Taylor versus Taylor

Quarrelsome Taylor Cousins

The surname Taylor is common in Dore and many Taylors were stone masons going back to the mid 19th century. Farewell Taylor was a monumental stone mason who worked in Dore graveyard, signing a good number of the memorial stones with an FT at the base. When researching the various jobs that people had in the 19th and early 20th centuries Dore Archives Research Team came across this colourful character.

Farewell Taylor

Farewell was born in Dore to William and Hannah in 1860. William was a farmer of 13 acres and scythe maker. Farewell came to our attention by way of a newspaper article in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph in 1883 when he was 22 years of age and living at Green Lane (subsequently Gillifield) Farm. The article notes that two youths were apprehended for taking game: Farewell Taylor and John Coates, on the land of Mr F Mappin. They were found by a gamekeeper, Charles Wilson, in Ecclesall Woods beating the wood accompanied by a lurcher dog and had a net fixed at a rabbit run.

When caught they did not run away and gave their names and addresses. They had previously been similarly cautioned about this behaviour and this time they were fined 10s each and had to pay costs. The magistrate said they were being dealt with leniently.

Farewell remained single working as a stone mason and lived with his parents on Green Lane Farm according to census data in 1881 and 1891. In 1898 Sheffield Corporation papers show that he was commissioned to build a wall of rubble along Bushey Wood.

Altercation in the Graveyard

There was much local interest after Newspapers in Sheffield and further afield reported a court case in 1899.

At Sheffield County Court, Judge Waddy presiding, the Sheffield Daily Telegraph report in the 28/11/1899 edition states that he appeared in court yesterday i.e. 27/11/1899. An action was brought by William Taylor, stone mason of Dore, against another stone mason of Dore named Farewell Taylor to recover £30 damages for assault and the pain it had caused. Mr Frank E Eaton appeared for the plaintiff, Mr Muir Wilson for the defendant.

William Taylor, plaintiff, claimed the cost of medical expenses and the loss of work along with the pain he suffered. The case for the plaintiff was that some trade jealously had arisen between the two, who were cousins, on the morning of September 7th, 1899. A quarrel ensued.

Then on the Saturday morning, September 9th the defendant was at work on a stone in Dore Churchyard when the plaintiff stood near watching him at work. The defendant without provocation struck William, the plaintiff, on the head with a hammer causing a deep wound which had to be stitched by Dr Aldred and incapacitated him for three weeks. The defendant said that William had pushed against him knocking his hat off and pushing his pipe from his mouth. It was in a fit of temper that he struck William.

Damages Reduced

Farewell was found guilty. However, it was proven that William could perform some of his work after this injury and therefore the lower sum of £10 damages was awarded to William.

After this Farewell settled down and continued to live in the Green Lane Farm until after his parents died. He remained single for the rest of his life, but Sarah Keeton accompanied him, as his housekeeper, until she died. They are both buried in Dore graveyard; Sarah died in 1927 aged 69 years and Farewell in 1932 aged 71 years. Farewell died at home at Green Lane Farm of chronic nephritis and kidney failure. He is described as a master monumental stone mason on his death certificate and his nephew was present at his death. His contribution to the memorial stones in Dore graveyard is to this day considerable.

The Craft of Besom Brush Making

The Brush Makers of Dore

During the 1800s Dore residents, especially those who lived up at Stoney Ridge, utilised the plentiful supply of heather branches from the surrounding moorland to fashion besom brushes. Women were employed to do the gathering of materials ready for the binding process.

Courtesy of the National Library of Scotland

Henry Peat: Broom Maker

In the 1841 Census Henry and his family are recorded as living at Stoney Ridge, in Stone Cottage. By 1851 they had moved to Piper House, close to Stoney Ridge. (It was demolished in the 1930s.) Both Henry and his wife Jane are recorded as broom makers. They were still living at what is now referred to as Piper Houses in 1861. Henry was born in Brampton in 1790 and his wife, Jane, came from Leicestershire. Of their children none seemed to continue as broom makers. The most interesting son, Edward, became a Gamekeeper ultimately becoming, according to the 1891 Census, Head Gamekeeper at Longshaw.

George Peat: Besom Brush Manufacturer

Born in 1827 in Barlow, George and his large family of eight children lived at the former Toll Cottage. Before moving into the now defunct Toll house, they lived at Broom Cottage. Both George Senior and Junior were besom brush makers. In the 1891 Census they appeared to live in adjacent households. George Junior continued his craft from David Lane in Fulwood when the Toll House was demolished in 1919. The Peat children attended Dore School, walking from an early age, across moorland each day to reach Dore village school – a distance of about two miles each way in all weathers.

Sam Kay: Toll Collector and Besom Brush Manufacturer

You can read about Sam Kay in the post about the Stoney Ridge Toll Bar (June 2026). In the 1860s he combined his job at the Toll Bar with besom brush making, selling locally and to Manchester and Liverpool Corporations.

Mrs Hannah Drewery: Besom Brush Maker

In 1841 Hannah (also known as Ann) was living in Dore with her husband William Drury and six chidren. By 1851 Hannah was Head of the household living with her son John and youngest child Leah, aged 12, and working as a Besom Brush maker. It is possible she did outsource work for the besom brush makers at Stoney Ridge.

