Grove Road and the Totley Brook Estate

    Location of the Totley Brook Estate reservoir

An early development was to plan out the estate into allotments, to remove the dam and construct it elsewhere, and to sell the plots. The construction of a dam and reservoir at what is now the entrance to the back drive to Grove House was advertised:

Saturday 23rd August 1873 Sheffield Daily Telegraph (page 4)
Contracts
Contractors willing to Tender for the Construction of a Reservoir for the Totley Brook Estate, Abbeydale, can inspect the Plans at my Offices, from Monday, the 25th of August, to Monday, the 1st of September, on which latter day Tenders must be delivered to me not later than One o'clock. J.B. Mitchell-Withers, Architect, St. James'-street, Sheffield. 

A tender of £275 was accepted from Mr Reuben Clarke and Mr Harvey was appointed as auctioneer at a fee of £3 3s. 0d. The auction of the plots took place at the Royal Hotel on 15 September 1873. All 105 plots were sold at prices ranging from 5s. to £24. 

          Totley Brook Estate allotment plan 1876, western part

The estate road was severed by the building of the railway line and it was only in 1892 that a new stretch of road to the north of the railway line was built to connect the severed western end of the estate road with Abbeydale Road. The name “Totley Brook Road” then became used for the road as we know it now and “Totley Grove road”, later “Grove road”, was used for the truncated eastern section of the estate road although people still referred to it by its old name well into the new century.

Totley and Dore in those days were attractive places to visit at weekend for city dwellers, with fresh air, walks on the moors and numerous pubs and ale houses. The opening of Dore & Totley Railway Station in 1872 had made the journey time much shorter and people came in huge numbers:

26th May 1877 Weekly Supplement to the Sheffield Daily Telegraph
Local Railway Traffic
On Monday, there was a great increase in the railway traffic to and from both the Midland and Victoria Stations. From the former station there went 30 passengers to Scotland, 350 to London, 170 to Birmingham, 220 to Morecambe, 180 to Nottingham, 400 to Matlock and 2,000 to Dore, Totley and Beauchief.

Property was being built along Abbeydale, moving ever further from the city. Joseph Mountain was one such land owner and builder who had housing estate schemes at Millhouses, Beauchief, Abbeydale Park and Totley Rise culminating in the opening of the Victoria Gardens in 1883 which attracted even more people to area. Lying outside the city and county boundaries, rates were lower in Derbyshire than in Sheffield or adjacent villages in the West Riding of Yorkshire like Heeley.

Sanderson and his associates appear to have named the estate “Totley Brook” to make it more attractive to potential investors and proprietors. No one in the city would have had a clue where Oldhay Brook was. It was evidently not an error as some people think; it was a marketing ploy.

        Totley Brook Estate shown in the OS 6 inch map 1898, surveyed in 1896-97

The building of houses was rather slow; only 8 dwellings had been erected by 1888 and 12 by the time the Ordnance Survey mapped the area in 1896-97 (Grove Cottage and Grove Lodge predate the estate). The conclusion was that the plots were often bought as an investment with a view to selling them to the Midland Railway Company at a vast profit. 

Saturday 22nd December 1883 Sheffield Daily Telegraph (page 15)
The Proposed New Railway in Derbyshire
The customary notices have been served on the property and land owners in the district through which the proposed new railway from Dore to Chinley (near Chapel-en-le-Frith) will pass. At a meeting of proprietors of shares in the Totley Brook estate on Monday night, it was unanimously decided to maintain a neutral position in regard to the scheme, but it is probable that they will, when called upon, take joint action in assenting or otherwise.

Eventually most of the plots on either side of the railway line fell into the hands of the Railway Company.

