old chapel of ease at the time of its demolition and stone from the chapel, along with the other stone, used to build the new church, if the faded writing is transcribed correctly.

The writing may also suggest that the Psalm Board was used in the present church for a time. We have not got evidence of what happened between being taken down and then reappearing in the 20th century. The writing on the back of the board is fragmented and faded but may have told this part of the story.

Saved By the Postman

Richard Furness Wrigglesworth’s father, Richard Gordon Wrigglesworth, born 1909, was a postman rotating between Dore and Totley. He would finish his Dore round at the furthermost end of Long Line, before freewheeling, on his sit up and beg bicycle, down Long Line and then through Ecclesall Woods to the sorting office, as is now, on Abbeydale Road South. A ‘Miss Hancock’ of Rushley Road was aware of his Furness roots and gave him the Psalm Board sometime in the 1950s.

There were two Misses Hancock, Fanny or Frances (1885-1972) and Nellie or Ellen (1884-1970), daughters of Henry William Hancock and Sarah née Furness, daughter of William Furness. Nellie Hancock may have been the donor of the psalm board. Today Richard tells how he remembers his father cycling home with the board in his satchel. Then he kept it at home next to Richard Furness’ grandfather clock that had stood in the Old School in Dore for about 25 years.

Can You Help?

Initial research has not been helpful in finding any similar psalm boards to compare with. Perhaps by publicising the image through this blog someone may be able to give us further information about any similar boards they may have come across on their travels.

(Click on the images to enlarge)

A Raid on Dore

In the News: Sheffield's Cunning Plan?

Derby Daily Telegraph - 3rd of October 1927.

The title of this article suggests violence afoot but in actuality the ‘raid’ was on land in Dore. The article predates the inclusion of Dore into Sheffield. Dore was still firmly within Derbyshire until the mid-1930s. To quote directly from the newspaper this is what was said :

‘Most people know that Dore is a Derbyshire suburb of Sheffield, to which the well to-do classes of that city resort for residential purposes. Dore is rather exclusive, and, it is said, somewhat inclined to give itself airs. But a cold shiver has been sent through the place by the rumour that the City Council contemplate building a large number of houses for the working classes on land they have acquired there for this especial purpose.

If that be true, it will be a great blow to the Dore that has grown up in the last generation, and that prides itself on its social amenities and general attractiveness. The point is of some interest to Derbyshire, for Dore is, of course in our County. What is threatened is that when the new block of working-class houses is completed, Sheffield will go to Parliament for an extension of boundaries that will wipe Dore off the map of Derbyshire once and for all.’

And as they say - the rest is history.

Toy Sunday - 1931

Reverend Saxelby-Kemp

The Rev. Saxelby-Kemp took up his appointment as vicar at Christ Church, Dore in October 1931.

One of his first decisions was to announce that the first Sunday after Christmas was to be 'Toy Sunday'.

Toy Sunday was something he had introduced at his last parish in Scropton, Derbyshire. The donated toys were given to a poor parish in Derby.

In the News: Linking Dore and Attercliffe

Sheffield Daily Telegraph - Tuesday 5th January 1932

Three Hundred Donations

On Sunday 27th December 1931, at the first event of its kind held in Dore, the generous children of the parish donated 300 toys and books. After a discussion among the Dore parishioners it was decided that the Attercliffe parish of Canon S.T.G. Smith should benefit.

Parish Room, Attercliffe

Just one week later, on the Monday evening, Mrs Kemp, the wife of the vicar, was 'Father Christmas'! The toys and books were distributed to 300 of the poorest children of Attercliffe parish by the Sunday school teachers.

Christmas Festivities in the Workhouse

Dore and Totley belonged to the Ecclesall Bierlow Union. The Union was created in 1837 and also included Norton, Beauchief and Upper and Nether Hallam. The workhouse at Nether Edge was in use from 1843.

The food provided varied from workhouse to workhouse. A basic diet consisted of gruel, bread and cheese, with soup or meat and potatoes once a week. Water was the only drink with tea being a privilege for the elderly.

The Ecclesall Bierlow Board of Guardians had a weekly meeting and at one such meeting, reported in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph on the 3rd of December 1896, the food to be served to the inmates on Christmas day was discussed and approved.

The Chairman, Major W Greaves Blake, proposed that the inmates be allowed the usual extra 'dietary' on Christmas Day. This was seconded by Mr. Milner, and it was passed unanimously by the board. Come 1901 things were not destined to go so smoothly.

1896: Plans for Christmas Day

• Dinner - roast beef and potatoes followed by plum pudding
• Beer - each adult male was allowed one pint of beer, and each adult female one half-pint with their dinner
• Tea - plum loaf
• The sick poor and the children - fruit and sweets
• Aged inmates - tobacco, tea and sugar

Donations of Beer

The Guardians accepted the kind offer of Mr. S. H. Ward, of Messrs, S. H. Ward and Co. (Limited) to provide a 36 gallon cask of beer for the use of the inmates at Christmas. They also thanked Mr. Herbert Unwin, of Messrs, Thos. Rawson and Co., for forwarding a barrel of beer for the same purpose.

Entertainment

The offers of the "Casuals" Dramatic Society, and of Mr. Naismith, the secretary of the Band of Hope Union, to give entertainments at the workhouse during the Christmas holidays, were unanimously accepted.

Temperance

Samuel Naismith was a leading Sheffield temperance worker. The Temperance Society had been established in Sheffield as early as 1831 and over the years many will have signed the 'pledge'.

In 1914 the Dore and Totley branch of the Women’s Total Abstinence Union held a successful meeting in the Primitive Methodist School in Dore. Miss Collins spoke on "Social Life and Temperance” and Mr. Squire on “The Nation’s Peril Strong Drink”. Mrs. Edgar Muxlow and Miss Muxlow rendered musical items. Through the kindness of Mrs. Adamson (president), afternoon tea was served.

1901: A Dry Christmas Planned

The Issue of the Beer

The Sheffield Evening Telegraph reported, on the 27th of November 1901, that at the meeting of the Ecclesall Board of Guardians, Mr. James Dixon and Ald. Brittain, on the presentation of the minutes of the previous meeting, protested against the action of the Board in stopping the usual allowance of a pint of beer to the inmates on Christmas Day. Since the members of the Board could not face another temperance lecture from Mr Blossom the decision was made to stop the beer. It was decided to provide "High Tea" on New Year's Day.

1901: Christmas Day

Sheffield Independent - 26th of December 1901

A reporter spent Christmas Day in the Nether Edge workhouse and decided that if Charles Dickens came he would have to re-write Oliver Twist! The dining hall and all the various blocks had been tastefully decorated. The day started with a Church of England service after which the dinner of roast beef, vegetables and plum pudding was served to nearly 500. There was a vote of thanks for the Board members even though they were responsible for the lack of beer. In the afternoon, in the men's day room, dominoes, whist and draughts were played. The day was rounded off with entertainment in the evening.

More than 100 children were catered for in 'homes' separate from the workhouse. The girls' home had two 'mothers' and the boys' home had a 'father' and a 'mother'. The children had their Christmas dinner in the dining hall of the girls' home. They were visited by the wives of the Guardians who also visited the inmates in the women's hospital and the women's day room. Here, the women complained their tea wasn't sweet enough!

1902: "An Increase in Pauperism"

By December 1902 there were 905 persons in the workhouse, an increase of 109 over the previous year.

The Beer Argument Rumbles On

As in 1901, at the meeting of the Board reported in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph on the 11th of December 1902, the question of beer for the inmates arose. Messrs. Berry and Co., Moorhead Brewery, had offered a cask of beer for distribution amongst the inmates on Christmas Day. There was much disagreement over whether to accept the offer.

Mr Horner "looked upon drink as the greatest bane of modern times". Mr Blossom said that twelve months ago he spent the greater part of Christmas Day and New Year's Day at the Workhouse. Far from the inmates being unhappy without the beer, they spent a most pleasant time, and many of them said it was the happiest Christmastide they ever had. Mr. Brumby supported the "no beer" party. The evidence they had of the happy time spent by the inmates a year ago convinced him that they could do very well without the beer.

Alderman Brittain said "all the arguments of his friends on the opposite side of the table were founded on the evils of excessive drinking. He was as much against excessive drinking as they were, but such arguments could not be made to apply to the granting of a glass of beer to these poor people at a time of festivity".

Those voting to accept the offer of beer were outnumbered and the cask of beer was declined. Further discussion resulted in the decision to ban the beer to stand until 1904 after Mr Isaac Milner attempted to "pledge" the members of the next Board.

1904: Beer or Hop Bitters?

Hop Bitters

Hop bitters were produced in Sheffield by Duncan Gilmour and Co. Ltd and by Wheatley and Bates Ltd.

Mr. Hollingsworth offered the Board a cask of Wheatley's hop bitter "in order to counter balance the offer of Messrs. Berry and Company to supply a cask of beer for the inmates at Christmas time and, to show that he had the welfare the inmates at heart, he wished to place them in the position of true Britons by giving them option of partaking of beer or non-intoxicants." So, with the new Board, a compromise was finally reached.

Afterthoughts on Beer

At the Board meeting reported in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph on December 29th 1904, a jolly affair with much laughter, it was said that there were no ill results in the drinking of beer and the behaviour of the inmates was entirely satisfactory. They had, however, run out of beer and those given hop bitters instead couldn't tell the difference!

Christmas Doles at Dore

Meanwhile, in Dore, the Christmas doles were distributed at Christ Church by the vicar. Benefactors in past years had left money to support the poor of the parish - namely Banks, Revill, Wolstenholme, Shepherd, Green, and Gisborne. The bequests were used to give blankets, flannel, bread, and money to about 50 widows and poor people in the villages of Dore and Totley in December 1904.