By 1861 Hannah, now 65, was widowed and still living with son John on Drewry Lane in the centre of the village of Dore and working as broom maker. Spelling of their surname varies between Drury, Drewey, Druery depending on which Census is recording them.

How are Besom Brushes made?

Besom brushes are made using both heather or ling and birch twigs both of which are found in easy reach of our broom makers.

Selected material needs to have several years growth from any previous cutting or burning, in the case of heather. They are cut using a special curved blade. Birch twigs are cut between November and January.

Both the heather and birch materials are left to dry and season. Heather would be ready between 18 months and two years. Birch takes longer to season – three to five years to guarantee hardness and durability.

Once properly seasoned the next step is to take the feathery strands of heather and arrange them neatly around the long dry birch twigs. Then using a tool not unlike iron tongs to hold the bundle firmly, split cane is used to bind the twigs using a woven technique in and out of the twigs. After that at the butt end where the handle will be affixed the uneven strands are trimmed and levelled.

The three-foot-long straight handle of hazel or ash is then secured in place by pegging. All this process will have taken a matter of a few minutes. Besom brushes or ‘witches broom sticks’ were widely used in the home, garden and estates as well as having industrial usage. All types of brush and broom are required from the humble clothes brush to the carpet industry for brushing off the unnecessary fibres after pile trimming.

Stoney Ridge Toll Bar and its Collectors

Long gone and marked only by a small roadside stone, stood Stoney Ridge Toll Bar on the main Sheffield to Hathersage turnpike road. It had a colourful back story and equally colourful families living and working in the cottage which doubled as the toll booth. Only open until 1884 as a toll booth it then was just a simple dwelling house. The last resident left in 1914 and the house was demolished in 1919.

Courtesy of the National Library of Scotland

From the DART archives there is only one photograph of Stoney Ridge Cottage. It has the Reverend Gibson of Christ Church, Dore, and his wife on a promenade using William Wint's carriage service. Hiring a pony and trap for a drive into Derbyshire was a common practice until the advent of the motor care.

The large stone posts or stoops from Stoney Ridge, which would have held the gateposts across the turnpike road, are now to be found at Whitelow New Farm on Whitelow Lane. They would have been erected at the Toll Bar in 1812 when the realigned road was opened. The original line of the turnpike road closely followed what is known today as the Houndkirk Road, complete with milestones still in place. Toll collection only ended in 1884.

Stoney Ridge Toll House

Look carefully over the wall and the foundations of the cottage can still be seen in outline. All that remains is a stone on the roadside Site of Stoney Ridge Toll Bar. Closed 1884.

Stoney Ridge Toll Collectors

John Knowles

John was the first Toll Keeper. Previously he had worked on the enclosure roads of 1818 and 1819 but didn't have a hand in constructing the turnpike road.

Thomas Graham

Recorded in the 1841 census as being the Toll Collector at Stoney Ridge along with his wife, Elizabeth, and son Joseph. Thomas was born in 1789 in Kirkheaton. What this demonstrates is the somewhat peripatetic nature of a Toll Collectors job. Thomas died in 1848 whilst in post as the Toll collector at Churwell Toll Bar, Leeds. He is buried in Kirkheaton. His son, Joseph married an Eyam girl and stayed in this area working as a joiner and then became a police officer.

John Wragg (1811 - 1896)

John Wragg was the Toll Collector at Slatepit Dale before moving to Stoney as a bachelor. He found Stoney Ridge to be a desolate and lonely place amidst the moors so decided to marry. He courted and married Mary Muscroft at Dore church in 1844 and took his new bride back to the Toll House. What she found in her new home was half a cart wheel as a fireside fender, and very little furniture. In John’s favour what there was, was scrupulously clean. John was the Toll Collector between 1843 to 1852.

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 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

Insuring Against Sickness in Victorian Dore

Benefit or friendly societies were associations formed to save their members from destitution during sickness and ensure a payment to relatives in case of death. We know from the gravestone of John Ward in Dore churchyard that Dore had two by 1840, but whether both left further footprints on the sands of time is unclear. A separate third one, we think, came about much later.

How Dore’s Friendly Society Got its Funds

Friendly societies’ principal sources of income were members’ fees of two kinds, initiation and regular contributions. From the 1840s they were recommended to adopt a system of premiums (monthly contributions) rising with age.

According to its 1864 Rules the Dore and Totley Society charged graduated initiation fees instead: 5s for young men aged 18 increasing in stages to £6 for men of 39, the maximum entry age and as such typical.

Meanwhile the premiums to be paid each lodge night (monthly meetings) were fixed at 1s 4d for everyone, slightly higher than the usual shilling.
£1 (20s) in 1864 would buy about £135 worth of goods today.

Raising Extra Income

Small additional sums were levied on members. The most significant was probably the monthly twopence charge towards ‘expenses of management’, probably covering room rent and possibly hospitality. It wasn’t unusual among friendly societies to buy an agreed amount of ‘lodge liquor’ as rent in kind.

