Dore and Totley United Church 1888-1913

Had you been living near Totley Brook Road just over one hundred years ago you would undoubtedly have wanted to join the small procession of people accompanying, with some excitement, a corrugated iron chapel that was physically being dragged on a horse drawn bogey from Dore & Totley station to a “green field” site on the new Totley Brook Estate – the area of land purchased in 1888 by the Midland Railway Company and divided into plots to either side of the railway line which had bisected the original driveway from Grove Cottage at the bottom of Totley Rise to Grove House, thus creating a new line of direction to Totley Brook Road.

The people behind this great adventure were members of the Dore & Totley Union Church, a group of non conformist friends who, coincidently, in 1888 first began worshipping together as a house group at The Laurels on Dore Road, the home of Frederick Dieroff. Quite why they gave the name Dore &Totley to their foundling church is not mentioned in the minutes of the founding meeting but is to be remarked upon because the only links between Dore and Totley at that time were Dore Road and Hillfoot. The parish boundary with Totley being at Old Hay Brook suggests the congregation were already planning to expand their membership in to Totley.

As their numbers grew they initially negotiated the rental of a school room each Sunday from the Licensed Victuallers Association (the Alms Houses by the railway station) and thereafter the purchase of what was happily referred to as a “tin tabernacle” to be sited on land by Dore station, courtesy of the then Midland Railway. From records at the time it appears the Licensed Victuallers were very suspicious about renting rooms to a body of people who might preach abstinence – despite strong affirmation to the contrary by the congregation. There are also frequent references to the fraca caused by not a few engine drivers enjoyed blowing their whistles as they passed the “Tin Tab”, enraging the church caretaker, who would rush out waving a shovel! So Sunday worship was not without its excitement it would seem.

The move to Totley Brook Road some twenty years later and the subsequent building of the present church just before the outbreak of the First World War was certainly driven by the opportunities the early church members saw in the rapid growth of the new, emerging Totley. Their purpose was to own their own plot of land and they were encouraged by their architect to create a decent, sensible , ecclesiastical building in brick-lined millstone grit, echoing the Derbyshire moors so visible from what would be their front porch. Whilst the exterior, with its mullioned windows and leaded lights left no doubt that it was a church, the interior was designed to be a meeting hall, flexible in purpose and with wooden tip - up seats, “the first of the kind on the market” because this church was going to be needed seven days a week for all the community activities it was already getting involved in. Very much of free and independent spirit, ministers and lay preachers of Congregational and Baptist Church persuasion were invited to lead worship for many years and this “freedom of spirit” still pervades to this day.

The first minister to be actually ordained to the church was called in 1910. Whilst maintaining denominational independence up until 1972, affiliation with the Congregational Church lead to members voting to become part of the United Reformed Church when the Presbyterian and Congregational Church of England Wales joined together as one body. Currently sixty eight thousand people make up fifteen hundred URC congregations in the country today, with approximately seven hundred ordained ministers.

So, like many denominations, ministers today oversee at least two or three churches. The Reverend Shirley Knibbs is minister at Dore & Totley and as if having one church embarking upon a major re-development isn’t enough, Shirley has Meersbrook Park URC undertaking a much more dire need for re-building on Chesterfield Road. She also ministers to The Michael Church on Low Edges estate. 

Dore & Totley has contributed to the community over the years and there will be many who can remember with fondness attending the plays given in the church hall twice a year. The Literary and Debating Society from which the Dramatic Society grew was formed in 1899. The last, hand written bound volume produced by the Debating Society in 1915 is about a Belgian soldier convalescing in the St John’s church hall (now the Post Office sorting office). Over and above light hearted entertainment a social club was formed to provide friendship, light relief and support during the dark days of the Second World War, Totley Brook Club meetings for elderly people living on their own take place every month and have done so for decades.

Facilities for lunch clubs, play groups, youth groups, scouts, guides, brownies and beavers, badminton and drama continue. The church continues to live up to the aspirations expressed by one who was at the opening ceremony in 1913 “In this simple building there is no special symbol of the eternal presence. There is no holy of holies, but it is one of the surest things that there will be such an opening of doors to the unseen that men might find themselves in the presence of God”. Words which resonate in the church members decision to assist in the financing of the on-going S17 Youth Project .

