Saga Of A small Station (1)

Debated Hotly : Where Is Totley?

The simplistic answer is that it lies on the A621 south west of Sheffield centre, en route to Baslow and Bakewell. But it is nowhere near as simple as that. Look at this map.

There is Totley bottom left, but we also have Totley Bents, New Totley, Totley Rise and Totley Brook. Apart from New Totley, which fbb ever heard uttered in his 20 years dwelling in Sheffield, each community has its own identity.

If we mentally rename "Totley" as "Old Totley" things might become clearer. The centre of the traditional "village" would have been the Cross Scythes pub.

Streetview passed by during a massive refurbishment of the pub, now complete. There are old cottages opposite ...

... and off the main drag is Totley Hall Lane which, you will be amazed to hear, leads to Totley Hall, once part of the Sheffield Teacher Training College.

The lane has a good smattering of "old" (often refurbished) properties.

Well hidden just off the Lane is All Saints Church ...

... and, at the bottom, you arrive at the former grounds of the Hall; now public parkland.

So let's go back to the pub. But which pub? At the junction with the A621 we might have once stopped for a jar in the Fleur de Lys.

Alas, there is no choice of venue at the junction these days as the Fleur is now turned into flats.

After the through tram service to Baslow via the future A621 was cut back (on 1st April 1912) ...

... to Beauchief within the city, the Cross Scythes was the obvious terminus for Sheffield Transport buses ...

... and remained so well into the First Bus era.

Since early times the route was the 45, actually operated by the Sheffield Joint Omnibus Committee (which looked like, and from an operating point of view, was Sheffield Transport).

Routes were rationalised to extend the ex-tram route 24 from Millhouses to Totley ...

... and under one of many First Bus reorganisations, Totley became the 97!

It remains so today.

But no longer do buses use a chunk of the forecourt of the Cross Scythes. fbb does remember it happening, but cannot remember whether First jumped or the pub pushed. You would guess the latter as a new turning ares was built way out along the A621 just short of the former Dyson's brickworks.

You can spot the little blip on google Maps ...

... a goodly way from the Cross Scythes. Here it is in close-up, and ...

... here it is for real.

There's a whole lot of nothing there and it must of cost First an extra bus in the schedule.

But there is one picture which may provide a link to the upcoming episodes of this blog.

The bus at the Totley terminus had a destination board above the windows ...

... which reads, enigmatically, "To and From Cross Scythes to Totley". The two "to"s don't really make linguistic sense but that little word under Totley" might read "Station". Was this perhaps a first attempt to serve Totley by shuttling from Cross Scythes to the railway station?

In the maps quoted at the top of this blog, it is clear that the red station blob was well distanced from the village, isolated much more then, than it is today.

Tomorrow we will meet the station ...

... and perhaps enjoy "virtual" meal.

=======================

The DISTRESSED women ran from the tomb, leaving Maty behind, and reported to the menfolk that the body had gone. We might suspect that the men though that the ladies might be a bit unreliable, so John and Peter ran back to the tomb.

Peter went inside, John waiting at a distance, while Peter confirmed what the women had reported. There was no body there, just the linen cloth that had been used to cover the body for its transfer from the Cross.

So they all shouted "Hallelujah, He is Risen" and sang a joyful hymn?

Erm no. 

Here are some of the Bible quotes.

 Twaddle? 

"They said nothing to anyone because they were afraid."

"When they heard Mary's account, they did not believe it."

"They went back and told the others but they did not believe it."

"But the apostles  thought that what the women said was nonsense."

But at least Peter was ... 

,,, even if, so far, he didn't know why! But he would soon learn the truth.

He was having difficulty finding his way.

=======================

 Next Small Station blog : Tuesday 2nd April