Incurring Fines

Drunkenness at the Dore meetings incurred fines: a penny for betting, 3d for swearing, indecent remarks, calling political toasts or disobeying the W.P. (Worshipful President?) or vice-president. More serious offences were quarrelling (2s 6d) and assault and fighting (5s). Various misdemeanours when supposedly ill incurred forfeiture of sick pay and also a fine of 10s on the first occasion, £1 on the second and expulsion on a third.

How Dore’s Friendly Society Made Its Gifts

As a condition for benefits the ‘Sick Society’ required members to ‘be well attached to the Queen and Government’. This was ambiguous: convicted criminals could expect ejection and seditious people were more likely to break their bones and become a liability to the society, but similar thinking led to the expulsion of members who became professional soldiers. The ‘sick gift’ (sickness benefit) was 8s per week for the first 24 weeks, then 4s per week for the rest of the illness.

No types of new illness were ineligible except venereal diseases and injuries sustained through drunkenness or fighting; this was more generous than many societies who excluded mental disorders, blindness and age-related disabilities. Conversely the Sick Society provided no specific additional cover for medical attendance, thus lagging behind many others. The claims procedure involved sick visitors, forms and after a fortnight a doctor’s note. Infirm members capable of a limited amount of paid work could be allowed a reduced weekly grant of 2s 6d. The ‘burial money’ (death grant) was £5 after one year’s membership or £10 after two.

A Club for the Ladies

Finally, what about the women? We seize upon two golden nuggets. A small news item from 1889 records the annual feast of the Dore and Totley Ladies’ Sick Club. Meeting at the Hare, members followed the band to the Fleur-de-Lis at Totley where a dinner-dance was held.

In 1909 members of the men’s society made a presentation to Joseph Marshall, 69, surveyor of the highways, their president for 41 years. The reporter commented: Until its dissolution some few years ago, Mr Marshall had acted as secretary of the Ladies Club for Dore and Totley. The fact that the same person was long-term president of the men’s club and secretary of the ladies’ suggests a close link between the two. It is thought the Ladies Club began in the 1870s and ended in the early 1900s.

Society Celebrations

Let’s take a last look at the Dore and Totley Sick and Funeral Society at its 1872 anniversary through the window of the Derbyshire Times. As usual, members foregathered at the Hare and Hounds, formed a procession and led by the Dore and Ecclesall Brass Band marched to Totley, Totley Bents and back to Christ Church. A most impressive sermon was preached by the Rev J.T.F. Aldred, vicar of Dore. After the service the procession reformed and marched to the Clubroom where a splendid dinner was provided by the Host and Hostess Parkin.

How Friendly Societies Came to Dore

First Reception of TV in Dore in 1938

The BBC started transmission of television programmes from Alexandra Palace (Ally Pally) in 1936. In the same year the J G Graves wireless department in Sheffield started experimenting.

Picture Sheffield Reference s12672

After deciding somewhere away from electrical interference was needed J G Graves set up an experimental station on Newfield Lane in Dore away from trams and roads.

As shown in this photograph from Picture Sheffield (reference s12671) the Radio equipment and TV Experimentation Masts and Station were installed.

Two masts of nearly eighty feet in height were constructed in the field next to the house on Newfield Lane.

In this, unfortunately rather poor photograph (Picture Sheffield reference s12670), the aerial atop one of the completed masts can be seen.

The shed contained over one thousand pounds-worth of equipment including shortwave transmitters and ultra shortwave receivers.

The First Television Programmes in the North

In 1938 a reporter from the Daily Independent was shown around the site by George William Bagshaw, chief engineer and manager of the wireless department of J G Graves radio factory. In the war George Bagshaw had served in France in the Wireless Section of the Royal Engineers. He was one of the best-known wireless engineers of the day.

A report of the visit appeared in the newspaper on the 1st of September. The Dore station had been receiving almost perfect pictures for the previous few days but on the day the reporter visited it was unfortunately thundery and the conditions were not suitable for television transmission.

Mr Bagshaw was assisted by Mr K Hopkinson of Crosspool and Mr G Thompson, both of whom were radio enthusiasts employed at J G Graves.

The reporter was told that they are only able to receive broadcasts from London, which is 150 miles away, using expensive specialised equipment. He thought it was unlikely that Sheffield would get a transmitter due to the cost.

George Bagshaw attended many meetings and gave speeches and interviews urging the public to apply pressure to provide television services to Sheffield.

However, war intervened. The BBC's television service was shut down on 1st September 1939, because it was said that the signal transmitted from Alexandra Palace might be an aid to enemy aircraft. While it was not being used for television services, the Alexandra Palace mast was used to jam Luftwaffe navigation signals during the Blitz.

Sheffield Radio Experts Prepare for War

Measles Claims Death of Sheffield Pal

Eager to Enlist in the Sheffield City Battalion

When war was declared in 1914, Charles Hoyland was eager to join the new Sheffield City Battalion (officially entitled the 12th (Service) Battalion York & Lancaster Regiment, and also known as the Sheffield Pals). The original impetus for forming this Battalion came from two Sheffield University students, and on 1st September 1914 the University Vice Chancellor, Mr H A L Fisher, announced that enrolment of volunteers would begin the following afternoon at the Town Hall. Recruitment was targeted at university students and professional men such as businessmen, teachers, and clerks.

