Dore - History

History

The name Dore derives from the same Old English root as door, signifying a 'gateway' or pass between two kingdoms. The Limb Brook, River Sheaf, and Meers Brook marked the boundary between the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Deira (later Northumbria) and Mercia.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle contains the earliest written record of Dore, recording that in 827 (probably actually 829) King Egbert of Wessex led his army to the village to receive the submission of King Eanred of Northumbria, thereby establishing his overlordship over the whole of Anglo-Saxon Britain:

This year was the moon eclipsed, on mid-winter's mass-night; and King Egbert, in the course of the same year, conquered the Mercian kingdom, and all that is south of the Humber, being the eighth king who was sovereign of all the British dominions. Ella, king of the South-Saxons, was the first who possessed so large a territory; the second was Ceawlin, king of the West-Saxons: the third was Ethelbert, King of Kent; the fourth was Redwald, king of the East-Angles; the fifth was Edwin, king of the Northumbrians; the sixth was Oswald, who succeeded him; the seventh was Oswy, the brother of Oswald; the eighth was Egbert, king of the West-Saxons. This same Egbert led an army against the Northumbrians as far as Dore, where they met him, and offered terms of obedience and subjection, on the acceptance of which they returned home.

It can therefore be argued that Egbert became the first king of England at Dore. A plaque commemorating this event was erected on the village green in 1968 by the Dore Village Society. The Old School was built in 1821 on the site of a previous school, on the right hand side was the teacher's accommodation. When Dore's new school was opened, the Old School was restored and opened as a community centre.

Christ Church Dore was built in 1829 and Dore became a separate parish in 1844. Dore remained a small village, having a population of just 500 in the 19th century, until it was annexed by Sheffield in 1933.

A paper mill was built on Avenue Farm in the 17th century, Joshua Tyzack converted the building into a scythe forge in 1839 and in 1881 built a large house next to the forge as a country retreat, his initials can be seen above the front door. In 1932 Dore's Parish council built a memorial commemorating the deaths of World War I.