RootsChat.Com
England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Lincolnshire => Topic started by: GerryS on Wednesday 19 May 10 22:20 BST (UK)
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Hi,
My great-grandfather Julius A Hindley and his family lived from after about 1897 to about 1903 in Skellingthorpe. In the 1901 Census the address is given as Railway Cottages, Skellingthorpe. The birth certificate for his son Edward born in 1902 gives his address as Pyewipe Cottages, Skellingthorpe. Also on the 1901 census the birth location for daughter Rachel (my grandmother) is given as Pyewipe presumably also Pyewipe Cottages. Julius worked for the GC Railway, and nearly all the other residents living there in 1901 are railway workers.
I'm presuming that the Railway Cottages and Pyewipe Cottages are the same place. But I can't locate them on any maps? Can someone tell me where they once were - have they been renamed or demolished? And would anyone know if any photos exist of Pyewipe Cottages/ Railway Cottages.
Thanks
Gerard
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Hi GerryS
I think I have found their location - in which case they are no longer standing :(
Here is the relevant area (the village of Skellingthorpe on the left edge, once much smaller) http://tinyurl.com/3x3r5bn
Long long ago, the Romans built a canal - the FossDyke - to link Lincoln to the River Trent. Ferry Lane runs eastwards to the canal. There was/is a canalside pub called the Pywipe Inn. I believe "pyewipe" is a dialect word for peewit or lapwing. The pub can be seen in the shadow of the A46 Lincoln bypass (top right). Incidentally, the Pyewipe Inn was inside the City boundary and part of one of the city's parishes, so I don't think that the inn was ever part of Skellingthorpe.
The railway junction at the extreme right of the scene was Pyewipe Junction, where the GN+GE Joint Railway (alongside the canal) and the LD&EC (later Great Central Railway) joined.
Now go to http://www.old-maps.co.uk/maps.html and search Skellingthorpe
When you have a map, click on the right arrow below so that Map No. 4 is revealed, then click on that map. You will now see a map of the area south of Skellingthorpe with a railway running across the map. Follow the railway along to the east (by clicking the appropriate arrows) until eventually it crosses the "Main Drain". Just above the railway and to the east of the drain you will see a building - surely built by the railway as they was nothing there before the railway arrived. I think that was your Pyewipe Cottages :) http://tinyurl.com/2uj45xc
Re 1901 census: Notice on the previous page-
Ferry
The Fen ... the earlier name for Ferry Lane was Fen Lane
We must be in the right area :)
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Pywipe Cottages were demolished in the 1970s I think. By the way, the Pywipe Inn was a good pub in the early 1960s, not as good as the Blue Anchor though.
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Thanks very much Geoff and Roger,
Your argument seems pretty conclusive, Geoff. Do you or anyone else actually remember them being there in that location? Studying the old map I do not see any road or footpath leading to these buildings so presumably the access would have been walking along the railway or perhaps there was a platform?
If they were demolished in the 1970s, were they derelict? And I would be really interested to know if anyone has any photos of these cottages - do they appear in the background of photos for the nearby Pyewipe Junction or Pyewipe Station?
Thanks again for your help
Gerard
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Yes Geoff, I remember them. Saw them many times travelling betwwen Boston and Doncaster in the 1960s.
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Thanks Roger,
So that confirms the location that Geoff found. Its a pity they are demolished now, so it would be nice to find some photographs of them......has anybody any ideas? or have some they can scan for me?
Thanks again
Gerard
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One of the problems is that of distance ... when Roger saw them, they would have been a quarter of a mile away across the fields. Try taking a photo of a house that far away and see how small it is :( with camera shake of the moving train. Additionally, there were several sidings in the "V" of Pyewipe Junction.
Passenger train services along the Skellingthorpe line (apart from seaside specials) ended in 1955.
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Correct again Geoff, that's why I hesitated to make a posting wanted to be sure we were all talking about the same things.
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Hi Gerard
Thought you might like this photo. It shows the signal box better than the cottage! This is my grandmother's sister and husband, living at Ferry Lane, Skellingthorpe about mid 1930s. Mum remembers cycling from Lincoln along the side of the canal to visit them on a Sunday afternoon.
Hope this works, I have not uploaded a photo before!
Lynne
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Thanks Lynne for that,
Such a great photo,
May I ask you their surnames and do they appear on the 1901 census, to see how they are on the census in realtion to my greatgrandfather?
