Edgar Wood

Anthony Cosgrove has written to us asking about a property in our area known as The Dingle, Totley Bank, designed by the arts and crafts movement architect Edgar Wood. Anthony had spotted a newspaper advertisement for the auction of the property in the 1920s.

   Sheffield Independent, 15 July 1922

The first appearance in our records of The Dingle, 172 Prospect Road, is in White's Trade Directory for 1904 when the property was inhabited by Rev. William Blackshaw, a Congregational Minister for the Croft House Settlement. Rev. Blackshaw was living there with his wife Amelia Jane and son, Maurice Bantock, in the 1911 census and we believe that he may have owned the property up to 1922 when it was bought at auction by Walter Carter, a steel worker with Armstrong Whitworth. 

Walter Carter died in 1932 and, when his son Bill Carter had gone away to the forces, his widow couldn't manage the large property which was sold, together with the land, for £2,900. Coincidentally, Bill Carter's wife was the former Olive Turner, a well-known Sheffield soprano singer, who took the lead in many Croft House productions in the 1930s.

         The Dingle, hidden behind hedges and trees, Prospect Road side

          The Dingle from the entrance to the drive on the corner of Woodland Place and Prospect Road

         The Dingle. from Woodland Place

         The garden wall and lookout on Woodland Place

          Entrance to the grounds on Woodland Place

The Dingle: An Update

          The Dingle, 172 Prospect Road, Totley Rise

We are delighted to hear that "The Dingle", 172 Prospect Road, has received a Grade II listing under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, as amended, for its special architectural or historic interest.

The house was built in 1904 in the Arts and Crafts style to designs by Edgar Wood (1860-1935) for the Rev. William Blackshaw, a Congregationalist Minister with the Croft House Settlement. Mr Dyson was the builder and joiner, and Mr Manders was the mason, both of Sheffield. The house cost in the order of £1,600.

The listing applies to the house itself and to the rubble stone walls to the west of the house, the lookout, boundary walls and doorway on Woodland Place. You can read the full description of the property and the reasons for its listing at Historic England.

The Dingle, 172 Prospect Road, Totley Rise



Dr. Clive Binfield says that although The Dingle received contemporary architectural acclaim, it appears to have been "lost" for many years, perhaps because it was misreported as being in Dore or even in Cheshire. When the house came up for sale in 1950, the very detailed estate agents' advertisement described it as a "medieval style" residence and failed to mention the name of the architect.

These two photographs were taken perhaps around 1911 before the trees had grown and the locally-quarried rubble stone had weathered. Dr. Binfield says that locals, with the Boer War fresh in their minds, were so shocked by the bareness of its appearance they called it "Spion Kop."

It now appears that the Rev. Blackshaw moved out of The Dingle earlier than we first thought. The house was offered to let, fully furnished, from 1 February 1914. In May of the following year Rev. Blackshaw advertised the sale of its furniture, fittings, carpets and all manner of household effects as he said he was leaving Sheffield. He had accepted an invitation to become minister of the Highgate Congregational Church in London. According to White's Directory, The Dingle was occupied in 1919 by Joseph Smith.