The men who enrolled at the Town Hall were sent a postcard dated 8th September requesting them to attend for medical inspection and attestation between 2 and 8 pm on Thursday 10th September - the Battalion's official formation day. The Corn Exchange on Sheaf Street (now demolished) was used for this because it was one of the largest buildings in the city.

Charles Hoyland was quick to volunteer for the City Battalion, attending the Corn Exchange on 10th September. He was 21 years old, 5'7" (1.7m) tall, and weighed 9 stone 12 lbs (62.5 kg); he had good eyesight, a fair complexion, grey eyes, and light brown hair. The medical officer passed him as fit for service in the Battalion, and he was duly enlisted as a Private; his relatively low Regimental Number, 411, shows how early he enlisted.

After enlistment, Charles continued to live at home: army accommodation was not available for the Battalion until December 1914. However, training began on 15th September, at Bramall Lane Football Ground and on waste land in Edmund Road and Queens Road. At first, the recruits trained in their own clothes: officers had to pay for their own uniforms to be made by local tailors, and the issue of uniforms to other ranks did not begin until 16th November.

Recruits drilling at Bramall Lane. Image taken from Picture Sheffield (www.picturesheffield.com reference t02583)

Discharged on Medical Grounds

Charles did not remain in the army for long. On 3rd October 1914, after only 24 days' service, he was discharged 'in consequence of his having been found unfit for service'. The cause of discharge was given as: 'Not likely to become an efficient soldier by reason of being generally weakly under para 392 (iii) C King's Regs'. His military character and character awarded in accordance with King's Regulations were both described as very good. Sadly, no details were given regarding his health.

The fact that Charles was discharged on the grounds of poor health so shortly after he had been passed as fit for military service raises the question whether he should have been passed as fit in the first place. There are several possible explanations.

Flawed Medical Examination Process?

Was Charles Hoyland recruited, and then discharged on health grounds after only 24 days, because the medical examination process which formed part of the wider recruitment process was flawed? There are several reasons to think that it may have been.

Snow Storms of the Past

The Township of Dore

Dore is not only the central village area as we see it today. The Township on its western border extends beyond Fox House, with Burbage Brook being the parish boundary between Dore and Hathersage. The boundary follows Burbage Brook northwards before swinging towards Ringinglow Road and back towards Whirlow Bridge and Limb Lane. Dore was not subsumed into Sheffield until the 1930s.

Below are just three of the reports from the newspapers detailing how difficult life was in the Township of Dore in heavy snow. Reports of the severity of the snow storm in Derbyshire in 1888 appeared in newspapers throughout the country. In 1897 a death in the snow near to Fox House Inn was widely reported.

The Castleton Mail Cart's Journey

THE STORM IN DERBYSHIRE
THROUGH THE SNOW TO CASTLETON AGAIN
ANOTHER ADVENTUROUS RIDE
Sheffield Daily Telegraph
Wednesday 22nd February 1888

Sheffield markets were very thinly attended yesterday, owing to the roads being blocked in several directions, preventing the farmers from bringing their produce down, and in many instances from getting to town itself. Several Derbyshire friends, who set out determined to force a way through the snow, were obliged to turn back. Edward Hall, the driver of the Castleton mail‑cart, with his companion, William Eyre, had another rough experience yesterday. Leaving Sheffield at half-past five o'clock in the morning, driving tandem, as before, they got on fairly well till Dore Moor was reached, the drifts they encountered up to that stage not being very formidable.

But when they came to the Fox House side of Stony Ridge bar, where their troubles commenced the previous day, they were again in difficulty. It was the "same old place", but looked worse than ever. Hall, thinking he might ride over it if he could not get through, pressed his leader, "Bess" to mount the wreath [drift]. She did so, closely followed by the wheeler, "Polly". Then both horses sank to the girths in the yielding mass. Mr Peat, of the besom industry, had again to be called into service. With two of his men and another helper from Longshaw Lodge, "Bess" was dug out, after some arduous labour. When the leader began to feel her feet she did her best to bring her mate out of the depths, and in the effort plunged about so much that the traces parted. Hall then went back to Peat’s and procured some chains to make fresh traces.

Home Guard Company Dinner

E Company, West Riding 66th Battalion

When Dore became part of Sheffield in 1934 it moved from Derbyshire to the West Riding of Yorkshire. (South Yorkshire was not created until 1974.)

The Home Guard had been stood down on the 3rd of December 1944 so this will also have been a farewell dinner.

Although this menu card does not state where the dinner was held its menu items reference Whirlow and Ecclesall. You can see they ate Celerie de Whinfell and Weet‑a‑wood Biscuits among the other fanciful dishes.

This menu card was donated to Dore Archive in 1999 by Mrs Nicholson. If you have any information about the Home Guard in Dore please do get in touch. Perhaps you recognise one of the autographs. We would be pleased to hear from you.

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Dore and Christmas Pudding Traditions

Pudding History

There are lots of recipes for Christmas Puddings often passed down through families, but you may be surprised to learn that in medieval times in Dore the traditional Christmas 'pudding' was a potage. This was a thick soupy porridge made up of boiled beef or mutton broth, plums and various spices. This evolved into frumenty which was still sloppy, being made of boiled wheat, milk, and spices.

