Pictures from the Past Click on top of thumbs to enlarge
A picture of
Alkham taken around 1920 or earlier. In the foreground is Halton Court with
its farm buildings which were later demolished and a bungalow and house
built in their place.
The
white building in the centre is the Village Shop and Post Office . Stage coach horses were changed
here and it was one of the few properties to have its own well - others
relied on the village well by the Marquis of Granby. The ship lap was
rendered around WWII and the wooden buildings at the back burnt down around
1970.
To the left of
the Post Office is the village school with its bell tower and beyond that is the
Marquis of Granby public house. On the right of the picture is St. Anthony's
church.
This photo
shows Slip Lane to the right of the above photograph and was taken around
1920 or earlier. In the foreground is Box Tree Cottage and to the right is
the Wesleyan Chapel; two houses have since been built on the land between them.
Behind the Chapel is Rose Cottage and in front is the dairy and the
granary both of which have been converted into living accommodation and like
the Post Office gained 'Old' at the front of their names. Behind these is Malmains Farm and on the left of the picture is the former Rectory.
The Wesleyan
Chapel (see also picture above) in Slip Lane was built in 1880 and closed in
1960. It is now a private residence.
The shop was
built around the end of the 19th century and in the 1920's it became the
village post office with a telephone box to the right of the shop. It closed
in 1978 but the traditional curved metal roof remains on the Slip Lane side.
The photo
shows the centre of Alkham c1930 with its school and church, viewed from
Vicarage Meadow, then farmland, forming part of the 4 acres attached to the
Vicarage which was built in 1830’s and closed in 1978 by which time the
Meadow had become a Village Green.
The meadow was bought by the Parish Council from the church in April 2003
and pictures of the event are 'In 2003' photos on the main photo page.
The
picture shows the Alkham village hall being constructed in 1931 from timber
which was clad with metal sheeting. It remains largely unchanged but in the
1990's a small brick extension was built to the side to accommodate new
toilets and a store room.
Over the winter period from year 2000 to 2001 the Alkham Bourne ran, this
being a river of water that runs down the valley when there is a very high
water table; this flooded Vicarage Meadow and the village hall with the
result that the old traditional stage was removed and the wooden floor
replaced.
At the
Millennium a crowd of villagers sat on Vicarage Meadow to have a
commemorative photograph taken.
Probably 70
years before the above photo was taken, a group of men stop to rest
overlooking Vicarage Meadow either side of the stile leading to the footpath
over Vicarage Meadow.
The picture
shows a group of children going up the path to St. Anthony's church to
celebrate the coronation of George V in 1911.