Old Rothley Photographs Album 2 Street Scenes
Many of these photographs were displayed in the Rothley Post Office and kindly loaned by David Lynch, our Post Master, for adding to the village website in 2010.
The oldest item in the Post Office Collection is the above POSTCARD-GREAT BRITAIN & IRELAND with Writing Space for Inland Postage only. It was postmarked Manchester 9.30pm Feb 13th 1906 and written from C/o Mrs Bentley, 30 The Crescent, Salford. Feb. The greeting is:
Dear Sophia
Many thanks for PC received. I wish I was down in Devonshire now, as I don't like this place at all. Please remember me to all my friends.
Yours sincerely Arthur
This postcard is headed 'Stepping Stones, Rothley. near Leicester. Long since gone but this is Rothley Brook looking to Town Green and Park Farm can be seen with the large barn door.
Town Green Street looking to Wellsic Lane with the Blue Bell in the distance. The thatched cottages at the bottom of Wellsic Lane have been demolished.
A thatched cottage in Anthony Street that was demolished like so many in Rothley. The photograph below shows the general scene looking toward Cross Green
Anthony Street looking toward Cross Green. The terrace on the right is still there in 2010 but the thatched cottages on the left have been demolished.
Still in Anthony Street but from further down and still looking toward Cross Green. The cottages on the right with the iron railings are still there in 2010 and a plaque shows their name as Terra Cotta Houses 1901. The railings have not survived as they would have been taken as part of the war effort.
Name plaque for two Anthony Street houses
North Street looking to Cross Green. The Licensee of The Old Crown is W N Johnson
North Street looking toward Hallfields Lane. The plaque is to the memory of the brave boys who fell in the Great War.
The plaque on the house wall in North Street.
A very old view of North Street, around 1900, showing the pump used by the cottages. The sign over the door in the centre of the old cottages shows that it was used as a business. This was a postcard sent by H. Antill to friends in Wirksworth, Derbyshire.
The detail of the pump is shown below
Another postcard of the same view but in the summer and with children
Same view as above but from a colour postcard.
Fowke Street looking toward Cross Green. This scene has changed very little in 2010 but there is a beautiful wisteria around one of the cottages on the right which has been there for years.
Fowke Street looking in the opposite direction toward Homefield Lane. The cottages on the right have changed but the one on the raised pathway has been renovated to retain its original features. Only by owners remaining sympathetic to the original building and declining grants to 'improve' the appearance have we retained part of our history. So much was lost by 'funded improvements' but the occupants of number 13 stayed true to its original design and the beauty of its cruck construction.
One of the three cottages on the right caught fire in the ealy 1940's and it is remembered that the mattress was thrown out of the bedroom window and obviously used to jump to safety.
A modern Woodgate, around the late 1980's.
Woodgate around 1970.
Woodgate in the 1960's when the Post Office was on the right, next to Flair Hair Fashions
These cottages were in Woodgate almost facing Howe Lane and in the photograph below they are shown on the left hand side.
Woodgate looking towards Cross Green.
The house opposite the thatched cottages was number 28 Woodgate. This is where Neville Baum and his wife lived from 1965-1969. This was a separate dwelling attached to the larger house where Mrs Chapman used to live. Neville says that at the same time that they lived there they belonged to his employer, Mr Simmons. Photo 27 below also shows another view of the house with the front door facing the camera. After Neville and his wife left the property remained empty until it was demolished to make way for Babington Court.
The house on the right was large and this shows the back with the front being accessed from Howe Lane. In the early 1950's it was owned by Mrs Chapman.
Mountsorrel Lane just north of Cross Green. The chapel on the left was the Rothley Primitive Methodist Chapel and was merged with the Wesleyan Chapel in Howe Lane. For more information about this building please click on the following link:
The terraced houses on the right were known as 'Ranters Row' but are Salisbury Cottages built in 1881.
The first large house on the left is Springfield House but the last one, lived in by Sid Bradshaw the local Undertaker, was demolished and a new home with a Chapel of Rest built on the site. This stands on the corner of Garland.