During the time of Oliver Cromwell the eating of Christmas Pudding was declared illegal as being 'too sinfully rich'. Apparently this piece of legislation has never been repealed. It gives a new meaning to 'naughty but nice'.

It wasn't until Victorian times that the more solid Christmas pudding appeared. Mrs Beeton's Cookbook from 1861 has a recipe for a Christmas pudding which is recognisable today. However Mrs Beeton also included two recipes for 'Figgy Pudding'. Plum Pudding or Christmas Pudding is supposed to have 13 ingredients to represent Jesus and the Twelve Disciples.

Figgy Pudding dates from the 14th Century and has far fewer ingredients albeit still luxurious for the times: "Take blanched almonds and finely grind them. Mix with water and wine, quartered figs and whole raisins. Add powdered ginger and clarified honey. Boil well, salt and serve."

Stir‑Up Sunday

Going back to Plum Pudding means explaining that 'plums' were raisins and that there was a ritual involved in the making of the pudding. On Stir‑Up Sunday (the first Sunday in Advent — in 2025 this being Sunday 23rd November) all the family were expected to assemble. Each family member stirred the ingredients from East to West mimicking the journey of the Three Wise Men travelling to meet baby Jesus. As they did so they could make a wish for the coming year.

The introduction of silver sixpences to the mix started in Victorian times but must have led to many a cracked tooth. Traditionally whoever found it would have good luck, wealth and happiness in the coming year. It is not a wise thing to do today to our puddings and their potential heating up in a microwave.

Military Stories Leaflet

The results of Dore Archives Research Team's recent research have been used to create a leaflet that visitors to the graveyard of Dore Parish Church can use to navigate their way to the following eight graves.

Click on the name underneath the picture of the gravestone to read their military story. A pdf will open in another tab for you. It can then be downloaded if wished.

Featured Memorials

Private William Bowler, Crimean War	Lieutenant John Henry Waterfall, Crimea and India

	Private Saville Tasker
Lieutenant Cedric Arthur Jackson	Private Herbert Jackson

	Flying Officer Douglas Frank Newsham
Corporal Philip Norman Horner	Pilot Officer Walter Patterson Angus

Dore Military Memorials and Burials

Links to this research can also be found in the Military Stories menu above. In future more research findings about the men and women commemorated in the Dore graveyard will be added to the menu.

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RNAS Convalescents in Abbeydale

Pincher Martin’s Story

In April 1918 a group of RNAS (Royal Naval Air Squadron) convalescents were based at St. John's Rooms at Abbeydale, when it was being used as a VAD hospital. We know it today as the Dore And Totley Post Office Sorting Office with its distinctive mosaic plaque on the frontage.

In recognition of their time together, the group all signed a hand‐drawn card, which is part of the Dore Heritage Collection. The original image was shown to Dore Village Society and subsequently copied, by Bill Glossop of Totley History Group in 2010. Bill's aunt was one of the nurses at the VAD hospital.

One of the names at the top of the card is Pincher Martin.

William Golding, most famous for his novel, "The Lord of the Flies", also wrote a story in 1956 about a sailor who was torpedoed during the Second World War: the book being called Pincher Martin.

This coincidence led to further research. William Golding lived latterly in Cornwall, so it is plausible that he could have met our Naval hero should he have come from that area. Alternately, in the Navy anyone who has the surname Martin is called Pincher after a famous Commander‐in‐Chief, Mediterranean, of the 1860's, who was known to be very alert.

To this day RNAS bases are in Cornwall so who knows?

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A Dore Architect

Norman Miller Doncaster (1873-1952)

Though he was born in Sheffield and died in Hampshire, Norman Miller Doncaster had strong links with Dore: married in Dore, he lived for at least ten years on Dore Road, and designed several buildings in Dore.

Norman’s background and training

Norman was born in 1873 into a prominent family of Quaker industrialists. He had one brother, Edwin Daniel, born in 1871. Their great-grandfather, Daniel Doncaster I, had established the steel-making company in which their father, Daniel Doncaster III, worked; their uncle Samuel became its Chairman in 1884.

Neither son followed in their father’s footsteps. Norman is recorded in the 1891 census as an architect’s articled pupil. He and Edwin were living with their parents in Broomhall. Although in 1891 Edwin was a steel merchant’s clerk, and was recorded in 1901 as a steel merchant, by 1911 he was an automobile agent and engineer living in Surrey.

Attempts to formalise architect training had been made from the 1830s onwards; the first university architecture courses were offered by King’s and University Colleges, London, in the 1840s. However, in the late 19th century, many architects still received their training as articled pupils, and so Norman’s training was not particularly unusual.

Norman’s first known work

In 1897, Norman’s uncle, Samuel Doncaster, commissioned Norman to design a house and lodge in the garden which he had created on the site of the former Whirlow Quarry. Whinfell was a large half-timbered house in the style known as Kentish Weald; the planned lodge was never built. Samuel’s grandson, Stephen Doncaster, recalled that his grandfather hated the appearance of the house because it was so out of keeping with local vernacular styles (Dore to Door autumn 2003). Sadly, the house was destroyed by fire in 1971. The garden, now named Whinfell Quarry Garden, had been donated to the city in 1968.

