Dore to Door internet edition

Local history - Winter 2002

Dore Oral History - Ivy Bank - Letters - Jean recalls - John Ruskin & Mickley Lane

Dore Oral History

Bessie Colley, who was born and bred in Dore, approached several of her lifelong friends and a first round of interviews took place. Others have followed and to date we have recorded the life-stories of 35 residents ranging in age from 68 to 93 years.

The second half of the 20th century was a period of great change for Dore with the expansion of housing and influx of newcomers. A significant number of these have made lasting contributions to the community life of our village and their recollections are now being recorded.

We also want to interview members of the younger generation recognizing the fact that it is just as important to record their life-stories and differing attitudes and ambitions.

We have plans to organize an exhibition of our collection during Festival 2003 which we hope will be supported by the Local Heritage Initiative. If you are interested in oral history and would like to find out more about the project contact me, Maureen Cope on tel: 235 0392. If you are a technical or computer expert and could help with audio copying or transcribing we would like to hear from you. Above all if you are willing to be interviewed please let us know.

Maureen Cope

This wonderful old Dore photo has been sent in by Donna Barber from Australia and comes out of her grandfather's (Henry Neil Fretwell's) collection.

Ivy Bank

Mary Agnes Taylor was left an orphan in 1887 when her mother Jane [nee Lowe] died of TB. Mary and her four sisters went to live with their aunt, Emma Elliot, at Ivy Bank - the 2 brick cottages at the top of Dore Road. Four years later the 1891 Census shows the nieces still living at Ivy Bank, but the eldest, Emma, was now next door working as a servant to a Hancock family.

The photograph on this page is possibly Mary Agnes’ wedding picture, as the Vicar the Rev William Gibson is also shown, and the people are surely wearing their best clothes. Mary Agnes married William Edward Fretwell on the first of June 1901.

If you would like to see a better representation of this photograph and one or two others of this family, come to the DVS Room open morning on the first Saturday of December.

Letters

Dear Sir,

Does anyone know of a Sheep Hills Farm that existed in the 1870's? I want to know if it still is there I would love to visit it when in the area in 2003. My family had connections to the Jackson Family who ran the Dore Post Office at the turn of the last century Anybody know anything of them, other family names are Reeve (the main connection) and also Thorpe. Would love to hear from anyone who could help me.

Melody Reeves

Ed. This request came via the Dore web site. Feedback to me please on 236 9025

Dear Sir,

On a recent visit to Dore with my wife, to recall old memories of the village, I was kindly given a copy of ‘Dore to Door’ by staff at Greens Home and Garden Supplies.

I found the magazine very interesting and it brought back many memories for me, particularly as I attended Dore School from 1941 to 1947, (as did both my late sister and brother). To this day I still have several of my school reports signed by Mrs Watts and Miss Palmer.

Mr Clark was Head Teacher during my time at the school. My family lived at Whirlow and each day we travelled by bus to Dore and if the bus did not arrive, I along with other pupils would walk to school. (It was quite safe in those days.) If snow was around we would have great fun with snowball fights etc. but we always arrived at school. I was always quite proud of the fact that I never missed a full day at school and only once did I miss half a day and that was because I was at the Children’s Hospital having a broken arm set!

After leaving Dore School I went to Nether Edge Grammar School, but spent virtually the whole of my free time back in Dore playing cricket and football and was involved in the setting up of both a junior football and cricket club. We used to play on the recreation ground up Townhead Road ( in the field above where Sheffield United had their training ground) and when playing cricket matches it was a case of finding the flattest hump for the pitch! Eventually the football team moved to the field adjacent to Dore Moor Inn and I continued to be involved until I left for National Service.

I attended Dore and Totley Congregational Church, as it was then, and the late Rev. Frank Duckworth who was the minister at the time, officiated at our wedding ceremony in Norwich when I married my wife Kathleen over 41 years ago. We lived for some years at Coal Aston and then with my work as a full-time Youth Worker we moved to Northwich (Cheshire) and then Ashby-de-la-Zouch before arriving at Nottingham 30 years ago.

Obviously Dore has changed a great deal since my time there and of course it is much larger but there is so much I remember, such as the old fish and chip hut, the corner shop and Shentalls Grocery shop.

We both look forward to returning to Dore again before long (particularly as we found the Dore Grill!) but in the meantime, if anybody who reads the magazine does remember me and wishes to contact me for old times sake I can be contacted through the Editor or by E-mail.

Peter Belk

PeteAndKath@belkp.freeserve.co.uk

Dear Sir,

I wonder if you can help me, or know anybody else who can.

I'm trying to find out about my father, and have been told that in the 1930's (or around that time) he ran a Potted Meat Factory behind a cottage that was on the corner of Abbey Lane/Beauchief Abbey Lane. Although I live miles from Sheffield I was up there yesterday and think I have found the building (or rather it's foundations). Now all I want is some old photos/information. I feel this is a shot in the dark (but worth a try?)

My father was (John) Marshall Hurst born 1900. He also worked for Clarinco Sweets (apparently rather cheap & nasty liquorice affairs) have you ever heard of them?

Any information, however small would be appreciated! Thanks in advance.

Liza Hopkinson (nee Hurst)

Ed. Can anyone help with this enquiry which came in by e-mail.

