Church Lane
Church Lane about 1930.
At this time it was often called Long Lane and indeed did seem a very long
lane. There were no houses from Mickletown Road to the Railway Bridge. The
Lane was tree-lined, with hedges bordering the cornfields and a narrow, flagged
footpath on the right (north) side. There was a public seat on the left.
The young boy in the foreground is Master Raymond Barker, whose family lived
in the Wesleyan Chapel Yard, Main Street (5 houses in theyard next to the
Wesleyan Chapel, which were demolished early 1960). Raymond in his Sunday
outfit is on his way to St Oswald's Church one Sunday morning, where he was
a chorister. Beyond Raymond are other people, two groups of 2, also, most
probably, on their way to the Sunday morning service at St. Oswald's. They
are walking in the road, indicating how little traffic there was at that time.
In the background is the LMS Railway Bridge and railway embankments. The Bridge
is sometimes called Uttley Bridge, for the old name for Church Lane was Uttley
Lane; some old people still use this name. On old maps the road is named Churchfield
Lane or Churchfield Road, the Church (St Oswald's) owning the Church Fields
to the left (south) of the road.
Church Lane 1983.
Both detached and semi-detached houses now on each side of the lane. There
are less trees along the lane and hedges have disappeared. The bridge is in
the background.
House building started in Church Lane from 1934-35. Most were built by 1937.
They were built by two local firms, J. Dickinson, whose houses have blue slate
roofs and P.J. Parrott, whose houses have red tiled roofs. After the 1939-45
war, vacant spaces were built on.