From Sheep to Suit

The American Record

The record for the time taken for expert shearers to shear six sheep, the mill to produce the cloth and the tailors to make a man's suit had stood since 1898. It was held by Thomas Kitson, mill owner, of Pennsylvania who had emigrated from Bradford in 1859. It took six hours and four minutes from shearing to wearable suit. There is of course some dispute about the actual number of minutes. It did, however, beat the previous record set in Galashiels by some two hours.

Sir Malcom Campbell

In June 1931 George Stone was in the news again (see post in November 2023). This time he was going to help break a record. At a Bradford Rotary meeting in April 1931 Sir Malcom Campbell (recently returned from breaking the land speed record in Daytona) made a rousing speech and issued a challenge to the shearers, spinners, weavers and tailors to wrest the record from America. Besides being reported in the Yorkshire Evening Post his speech was reported in newspapers throughout the kingdom.

The Woollen Industry of Yorkshire Rise to the Challenge

The suit was to be made to the measurements of James Henry Thomas, MP for Derby. He was the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs He planned to wear the record-breaking suit at the Imperial Wool Industry Fair in Bradford in July, when replicas of the record-breaking suit would be worn by male mannequins. He also promised to wear the suit that broke the record on his forthcoming visit to Canada.

The attacks on the record were planned for Tuesday June 22nd at Batley and 23rd June at Huddersfield with Lady Campbell acting as scrutineer. The Batley plan was for Messrs. Taylors to have the cloth ready for the tailors in five hours and the tailors reckoned they could make the suit in under 45 minutes. On the Tuesday ten sheep were sheared, the cloth made and dyed and taken to the tailors in Leeds. The whole process taking 3 hours and 8 minutes.

Our Local Shearers Make for Huddersfield

And on to Wednesday. Mr Ben Hind, managing director of Burgin and Ball, took six shearers to Huddersfield, including George Stone, where they were to use the hand shears manufactured by Burgin and Ball. Each shearer, who were not experts, had to shear two sheep in under eight minutes. (Australian shearers could shear a sheep in two minutes.)

It seems much effort was made to gain this record of two hours, nine minutes and 46 seconds. The dozen sheep came from Kent and Messrs Crowther used a new type of tentering machine, which caused some controversy, and used their fastest workers. So it is a wonder they were happy to use the inexperienced shearers from the moors around Dore. George, after all, was a gamekeeper and Tom Rowarth an inn-keeper. More detail of the process can be found on page 7 of the Leeds Mercury for Thursday 25 June 1931

Christ Church, Dore

The Chapel of Ease

Not everyone can date a church at a glance so may not realise that Christ Church, Dore was only built in 1829 to replace the semi–derelict chapel of ease which stood nearby. To celebrate in 2025 the reopening of the church after a major refurbishment this piece takes us back to the plans set out for the original church. You may be surprised who was involved and what the church looked like at first.

Early pictures of the church are scant, as indeed they are for the original chapel of ease. The chapel of ease is first documented in the early seventeenth century. We have to rely on paintings and sketches, which are possibly not truly accurate, to know what it looked like.

In this sketch of the chapel of ease, by an unknown artist, the village stocks are drawn in. A bell hung between the two gables and there was a sun dial over the door. The village school is visible on the right hand side of the sketch.

Richard Furness: schoolmaster

We know that the original plans and ideas for the new church were produced by Richard Furness, Schoolmaster of Dore….and much more. Richard Furness is sometimes referred to as 'the Poet of the Peak' being the writer and composer of poetry, music, Christmas carols and more. In his own words he says of himself:

I Richard Furness, schoolmaster, Dore.
Keep parish books and pay the poor;
Draw plans for buildings and indite
Letters for those who cannot write;
Make wills and recommend a proctor.
Cure wounds, let blood with any doctor
Draw teeth, sing psalms, the hautboy play
At chapel on each holy day;
Paint sign–boards, cut names at command.
Survey and plot estates of land,
Collect at Easter one in ten –
And on Sunday, say Amen.

Idle boasting or did he really have skills in all these areas? We are looking merely at his surveying and ability to work in stone as a sculptor. To find out if he really was a genius in so many fields look no further than Josie Dunmore's excellent book "I, Richard Furness" The Life and Works (1791 – 1857).

This drawing of the church, the school and the vicarage can be dated to around 1861 when new Gothic style windows were fitted. If local folklore is to be believed Richard Furness not only set out the plans of the new church to replace the old chapel of ease but sculpted the pinnacles atop the tower, having been persuaded by friends in 1828 to submit a plan.

This is the earliest postcard of the church held in Dore Archives. It dates from between 1881 and 1896. In 1881 major works were carried out (a report of which can be found in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph of 22nd of May 1881). The photograph shows the church before the chancel was extended in 1896.

Richard Furness: the original plans

Richard Furness wrote very detailed specifications for the church. These are held by Sheffield Archives. The following gives a flavour:

The building should be 48 feet long and 36 feet wide, reaching a ceiling height of 21 feet.
There should be a nave but no chancel.
There should be a tower 48 feet high with a clock.
Building materials should use whatever was serviceable from the old chapel.