Jean recalls

The Fearnehough Family is one of the oldest in Dore, going back at least to 1698, when Thomas Fearnehough married Rebecca Broadhead. Several members of the family still live in Dore – Christopher John Fearnehough, Hilda Cooke, Kath Marshall and Jean Barber of Hallfield Farm.

The Fearnehoughs had a thriving scythe business for many years and also a fine record of Public Service. Thomas Fearnehough was ‘Overseer of the Poor’ in 1763 and ‘Surveyor of Highways’ from 1770 to 1772. Another Thomas was Churchwarden from 1787 –1796 and ‘Overseer of the Poor’ 1790 -1792, and ‘Surveyor of Highways’ in 1798. He was also a Trustee of the Ronsett Trust.

At the beginning of the 19th century Fairbanks states that the Fearnehough Freeholds were as follows:

Upper Carr Mill. Tenter Croft.

Lower Carr Mill. Meadow.

Farstorth & Lane Croft.

North Croft. 3 Houses and Gardens.

8 Houses and Gardens. 2 Houses.

3 Houses and Croft. House and Garden.

Close.

Some of these freeholds probably refer to the Barracks, and the three cottages beside the Rec., which were in the Fearnehough Family until bought by a developer in the 1970’s.

In the 19th century a Thomas was mine host of the Devonshire Arms.

In 1841 Thomas, Alfred, and Joseph were all listed as scythe makers or grinders.

In 1615 John Harestaffe quotes: -

To Willie Fearnehough then he did give,

To have and holde as long as he should live,

Of Meadow Ground one acre and to pay,

A Rose for rent on St John the Baptist’s Day.

It is a great pity that the Jackson Records appear to be misplaced, as they contained notes regarding the building of Dore Church and instructions for the masons, glaziers, carpenters and slaters. The collection also contained information on Bastardy in the area, which was not uncommon in Dore. Sometimes the father paid the Overseer for the upkeep of the child, but it seems that the poor mother if she was not entitled to remain in Dore was removed to the place of her birth.

I do not agree with Peter Wragg’s letter in the last issue saying that the school air-raid shelters were never used. I well remember my cousin Rita who was 4 years older than me getting into trouble for leaving her place to come and protect me and cousin Louie.

My aunts Ada and Hilda also used to speak of the time they stood in the Churchyard whilst we were in the shelter in case we were bombed. They had to keep out of sight of the Air Raid Warden who was a real little Hitler.

Well do I remember the Tin Box of Australian chocolate, which we waited years to sample. What a disappointment? It was dreadful. The poor Aussies, having to eat that! My niece who married an Australian tells me that it’s just as bad now. You cannot beat Cadburys.

Also I do not believe that Farewell Taylor ever married. There were two Alice Taylors about this time. Mrs Millet was the mother of one. Her first husband being a Taylor. The other Alice was the mother of Jean Wade.

Jean Dean

John Ruskin & Mickley Lane

John Ruskin (1819-1900) art critic, author and idealist, used his inherited wealth for the education of the "deserving poor" and in non-profit making enterprises.

In 1871, he founded the Guild of St George for "the purchase of land in healthy districts" and to teach and employ working men, and to try to "permanently better the material condition of the poor". Sheffield attracted his attention because of its religious dissent and Chartism, and he admired the skill and craftsmanship of the scythe, scissor, knife and cutlery workers.

In pursuit of his philanthropy, in 1875 he bought a house high on the hill in Walkley, for £600 using funds from the Guild of St George where he established the George Museum. This was pioneering work for it was not until 1875 that Sheffield opened its first public museum (in Western Park) and 1887 before the first public art gallery - The Mappin. Visitors to the Walkley St Georges Museum included William Morris, artist and designer and Prince Leopold, the youngest son of Queen Victoria.

The Walkley site proved to be inadequate and the collection was moved to Meersbrook Hall which was purposely bought by Sheffield Corporation for the Ruskin Museum in 1890 and here it attracted 60,000 visitors a year.

Our connection with John Ruskin ie even closer to home - Mickley Lane. In 1876 Ruskin’s man of affairs in Sheffield, Henry Swann, wrote to Ruskin as he wintered in Venice, that a farm off Mickley Lane, Totley, was for sale. Swann was told to pay the £2,200 to secure it. William Riley was to take control of St George’s Farm, Mickley Lane, but things did not go well and Ruskin found that Riley "liked smoking better than he liked digging". Ruskin then sent his trusted gardener, Downes, to Sheffield and by concentrating on fruit managed to sell £60 worth of produce, though the outlay to achieve that was £135!

Downes allowed George Pearson, a quarryman and miner, to take over. Pearson was successful and in 1920 bought the land from St. George’s Guild. In 1938 the farm, which I have always known as ‘Pearson’s Nursery’, was sold and passed into private hands - but today it continues to be known as St George’s Farm, Mickley Lane.

In spite of Ruskin’s impracticalities and his misguided view that Art can solve all the great problems of the world, I believe he should be remembered as someone who tried to get people to think for themselves and to look at life, particularly natural life, with both eye and mind. One can only wonder how he would have reacted to the telecommunications mast now gracing St. George’s Farm!

After several years in the Hoys Building on Norfolk Street, the Ruskin Collection is now to be found in the Millennium Galleries which run between Arundel Gate and the Crucible Theatre, open:- Mon - Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 11am-5pm.

Pat Pryor