Thanks
Gerard
PS you can PM me if you do not want to publish
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Hi
It is lovely. Mary and William Bourne. They were married in 1912. I'm not sure when they moved there. William died in the cottage in 1958
Lynne
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It's a great pic, but I fear it shows a different location :(
Looking hard again at http://www.old-maps.co.uk/maps.html at the end of Fen/Ferry Lane, it appears there was a signal box (S.B.) there - here http://tinyurl.com/36jfchw
There were two signal boxes at Pyewipe Junction
1) Pyewipe Junction ... situated where the Skellingthorpe line branched off the main line
2) Pyewipe West ... slightly round the corner from the main line - but the length of sidings from the site of the cottages. This can be seen on the old map (S.B.).
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Hi Geoff
Thanks for the link to the map, that is really interesting, but I am now totally confused. I had imagined the cottage was further out on the road from Skellingthorpe that runs parallel to the A57 near Saxilby. I will see Mum later - she is 88 but her memory is good. Will ask her if she remembers where she cycled to!
Lynne
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Hi Lynne, Geoff and Rootschatters,
For your information there are no Bournes appearing on the 1901 census at the Fen/ Ferry so possibly they moved there after they married.
I have also found some further information about Pyewipe Junction. It was part of the the Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway and was built towards the end of the era of British railway construction. It opened its line from Chesterfield to Lincoln in 1897. This date ties in with when my great grandfather moved there, as presumably the cottages and all the other signal boxes etc were built new with the railway.
I presume the site of the old cottages at Pyewipe were obliterated by the A46 or the construction for it. I have had a search through the net for pics of Pyewipe Junction but without much success.
Thanks
Gerard
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Have been folowing this with interest after trying to find where these cottages might be.
Very close to Pyewipe junction are the Smallpox Hospital and Pyewipe Public Swimming Baths. How close were the cottages to these two?
regards
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Very close to Pyewipe junction are the Smallpox Hospital and Pyewipe Public Swimming Baths. How close were the cottages to these two?
I've never heard of either ??? Are you talking about the Pyewipe in Grimsby by any chance? There was a hospital fairly close to Pyewipe (Lincoln) but it is now demolished http://www.gbmuk.com/gbm-project-stgeorgeshospital.html
Re the railway ... despite its name it reached neither Lancashire nor the East Coast - it was just Chesterfield to Lincoln. I would have thought that once the railway closed there was no further use for the cottages. I suspect they would have been lacking mains services. In any case, I can't imagine six isolated terraced houses being a particularly attractive proposition
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geoff,
I'm looking at an 1891 ordnance Survey map - on line. Think it's the right place.
Immediately to the West of the Smallpox Hospital and Public Baths (across the Main drain/Catchwater drain) is the Pyewipe Inn and Foss Dyke Navigation Canal. Immediately to the South is the Grandstand of the Race Course.
All this sits on the St Mary le Wigford with Holmes Common - West
regards
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geoff,
I'm looking at an 1891 ordnance Survey map - on line. Think it's the right place.
Oh yes, I see where you mean! :) They are marked on my 1924 map too
The City (St George's) Hospital must have replaced the Isolation Hospital - it had changed by 1928. The cottages were due west of the baths ... about 1100 yards west. As I posted earlier http://tinyurl.com/2uj45xc
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A little more information! The cottage in the photo was Ferry House, Skellingthorpe, taken in 1941. William Bourne was a railway worker and also ran the ferry across the Fosdyke Navigation to the Pyewipe Inn on Saxilby Road.
Mum thinks the Smallpox Hospital and public baths were in the area now occupied by Carholme golf course.
Lynne
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Mum thinks the Smallpox Hospital and public baths were in the area now occupied by Carholme golf course.
Yes, that's right :)
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Hi,
Yes I think that is correct, if you look at Geoff's links to tinyurl above and zoom out and go east you will see a large field (also east of where is marked 'Carholme Golf Course'.), and this is where the smallpox hospital and baths were. You can also see them marked on the map. From the discussions that have gone before I believe that the Pyewipe cottages lie at the bottom west corner of the triangular portion bounded by the old railway, A46 and the waterway/railway. So the hospital is not so close to the cottages in fact the other side of the waterway and railway.
I have found a reference to the land of the old cottages being compulsorily purchased for the A46 in 2006 (presumably the cottages had been already demolished by then) http://www.highways.gov.uk/aboutus/documents/Lands_Fixed_Asset_Stock_26_June_2006.pdf
Thanks
Gerard
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I have found a reference to the land of the old cottages being compulsorily purchased for the A46 in 2006 (presumably the cottages had been already demolished by then) http://www.highways.gov.uk/aboutus/documents/Lands_Fixed_Asset_Stock_26_June_2006.pdf
Thanks
Gerard
If you scroll further across, you see that the purchase date was 1993 for a nominal £1. This may have been a "tidying up exercise" as I think the A46 relief road opened in the 2nd half of the 1980s. It was opened by Lynda Chalker MP who became Transport Secretary in 1986.