To read the full specification click here (opens in a new tab)

Of salvageable building material there cannot have been much, because an inspection visit to the old chapel in 1823 said the chapel had 'cracked and bulging walls and three frightful wooden pillars down the centre, supporting the roof, which were decayed and let in the rain.'

John Leather: civil engineer

The specifications of Richard Furness were translated into workable architects plans by John Leather, a civil engineer of Sheffield. Leather's specification was approved by the Diocese. The plans are held in Lambeth Palace Library. Above you can see the main floor plan. A second plan shows the gallery and lists the names of those allotted pews. To view the plans click here (opens in a new tab).

Work began on the augmented plans under the general direction of Albert Smith as church warden, and the practical supervision of Richard Furness. It was Richard who would oversee the work of the numerous masons, carpenters, slaters, glaziers and plasterers.

There will be several surprises immediately noticeable. The new church is square. There is no choir vestry. The outer door is on the south side. All the windows are diamond leaded lights. There is a substantial gallery. Richard Furness lived long enough to see in 1854 the first stained glass window in the east end of 'his' church be fitted. We can surmise that the vicar at this time, the Reverend Aldred, and Richard would chat about their mutual interest in architecture and antiquities.

Derbyshire Slate

There was one error of judgement involved in the materials suggested by Richard and used on the build. In 1879 to 1881 substantial alterations to the roofing material had to be made. In Richard's original plans he had specified what is known locally as Derbyshire slate to be used. This is a thin layered sandstone still seen on many of the oldest buildings around Dore. However it had proved too heavy for the roof timbers and had to be replaced with lighter slate tiles.

The Disappearing Font

At round about the same time as other alterations were taking place, the font which Richard is believed to have carved, was replaced with the present font.

For a time it stood as a bird bath in the churchyard. Around the year 2000 it mysteriously disappeared!

From 829 to 2029

And now we have the third major alteration to Christ Church nearly in time for its 200th Anniversary in 2029.

This will be an auspicious year in Dore because it will mark 1,200 years since King Egbert of Wessex and King Eanred of Northumbria met in Dore, leading to effectively the creation of England.

King Ecgbert's Head

Why do we mention these events in the same breath as Richard Furness? Richard is purported to have taken stone from the old chapel of ease and carved the head of King Ecgbert as a present for his son, William Furness, as he took up residence in the new Whirlow Hall. And it’s still there today in the top yard at Whirlow Hall Farm!

The Tradition of Maypole Dancing

May Day Celebrations

The first of May was a time of fun and revelry, with its roots going back to Celtic pagan times. It marked a time of fertility after the dark days of Winter. Dore as a farming community would be well aware of seasons and the impact on lives if harvests failed.

So, Dore would crown a May Queen and her consort the May King, to oversee the dancing which would guarantee good fortune. The May Pole would be erected with its coloured ribbons which are woven through dancing into a range of patterns down the pole. At the top is a crown of flowers welcoming the return of Summer.

From the clothing being worn in the photograph the date of this Maypole Dance is probably about 1910. In the background is the Reverend Gibson who first came to Dore in 1895. The Maypole with its garland crown on top has been erected on Dore's cricket pitch better known as Brunsmeer Football Ground now.

Here is another photograph taken at a similar time to the first. The May Queen and May King can be seen in the background, and the traditional 'crown' on the top of the Maypole is visible. Note that the dancers have garlands in their hair.

Beltane and the Importance of Trees

Trees, in particular hawthorne, figure in the celebration of May Day (or Beltane as it was called in pagan times). There would have been a procession towards the Maypole, the selection of the May Queen and the presence of Jack‐in‐the‐Green who was a relic from those days when our ancestors worshipped trees.

Here are two old sayings about trees. One is a weather forcast:

Oak before Ash we are in for a splash,
Ash before Oak we are in for a soak.

The other is useful if you find yourself caught in a thunderstorm since oak and ash trees tend to be the giants of a wooded area whereas the hawthorn is closer to the ground.

Beware the Oak, it draws a stroke,
Avoid the Ash, it courts a flash,
Creep under a thorn, it will save you from harm.

Although the tradition of dancing around the Maypole is fading out in Derbyshire and beyond; in Dore, slightly out of season, we can see Maypole dancing carried out by Dore's Brownies at Dore Gala. Usually there is a 'caller' who directs the turns of the dancers until the ribbons are woven. In the top photograph it would be the lady on the right who may well have been one of the teachers from Dore School. As today the adults in the background are undoubtedly proud parents.

And this being the month of May 'Ne'er cast a clout till May be out'. 'Clout' is dialect for warm clothing and May refers to may blossom on the hawthorn.

Mary Ann Smith - An Extraordinary Life

MARY ANN SMITH (?1852-1914)

Mary Ann Smith’s father, William, was a Northumbrian from Hexham who came south to serve as a trooper in the 1st Life Guards. In 1850 we meet him married to Elizabeth from Hertford and stationed at Windsor where their first child, another Elizabeth, is born. By March 1851 the family including Elizabeth’s young dressmaker sister Mary Ann have moved to 81 Albany Street, opposite Regents Park Barracks. Little Elizabeth is followed by three sisters: our Mary Ann, born in Brompton, then on the western outskirts of London, between 8 April 1852 and 7 April 1853, Fanny Jane two years later and Rosa (Rose) after two more years.

