A black and white photograph, taken late 19th or early 20th century, of the junction of Chesterfield Road and Green Lane, showing a gas lamp in the middle of the road. Joseph Fisher's butchers shop is on the left. Joseph was a member of the Fisher family which had several butchers shops around Dronfield. Tylers Boot shop and a general store, now E and D Steel (formerly Lievesley's watch making business), can be seen. Note the horse and cart far left, the boundary wall of Dronfield Henry Fanshawe School on the right and the Princess Buildings in the centre distance.
This photograph shows cottages (now demolished) on Callywhite Lane and shops on Chesterfield Road which are still in use. The Post Office now occupies the building in the centre. Two Dronfield Grammar School boys in traditional uniform are in the foreground. A horse and cart can be seen in the background, at the bottom of Green Lane. Write a Comment
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An original postcard showing the Feast Gathering at the bottom of Green Lane at its junction with Callywhite Lane and Chesterfield Road. The Feast Procession was held near to the Feast of St John the Baptist which occurs on 24th June. The parish church and non conformist chapels processed separately led by a band and they stopped at intervals for hymn singing and a sermon. This image shows a sermon or hymn singing taking place, attracting a large crowd of onlookers. Most of these buildings are still there, apart from those on the far left, and the buildings in the foreground are now the Natwest Bank and Post Office. An early telephone box stands next to the street sign in the centre of the picture. The photograph is believed to have been taken in the 1920's.
A black and white photograph showing Mrs. Annam's grocers shop on the left (later the site of the NatWest bank) and a General Store at the entrance to Mill Lane. The bus stop is shown in its current location together with the taxi rank of Brown's Taxis. The wall of Cliffe House appears in the background. Out of shot round the corner of the left hand building was Evan's greengrocers, later the Post Office.
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A black and white photograph showing flooding on Chesterfield Road in 1922. The property on the corner is the Horse and Jockey Public House, later demolished for road widening.
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Chesterfield Road looking towards the railway bridge. The Horse and Jockey public house on the right was about to be demolished for road widening. Evans' Greengrocer's Shop shown on the left remained until the late 1950's. The old vehicles in the foreground of the picture suggest a date of pre First World War. Brown's Taxi Service also waited here to transport people to surrounding remote villages and from the station.
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One of the earliest photographs of the Feast Procession. Dronfield held a feast on the nearest Sunday to the Feast of Saint John the Baptist, which is on the 24th June. St John is the Patron Saint of the Parish Church and the celebration may go back to medieval times. The revival is referred to in the early nineteenth century. There is also a suggestion that the Feast may pre-date Christianity and may have carried on the Pagan celebration of Midsummer. The photograph shows the procession at the junction of Chesterfield Road and Green Lane. It is dated 1907 and shows the Horse and Jockey public house, which has since been demolished, on the right. The people in the photograph are dressed in Edwardian costume.
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A view looking south towards the 1860's railway bridge (Dronfield Station was opened in 1870), with two of Dronfield's former Public Houses dominating the flanks. The Sportsman building still stands, but the Horse and Jockey was demolished in the early 1930's to widen the road. Since then generations have waited for buses on the site, which once stabled two visiting circus elephants! The exact date and photographer are unknown, but this could be the work of Harry Hewitt or Clem Greaves, both local men. The pitted, scratched and blotched source print for this restored version was owned by Mr. I R Collins.
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An original postcard showing the Horse and Jockey Public House on Chesterfield Road. In the background can be seen Dronfield Grammar School. The Horse and Jockey was demolished in the 1930's to allow the road to be widened.
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A 1906 postcard of the view towards the railway bridge along Chesterfield Road, showing the Feast Procession. The Horse and Jockey public house (now demolished) is on the right and the Road Side Inn (now the NatWest Bank) on the left. In the foreground to the right is the banner of the United Methodist Free Church which was in High Street and is now the Peel Centre. The farms seen in the distance are now occupied by the Hilltop housing estate. Small boys are wearing Sailor Suits, which were fashionable at the time. The Feast Procession was held near to the Feast of St John the Baptist (24th June). The Parish Church and Non-conformist Chapels processed separately lead by a band. Stops were made at intervals for hymn singing and a sermon.
