Thickwood Lodge in 1927 sale brochure

On the way up to Owler Bar from Totley, a remote and solid building sits against the dark backdrop of Brown Edge. Thickwood Lodge was built for the Duke of Rutland in 1820 to provide accommodation for one of his gamekeepers on Totley Moor. Round the back of Thickwood raps a "green" track called "Dukes Drive", an access for carriages at the Duke's grouse-shooting parties of the last century.

Further over towards Strawberry Lee, Bole Hill Lodge stands facing out over a magnificent view of Sheffield. There are many stories about the gamekeepers and poachers of Totley Moor and I have a copy of a letter from the 1700s applying to the then owner of part of Totley Moor recommending a local worthy of the job of gamekeeper.

Much later, in 1895, John Stone, a Totley horse breaker, poacher, wrestler and rough fighter, applied for the job as gamekeeper at Thickwood Lodge. The Duke's agent is reported to have said, "Aren't you that confounded poacher?" Stone is said to have agreed, and replied with the oft repeated "Set a thief to catch a thief." He got the job and kept it until his retirement.

G.H.B. Ward in the Clarion Ramblers Handbook l924/25 tells of a "fright healing" which once took place at Thickwood Lodge.... "The gamekeeper, Henry Peat, had a daughter, a nice young girl far in the teens, who taken very ill and bedfast for thirteen weeks was given up by everybody including the doctor. Her father, unfortunately, became very demented, and it was unsafe for mother and daughter. All knives and firearms were removed and someone had to sleep with him. That doubtful task befell Mr. Wragg, the Owler Bar tollkeeper. However, an improvement came about and Mr. Wragg went home. One night, however, Peat found a revolver and pointed it at his daughter. She was terrified and, somehow, struggled out of bed in her nightdress and, although pitch dark, she found the way to the main toad and into Andrews (Mooredge) Farm 300 yards nearer Totley. They took her in for the time being until her father was removed to Mickleover. Later on she returned to her mother at Thickwood Lodge and was a complete cure and wonder to all who knew her. She was literally a dying girl who had been fright healed."

These days, there aren't so many grouse on the moors. As Long ago as the report of the North West Derbyshire Water Commission of January 1947, it was stated that the three adjoining Rowsley, Big and Totley Moors yielded only about 6O brace. This compares with, a reported 1,000 in the heyday of the Duke of Rutland's shooting parties. Debate surrounding grouse shooting has continued for decades and the grouse versus sheep argument carries on even these days. It is said that the two do not mix happily because they both rely on the young heather shoots.

The Duke of Rutland auctioned off the Longshaw Estate (which included Totley Moor and Thickwood Lodge) in July 1927 and the photo, in the brochure shows the Lodge very much as it is today - the outbuildings being used for stables, pigs styes etc. Why Thickwood? Today there are very few trees except for the new ones planted close to the Lodge by the present owners. Believe it or not, at one time, this hillside was covered with birch, thorn and mountain ash trees. There are many holes and depressions in the ground to the rear of Thickwood indicating the former presence of the Thickwood coal working in Bell Pits.

Totley Independent

July 1984