Thursday 29th August 1889 Sheffield Evening Telegraph (page 4)
The Totley Brook Estate
The land allotments at Totley, known as the Totley Brook Estate, since their acquisition in 1873 by Edward [sic] Sanderson, have, at length, in the main, fallen into the hands of the Midland Railway Company. The usual, or at least very common vicissitudes of most building and land societies, have troubled this one almost from the beginning, and although forfeitures, arrears, expenses, and other matters have from time to time created an amount of anxiety amongst the members, the ultimate holders have succeeded in transferring their interests to very satisfactory advantage. From the time of the Midland Railway Company bringing in their bill for the construction of a railway through the district in 1888, the gentlemen who had paid off the existing mortgages and obtained possession of a remainder of 34 plots, at a cost of about £2,500, entertained an abiding idea of lucratively disposing of their lands or such portions of them as would in all probability be required by the promoters of the Dore and Chinley Railway, which was planned to pass near and through these properties. These opinions were fully warranted, as the sequel proves, and the terms having at length been agreed to, the new owners, the Midland Railway Company, paid over the purchase moneys on the 22nd inst., and the Totley Brook Estate as an investment proprietary ceased to exist. To mark this event, the recipients of the welcome remittances decided to assemble over a social commemorative dinner, which was accordingly provided regardless of cost, and held at the Red Lion Hotel, Heeley, on Tuesday last, the menu on this occasion including the choicest of everything in season, and placed on the tables in a most tasteful manner by host and hostess Bowler. After dinner, with Mr. H. Wragg in the chair, and Mr. A. Benton, vice, a hearty toast to the Midland Railway Company, coupling therewith the prosperity of the Dore and Chinley Line in particular, was drunk, congratulations interchanged, and with excellent musical introductions, a most enjoyable evening brought the celebration to a close.

There were a few instances where proprietors, who had built houses on their plots, brought successful court cases against the Midland Railway Company for damage caused during the construction, but most of the houses were built after the disruption was over. Before the railway the estate was thought to be on a beautiful part of the countryside.

Thursday 16th April 1891 Sheffield Daily Telegraph (page 6)
A Bakewell correspondent sends me an interesting note, In November, 1888, whilst a number of navvies were at work preparing for the new line which runs through Totley Brook Estate, he engaged two of them to remove for him an old sun dial. In doing so they came across a wooden box containing a sealed bottle, which had been placed there by himself. In the bottle was a manuscript which, with the sun dial and stone pedestal, was brought to him at his then residence, Totley Brook Cottage. The manuscript recorded the death of a favourite cat, which had been worried by a dog, and buried there. The site of the sun dial and grave of the cat are now included in the cutting of the Dore and Chinley line. "The original manuscript," says my correspondent, "serves as a 'movable' relic to remind me of the many hours spent in tilling my garden plot (59) which extended to the brook side. The Totley Brook Estate was laid out by the late Mr. Edmund Sanderson in 1873, and was for many years one of the most beautiful spots in the county. The stream was celebrated for its trout, whilst its banks were a haunt for the kingfisher, woodpecker, and many other rare and beautiful birds. With kind regards from an old Sheffielder, Farewell."

As late as 1893, the village policeman had received a one pound reward for apprehending trespassers on the estate - probably after the trout.

In 1894, the year that the new railway line opened for passenger traffic, the Trustees of the Totley Brook Estate demanded that they be relieved of their duties by plot owners who were resident on the estate. Guy Mitchell, of Brook House, was the Estate Society Secretary for a period. Many of the plot owners could not afford to build to the standards required by the Estate. All building was to be of stone with a minimum value to the property. Trees were planted at 15 yard intervals and the general upkeep of the estate including gas lighting, water supply and drainage was continued until the dissolution of the Estate Society in 1923. The gas lights on Grove Road were still in use apparently as late as 1962 according to Carloyn Howden. 

         Totley Brook Road looking west from Kengarth (no. 90)

The Victorian and Edwardian houses on Totley Brook Road were designed by many different architects and erected by many builders and at different times according to the wishes of the proprietors. It was profitable business and all the leading firms of Sheffield architects competed for the work.

By the time of the 1891 Census it would appear that six properties had been built on Grove Road, although Woodleigh House and Brook House are the only ones named. The foundation stone to the Totley Rise Methodist Chapel was laid in May 1895. In the late 1890s they were frequently coming up for sale, particularly the semi-detached villas known as Horton Villa and Glenroyd, Dalston Villas (a semi-detached pair) and Brook House.

Saturday 27 February 1897 Sheffield Independent (page 4)
Tuesday next, at 3 p.m.
At the very low upset price of £900 to ensure a sale
Valuable Freehold Residence at Totley Brook, Dore

To be sold by Auction, by Messrs William Bush an Sons, at their Estate Sale Rooms, Church street, Sheffield, on Tuesday, 2nd March, 1897, at 3 for 3.15 prompt, subject to Conditions:

The Excellent Detached Stone-built Residence, situate on the Totley Brook Estate, and known as Brook House, formerly in the occupation of the owner, Mr. H. B. Atkinson, together with the Gardens, Conservatories, Forcing Houses, and Outbuildings. The house contains Dining, Drawing, and Breakfast Rooms, First-rate Billiard Room, Large Kitchen, Five Bedrooms, with Box Room, Bath, Lavatory, and W.C. Also comfortable Cottage for coachman or gardener, containing Kitchen, Scullery, and two Bedrooms, and with a separate Garden.
Additional Bedrooms could easily be erected over the Billiard Room.
There are also extensive Stabling for several horses, Loose Box, Coach-house, and yard with glass roof, Cow Houses, and other convenient Outbuildings. The Garden is fully stocked with fruit trees and well-grown shrubs.