Looking from the railway bridge along Chesterfield Road to the former site of the War Memorial. Showing progression of the Feast procession with its chapel banners and onlooking crowds. The Baptist Chapel float and banner is passing the White Swan and the Midland Hotel. The Feast Procession was held near to the Feast of St John the Baptist (24th June). The Parish Church and Non-Conformist chapels processed separately, lead by a band and they stopped at intervals for hymn singing and a sermon. Dated 1925 after the War Memorial, which is visible in the background, had been erected in 1922.
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A black and white photograph showing a view of Chesterfield Road with the Greaves' barbers shop and a drapers shop (Poysers Haberdashery). Also shown are the entrance to the steps down to Mill Lane and advertisements, with the Michelin Man, for Barkers Motorist Supplies, which was approached from Mill Lane. Barkers later became Hensons. Poysers Haberdashery was later a Cycle shop (2007).
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Showing Chesterfield Road, looking towards the railway bridge with Greaves' barbers shop on the right. Mrs Greaves also sold pots and took over when Mr Greaves died. The barber was Clem Greaves, who was also a keen photographer who took photographs of Dronfield in the 1920's and 1930's. The building was demolished in 1972 for road widening. Also in the picture on the right is the Midland Hotel built in 1870 as a railway public house for people disembarking trains at the station. Later it became a restaurant called the Sidings and is now the Dronfield Arms.
The Dronfield Palace Cinema occupied the ground behind the coach house of the White Swan and was a popular venue on Saturday afternoons. There were two prices for the children's matinee - one penny and tuppence. The lower price was for the first four rows, known as the 'chicken run', which consisted of wooden forms. The balcony was never opened for schoolchildren as it was considered too high up and dangerous. Missiles flew through the air as different groups bombarded one another. A pianist accompanied the silent films playing appropriate music. Tom Staveley, who grew up in Dronfield in the 1920's, remembers his visit to the Dronfield Palace - "I was nine years old before I went to the pictures in the evening and that was when I had broken my arm. As a result of the accident, I could not go on the Sunday School trip so my dad took me to the cinema out of pity. I didn't go in the evening again until I could pay for myself."
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A black and white photograph taken in the 1930's at Dronfield War Memorial. The memorial is shown in its original position at the junction of Hallowes Lane and Chesterfield Road. The war memorial was removed and re-sited to its present location in the grounds of Dronfield Library (formerly Dronfield Manor House) in 1973. Dedicated in 1922, the unveiling was performed by Major General H. R. Davis CB. The memorial was designed by Old Whittington artist Joseph Syddall (1864-1942). The bronze plaque lists 73 names of those who died in the First World War and 41 who died in the Second World War.
In the picture are a group of pupils, including the Air Cadet Corps led by Mr. Norman S. Millican (Headmaster, in uniform between the gas lamp and the Vicar). The entire school marched to the War Memorial in the years between the two world wars. The usual order of proceedings was a hymn, 2 minutes silence, a short address by the Vicar, the last post, The National Anthem and dispersal.
From the Roger Redfern Collection.
A photograph of Cliffe House, built in the Georgian style of the early 19th century, with prominent bay windows taken in the early 1900's. Cliffe House was the home and surgery of Dr. Rooth, who died in 1908 aged 66, and who appears in the photograph. The feature in the garden is a sun dial. The house was later occupied by Charlotte Ward who was a reclusive lady, owner of a lot of property in the area and passionate about the welfare of animals. She left sizeable bequests to various animal charities in her will. She adopted her niece Mary Ward, a theological student. Cliffe House is now the location of the Green Nursing Home, which was built on the site.
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