The building of the church in 1913 was followed by a church hall (to replace the old tin tab but regrettably without the benefits of cavity walling and sound insulation materials) in 1930, a Manse to the rear of the plot on Chatsworth Road and a smaller church hall built on the foundations of an air raid shelter.

Over the last four years members have been planning how the church premises might be brought up to date and more relevant to the current needs in our community. Clearly there is an on-going need to provide companionship and help to older people, especially those who are housebound, and to provide encouragement and facilities for young people.

Following the refurbishment of the sanctuary in 2008 with new facilities that will not only create more flexibility and space but also make it available for use by many more organisations in addition to worship on Sundays, a new integral church hall is to be built. This will have modern kitchen, new toilet facilities, new central heating and much better insulation to walls, roof and windows – thereby reducing maintenance overheads and time making a positive contribution to reducing carbon footprint. 

The “profile” for this new hall will mirror that of the 1930s building so looking at it from across the railway line there will be little difference in appearance. The contractors will be re-claiming the stone work of the original wherever possible but the new “footprint” will provide off-the-road parking. Whilst the church and church hall are designed to be run independently, the lobby between them and the creation of a new doorway into the church will make the latter far more open and accessible to people using the premises – thus building upon the “open church” policy that the founding members held so dear. The costs of the development have been financed by the sale of the former Manse on Chatsworth Road, the small church hall and the field which adjoined the church and was the setting for many fetes and barbeques in earlier years. Sadly, the footpath which linked the Manse to the church and which has been a short cut for residents from Chatsworth and Vernon Road (and worshippers!) to the shops on Totley Rise for so many years has been lost. The gain in having a new building with the very highest standards in safety, hygiene and accessibility is something which we hope will be shared by the communities of Dore and Totley for many more years to come. So, if you have any thoughts or ideas on activities you feel would be of benefit, please drop the church a line. 

Tin Tab

The article by Richard Moffat in number 340 of the Totley Independent was very interesting. For me, like so many incidents from bygone days, it stirred thoughts of what a sight the transfer must have been and how much local interest it must have provoked. Of course, in those days, Totley was a Derbyshire village. The bogey turning into Totley Brook Road would not have been faced with fast traffic hurtling down from Totley Rise. 

I had understood the building referred to was originally from the village of Birchinlee constructed in the early 1900s to house navvies (and their families) employed in the construction of the Derwent and Howden I reservoirs. The name derives from Birchinlee Farm which was near the site of the village. Because the buildings were largely of corrugated iron it became more familiarly known as Tin Town. 

The provision of a complete sizeable village to house the workers seems a considerable improvement on the more casual housing of the navvies working on the Totley Tunnel some 20 years earlier. Brian Edwards in his book about the Totley Tunnel tells us that, although some wooden huts were provided for the workers, many lodged in surrounding areas including Totley. Houses on Totley Rise, many now used as shops, are one example. 

My first personal memory of the dam area dates from the 1930s. I was a schoolboy living in Mexborough but sometimes cycled into Derbyshire. On one such occasion I remember standing somewhere below the Yorkshire Bridge Inn to marvel at the dam wall of the Ladybower reservoir then under construction. I had no inkling at the time that 10 years later I would be courting a lass from Sheffield and going for long walks around these dams; that 20 years later we would come to live in Totley and therefore nearer these dams; more than 70 years later I would be reminded of this long ago cycle trip via the Totley Independent! 

Unlike today, when huge blocks of high rise flats can be razed to the ground after a comparatively short period of use, many Tin Town buildings were moved and used for other purposes, when no longer needed for the navvies. Presumably they were dissembled for transfer and put together again at their new site. Unfortunately I cannot remember why I thought the Tin Tab came from Birchinlee. If I am correct I imagine it would be conveyed to Dore and Totley station by train, probably in sections. Would the tunnel dimensions allow conveyance of the fully erected building even if it could be removed from Birchinlee as a whole? This would fit in with my understanding the Tin Tab was first erected and used on a site near the Dore station. I presume the bogey transfer in the article was the complete building - a much more impressive sight than a pile of sections. 

I do not remember this building from Birchinlee but I have seen two others. One was in the village of Abney, used for many years as the village hall and now replaced by a brick building. The other was used as a shop on the Edale road out of Hope. Perhaps other readers can add to the story. Not much now remains of the Birchinlee village but there is a “memorial” to it near the site on the opposite side of the road round the dam. 

Don Ashford

April 2011