The Dore and Totley Station is less than a quarter of an hour's walk from the houses, and the new Dore and Chinley Line affords ready access to one of the most attractive districts of Derbyshire. The water supplied from the reservoir on the Totley Brook Estate is plentiful and good, the cost being nominal. The site is freehold, contains 2118 square yards or thereabouts, and has an extensive frontage to Totley Brook road [sic]. The piece of land on the opposite side of the road, and half an acre in extent, is used as ornamental garden ground, and held under the Midland Railway Company on a yearly tenancy of £2 per annum, and as it is surmised that a considerable period must elapse before the Railway Company will require this land for extensions, it is extremely improbable that the tenancy will be disturbed.Possession can be given 25th March next.

For further particulars apply to the Auctioneers, Church street; or to: G.T. Fernell, Solicitor, 23 Bank street, Sheffield. 

But there were still empty plots offered for sale up to the turn of the century and beyond.

Saturday 29 May 1897 Sheffield Independent (page 4)
Eighth Sale. Tuesday Next, 4.30.
Totley Brook Estate
Freehold Building Land
To be Sold by Auction, by Messrs Nicholson, Greaves, Barber, and Hastings, in the Sheffield Estate Auction Mart, 2, High street, on Tuesday, 1st June, at 4, for 4.30 precisely, subject to the Sheffield Law Society's Conditions:
The Two Plots of Freehold Building Land, being Plots Nos. 24 and 25, on the Totley Brook Estate, containing together 2183 Square Yards, Exclusive of Roads. Further information of the Auctioneers; or Messrs Hy. Vickers, Son, and Brown, Solicitors, Bank street, Sheffield.

As with the Mountville Estate at Totley Rise, estate agents claims were not always truthful about the water supply and drainage.

Thursday 16 June 1898, The Sheffield Daily Telegraph (page 7)
Norton Rural District Council (extract)
... A letter was read from Mr. W. Terrey, general manager of the Sheffield Corporation Water Department, stating that he found that the guarantee required to extend the mains necessary to supply the houses on the Totley Brook estate with water would be £20 per annum; that he had had a valuation made of the properties in Totley Brook and Grove Roads, and ascertained that if the owners of property agreed to have the water laid on the annual revenue derived therefrom would be £46 8s. 3d., which would more than meet the necessary guarantee. Dr. Gale again pointed out the danger that might arise from drinking the present supply of water. There was, he said, no supply in their district where there was greater danger of contamination. The brook received sewerage from houses, and in summer time, when enteric fever was very prevalent, and when the water was low, if an outbreak of fever was to occur, it would give rise to a great outcry....

Nor was the walk to the station as easy as claimed. 

Wednesday 2nd March 1910, Sheffield Daily Telegraph (page 9)
Totley Rise, Feb. 28, 1910
Sir, - With reference to Mr. Hancock's recent letter re the above and more particularly the last paragraph, whilst not pretending to know the condition of "the whole of the roads," I for one, do certainly think the main road between Dore and Totley Station and Totley Rise is "a disgrace" to which ever authority has the roads under its care; and after the unanimous opinion of the residents expressed at the recent meeting in connection with the matter, one would have thought that steps would have been taken to remedy the state of affairs before now. The footpath is, if possible, worse than the road; there are, in places, some remains of prehistoric asphalt which is rapidly getting broken up, and disappearing, leaving holes which are generally full of water (or mud). One can see, any morning, a string of people walking single file from Totley Brook Road to the Station, as the only place fit to walk on is the kerbstone. I fully agree with "Resident's" remarks and hope the agitation will continue until the main road, at any rate, is made good. Yours truly, Another Resident. 

We believe that the original names of the two adjacent semi-detached properties were Horton Villa and Glenroyd but the carvings on the gatepiers are very badly worn. The pair of semi-detached houses at numbers 7 and 9 were built in 1925. The Methodist Church Sunday School which faces on to Grove Road was designed by W.G. Gibb and built by James Laver and Sons Ltd. in 1931.