Our next picture of the Smiths is in 1861. Describing himself now as ‘licensed victualler’, William was the landlord of the Black Jack pub at 11 Portsmouth Street on the SW corner of Lincoln’s Inn Fields. The street is still there but not the pub. Black Jacks were leather beer jugs coated with tar. As well as the family the household comprised two servants and seven workmen lodgers.

Where the family were in 1871 is anyone’s guess but in 1881 Mary Ann resurfaces—in Sheffield! Her address is 58 High Street, where she is a draper’s assistant and head of a small household of three younger draper’s assistants, a cook and a housemaid, six of her employer’s 19 female and 5 male staff. Ten years on, across High Street, she heads a list of 22 female employees, which by 1901 has risen to 54. They are working at Walsh’s.

John Walsh Ltd, Sheffield

Walsh’s occupied a large block on what is now the corner of Arundel Gate, opposite the Castle Square tram stop. After spending nine years as a buyer of baby linen and ladies’ clothing at Cockayne’s store, Irishman John Walsh had opened a small shop selling similar goods at no. 39 on the north side of High Street in 1875. Expanding steadily on the other side during Mary Ann’s time, the business became a superior department store and restaurant. It survived partial enforced demolition for street widening in 1895, then in 1897 John Walsh commissioned the well-known architectural practice Flockton and Gibbs to design a new store. Walsh’s became a limited company in 1902. Its trade directory entry for 1903 is shown here.

The Sheffield Blitz

It was wrecked on the first night of the Sheffield blitz, 12 December 1940, but continued in other premises until Harrods took over the company in 1946, cleared the High Street site, rebuilt the store and reopened it in 1953. A further takeover six years later by House of Fraser led to the replacement of Walsh’s name successively by Rackhams and House of Fraser until the store’s closure in 1998.

The firm’s personnel archives were probably destroyed in the war, but public records fill gaps in Mary Ann’s story. What do we have in Dore? Her neglected grave comprises a small headstone and a low all-round kerb. They bear an inscription starting on the headstone and continuing along the kerb sides from left to right: ‘In Loving Memory of Mary Ann Smith who died at Dore 8th January 1914 in her 61st year. Gone but not forgotten’.

The words ‘who died at Dore’ seemed to imply that she was on a visit, but she turned out to be a resident, if only briefly. The Dore burials register added where she died: ‘Mary Ann Smith of Woodland View, Dore, 10 January 1914, aged 61’ (not as on the stone).

Sheffield and Rotherham Licensed Victuallers Association

Woodland View is the picturesque building opposite the station, originally constructed in 1878-79 by the Sheffield and Rotherham Licensed Victuallers Association as sheltered housing for former pub landlords and landladies when its former site in Grimesthorpe became unhealthy. It consists of twelve terraced cottages with a central hall. Along with one of the cottages this was rented by local freemasons for lodge meetings from 1890 until 1951 when they bought the whole premises.

Mary Ann's Burial in Dore

On the morning of the funeral this announcement appeared in the Sheffield Independent: ‘DEATHS … SMITH. – On the 8th January, Mary Ann Smith (late of 64, High Street), at 12, Woodview, Dore. Interment at Dore Church, this day (Saturday), at 3 o’clock’. Despite the faulty address this helps to pinpoint the places where she had recently lived and died. 64 High Street was residential accommodation for Walsh’s staff. Number 12 Woodland View appeared in both the 1901 and 1911 censuses but Mary Ann wasn’t yet there. We don’t know how she came to be at no. 12—perhaps her father’s occupation had something to do with it—but right from the start of the LVA in Dore people from backgrounds other than the licensed trade predominated among its residents.

Mary Ann's Death Certificate

Her death was reported two days later to Fred C. Bone, Dore’s schoolmaster and local registrar, by her unmarried elder sister and recent carer Elizabeth. Its certified causes were general debility for six months and a weak heart for four; she had also suffered from dropsy (œdema) for three months. But note Elizabeth’s description of her sister’s occupation.

In 1891 Walsh’s had designated her with her female colleagues as ‘Draper’s Shopwoman’ and in 1901 as ‘Draper’s Assistant’. Her sister, however, wanted to do her justice: ‘Buyer and Saleswoman at Drapery Establishment’. As a buyer she stood out among her colleagues.

Mary Ann's Legacy

The final two documents are Mary Ann’s will and grant of probate. She made bequests to her sister Fanny Dakers and her three nephews in South Africa, her sister Rose Martyn in New Zealand, and several work colleagues and friends, and she set up a residuary trust fund for her sister Elizabeth. The great surprise is the value of her estate, about £2500, worth in purchasing power over £300,000 today. How did she amass all this?

As an early recruit to Walsh’s Mary Ann showed leadership of her women colleagues from the start. Within some 30 years she had achieved a similar degree of expertise as had John Walsh himself when he founded the firm.

This short account of her life has been written for Women’s History Month 2025 in the hope of revitalising that inscription in Dore churchyard: ‘Gone but not forgotten’.