The house that was demolished was called "Forest View"
Howe Lane from Woodgate. This scene on the left has changed little since this photograph but on the right was the garden of Mrs Chapman's house, shown in photograph 14 is in 2010 the residential home Babington Court.
Nott Bridge was rebuilt as Hallfields Lane Bridge around 1935 as it was too narrow for the farm carts which had to cross the Rothley Brook at this point by the fords on either side.
Hallfields Lane. This scene has changed very little from the early 1960's although in 2010 now cluttered with cars on the grass verges
This scene in Town Green has changed very little but must be before 1952 as the Coronation Beech is not there.
This shows flooding on the Town Green with Temple Farm surrounded by water. Difficult to date this photograph as flooding was an annual event being close to Rothley Brook
This photograph was taken looking from Town Green to Wellsic Lane. The house on the right still stands and is near to Walkers Lane. The terrace on the left has not changed.
It looks like a stranded sheep in the water
This scene shows Cross Green looking to North Street. The building front left is the Court House where local disputes were heard. the other buildings are shown in more detail in other photographs on this site
This lovely thatched cottage was demolished to make Greenway Close. The right hand side was the shop of the local cobbler Mr Stan Ward, who later moved to a shop next to the Royal Oak.
Cross Green looking towards Mountsorrel Lane afer the demolition of the Court House and before the erection of the War Memorial in 1921. Most likely the early 1900's.
Cross Green after 1921 but before the building of Greenway Close. Dated as 3rd October 1960.
The War Memorial on Cross Green looking towards Mountsorrel Lane. This would be between the wars as only the First World War is commemorated. The postcard showing this scene was sent in 1925.
The unveiling of the War Memorial on Cross Green on the 24th July 1921
Woodgate from Cross Green in 1960.
Woodgate from Cross Green close to Howe Lane. Mrs Chapman's house (shown also elsewhere on this page) is at the junction of Howe Lane. The houses on the left have all been converted to shops and we see in 2010 Dawn Newcombe hair, Anmol, Eastern Chef and Bradleys.
See also photograph 11 above which shows Woodgate from the opposite direction. The front door facing the camera at the junction of Howe Lane was the home of Neville Baum and his wife. When they left in 1969 the property remained empty until demolished for the building of Babington Court.
Woodgate cottages, shown on the right of picture 27. There were three cottages in this row. The Spicer family lived in the one on the right, the Hoods lived in the centre cottage and the Swans lived in the left hand cottage which is just out of the above picture.
Woodgate, the same cottages as picture above
30
'The Lighthouse' at the top of North Street and corner of Woodgate. This was the name given to the large chimney so the buildings were called the Lighthouse. Demolished in the 1950's and the site is now a grassy bank in front of the Baptist Church. The picture shows the shop of Hutchins the Newsagent who moved into Woodgate. The news of the day includes 'CZECH PREMIER TALKS TO US' and 'WEALTHY BROTHERS SHOT DEAD IN WOOD'.The shop then became Spirella Corsetry.
The photograph was a postcard and on the back is written 'Cpl P Wright 294857. Greetings from the Vicar, Rothley 1942'.
Church Street looks the same in 2010 as when this photograph was taken in 1960.
There was a big investigation about the location of the above buildings and the Rothley Baptist Chapel was most likely. After careful investigation of the bricks, chimneys, gable ends and other old photographs it has been confirmed as the Baptist Chapel in Woodgate before its conversion.
Still to be indentified. A notable building and people in the foreground could be staff.
Aerial view of Fowke Street and Greenway Close taken on the 17th July 1965. Its looks as though the road surface is being applied in Greenway Close which could give an indication of when the dwellings were built and the original thatched cottages demolished.
Aerial view of Rolls Royce, Mountsorrel Lane, before the building of the A6 by-pass which opened in 1991. Rolls Royce closed in 1994.
To go to the list of albums of old photographs please click on the following link: