Tommy Mottram of Strawberry Lee Farm

Tommy Mottram – a local character!

Thus was Thomas Mottram described in contemporary accounts by the likes of G H B Ward of the Clarion Ramblers. For example, Ward remembers as a child on New Year’s Day being taken by his father to Tommy’s farm (Strawberry Lee Farm high on Blacka Moor) along with a ‘young men’s class’. As an aside such classes were common in this period as a means to educate and inform. In Dore there was such a class held in the Gymnasium on Townhead Road, which was close to the present Church Hall.

Shepherd and Knitter

What is more interesting is what is known about Tommy apart from his job as a shepherd. He was famous for his knitting prowess, especially of stockings, and even taught one of the daughters from nearby Stoney Ridge Toll House (probably one of the Peat girls). He also, like many of that time, made rugs for in front of the open hearth where sparks would pop out. Small scraps of old fabric in strips are pushed through a canvas base. In this area they are called peg rugs and elsewhere they are often referred to as rag rugs, clip rugs, proggy mats, peggy rugs.

As the Head Shepherd for the Duke of Rutland at the Longshaw Estate, Tommy would regularly travel to Scotland and back to buy in good Scottish sheep. To do this Tommy favoured travelling along the ancient by-ways and bridle-ways. As the crow flies from Grindleford to the Scottish Border alone is 165 miles. Tommy travelled, presumably on foot, there and back only losing a few sheep on the way. However Tommy had one disadvantage when working with a flock. He had extremely bowed legs so that many a sheep escaped by diving through his legs. No wonder he had very skilled sheep dogs.

Tommy and the Totley Tunnel Navvies

Dave Torr, in his excellent blog on Wordpress about the Eastern Moors, has written about Tommy which paints a somewhat different character to the homely knitter and rug maker. He says this about an incident involving Tommy and the Irish Navvies working on the Railway Tunnel between Totley and Grindleford.

During the tunnelling of the Totley to Grindleford tunnel, the many Navvies employed upon the mighty task, caused the locals quite some concern and Tommy was always on watch. On one occasion the Woodsman from the Beauchief estate was sent to spend a few days with Tommy to help him guard against any thieving from these rough workers. Tommy bought in a small barrel of Berry’s ”Strike-me-Stiff” beer) to keep the two men company.

On the second night a commotion could be heard coming from the hen roost. On investigation two Navvies were seen to be helping themselves to Tommy’s hens. During the ensuing scuffle, the slightly inebriated Tommy, let the Navvies slip away. But Tommy had a small pin-pistol which he let rip into the second Navvies backside as he climbed over the backyard gate.

A couple of weeks later Tommy was in the Cricket pub, having a few jars until well after closing time. On walking back up the lane (probably Moss Lane) towards home and through the gate onto the open moor, a burly figure stepped out of the shadows. It was the Navvy Tommy had previously shot.

The Navvy was determined to get his own back and threatened to 'do him in' for shooting him. Ward again recorded in the Clarion Ramblers Handbook of 1937/38 what happened next:

Well ah may no moor to do but ah crack’d him o’er t’ heead with mi ashplant, an’ ah down’d ‘im an’ left ‘im. Ah went dahn t’next mornin’ ter see if ‘e wer still theer. Oh ‘e’d gone reight enuff but ther’ wer plenty o’ blood abaht.

As an aside the beer brewed by Thomas Berry & Co Ltd at Moorhead Brewery in Sheffield city centre was renowned for its strength.

Smallpox Outbreak

During construction of the Totley Tunnel which began in 1888 the Duke of Rutland, the ‘Grouse King’, decreed that there should be only one ventilation shaft on his land, and that all construction work on his land stopped between August to October. The Navvies lived and worked in horrific conditions. The filth and damp were a perfect breeding ground for diseases like Typhoid, Diphtheria, Scarlet Fever and Smallpox as witnessed by the smallpox graves in the graveyard of Christ Church, Dore. Old Tommy is believed to have caught smallpox in 1902 or thereabouts. At this point the blog piece (January 2026) and the Graveyard Histories (see menu above) about his housekeeper, Catherine Murphy or Kitty is worth referencing. Catherine died in 1897 seeking help for her sick employer and as a consequence died in a deep snow drift on her way back to Strawberry Lee Farm.

Sheepdog Trials

Tommy was also one of the founders of the Longshaw Sheepdog Trials held annually, bar a break during the Great War and World War Two, and the 2001 outbreak of Foot and Mouth, since 1898. The story goes that Tommy, Head Shepherd on the Longshaw Estate and the Head Gamekeeper set up a competition. The suggestion was that it would be to see how many pigeons each could bag. The Head Shepherd won, but he did not hold a gun licence (Interesting considering the confrontation with the Navvy) and thought that it would be best to have a less problematic competition. Thus began the Longshaw Sheep Trials held on the Longshaw Estate which was supported by the Duke of Rutland. Tommy himself shepherded one of the largest flocks of sheep in this area. The skill of the sheepdog, especially with the ‘double gather’ is greatly tested on the moorland terrain used.

What else can we say about Tommy? Courtesy of G H B Ward again, we hear that shearing was a time when locals converged on Strawberry Lee Farm for shearing. After the job was done all those involved would gather for a big supper and singsong. Ward says ’Didn’t they put some beef and ale away’. More from Berry’s Brewery perhaps?

The Last Shepherd

Tommy ended his days, not at Strawberry Lee Farm which was demolished in 1936, but living with his half-brother, John, at Somersall Farm near Chesterfield. Born in 1825 at Beeley and dying in 1903 he would have seen tremendous changes in farming practice and life generally. He never married but supported his stepmother, Alice Mottram, at Strawberry Lee Farm. Alice was buried at Christ Church, Dore in 1878. He was the last shepherd to live the traditional life here on the moors.

The only extant picture we have of the old Farm is one taken from the Sheffield Independent of 4th February 1936. Sadly it is the image of the Farm as it was being demolished. Today only a few worked stones are visible on the surface, and the gateposts of the Farm. The house itself was purported to have been built on the same footprint as the old monastic Grange of Beauchief Abbey.

Acknowledging the information sources mentioned in this piece:

• Dave Torr's Eastern Moors of the Peak District. The history, archaeology and wildlife of the Eastern Moors. click here to open his website in a new window
• G.H.B. Ward. Clarion Ramblers Handbooks.
• Dore Village Society Archives.