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A few observations, the Smallpox hospital would fit very nicely into what was then an isolated rural location. There would have been no mains services in the cottages when built, in common with most dwellings in rural and suburban areas. Where they were added they were added considerably later (Usually 1930s in towns) The house where I was brought up in Boston had a large water storage cistern in the back yard. Prior to the installation of mains water this had been the only water supply. The toilet was outdoor though attached to the end of the house. By comparison with similar houses in the general area this had once been an earth closet. Mains gas was installed pre war, when we moved in in 1940 my parents had a bath and electricity installed. Most of the street still had gas lighting until after the end of the war. My guess is that the lack of modern basic amenities was one cause of the demolition of the cottages at Pywipe.
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Thankyou all for your comments on this post. Although I didn't start it, I have discovered a lot of interesting information about the area. I had no idea about Pyewipe Junction.
William and Mary Bourne would certainly be surprised to see it now!
Lynne
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I remember visiting the house of a grandmother of a school friend in Saxilby village in the late 1950s. There was a large oil lamp hanging over the living room table and a primitive closet outside. I suspect many rural houses of the time had equally limited "facilities".
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My Nan lived on Brant Road, just over the border in Waddington (before they built all the modern boxes!).
She had an outside loo and a range in the living room until Dad had a gas cooker installed for her in the late 50s.
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The house in which my grandparents lived (and I was born), in Scorer St, Lincoln, sprang up in time for the 1901 census. Coincidental to the origin of this thread, it was occupied in 1901 by an immigrant engine driver.
It had an outside lav - I never heard the word "loo" until the late 1960s - which was still the case in 1961.
My dad (also born there, 1921) could remember when they got electricity - light sockets and one wall socket*. I remember there was a geyser above the kitchen sink but for bath nights it would be a matter of lighting a fire under the copper in the washhouse at the bottom of the back yard.
* I wonder what their first electrical appliance was? Perhaps a radio wireless, it would have meant they didn't have to take the accumulator to be recharged.
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A large part of western Boston, Lincs did not get mains sewerage until the early 1960s!
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Hi everyone,
Yesterday I happened to be passing Lincoln and dropped in to the Pyewipe Inn, and the countryside around would not have changed a lot since 1900 apart from the motorway type A46 passing on a bridge withing 100 yards. This road is so large (larger than I appreciated from the google satelite imagery) that it would have certainly have swallowed up any traces of the Pyewipe Cottages. It is impossible to access directly from the A46, presumably you would have to walk along the canal from Ferry Lane to get there now?
But I still live in hope that there are some photos of these actual cottages at some stage in their history!
Let me know if anyone finds anything
Thanks
Gerard
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Hi,
Stumbled across your chats about Pyewipe Cottages from a while ago which came up while searching, as you do, for titbits about things. So I have registered just so I can put you out your misery about the fate of these houses (unless you have found out since you were talking about them).
I actually lived in number 1 Pyewipe Cottages from 1963 to 1970 and we were the last occupants of the cottages. I was 10 when we left and moved into the village. My Father was the signalman at Pyewipe West Sidings.
I do believe that someone put a photo on this site believing it was of these houses but as someone else rightly pointed out it wasnt. It was of the railway houses in Skellingthorpe which were just the other side of the track. The signal box at Pyewipe was approx half a mile walk from the house.
The way to find the site of the cottages is very easy and very pleasant apart from the hideous dual carriageway ruining the view. If you were to park in the car park of Skellingthorpe community centre, which is on Lincoln Road if looking on Google street view or maps, which if on street view you can actually see the cottages that were in the photo mentioned earlier which are still standing and lived in and exactly the same as the ones at Pyewipe and virtually the same as they always were. From this car park you can cross the road and to the right 20 yards or so turn down the cycle track which lo and behold is the old railway line and about one and a half miles later you are where the cottages were. You can follow the route on Google earth. There were 6 house in all in 2 blocks of three and if you wish I can try and put a photo on for you if interested.
Hope this is helpful.
Anything else needed just let me know
Regards Andy
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Hi Andy and welcome :)
How nice it is to have first-hand information rather than guesswork from afar. :)
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totally off the point :)
Just been out to Skellingthorpe :)
my newphew was putting my car CD player in for me .
that said, I find this topic really interesting, keep sending the imformation, and picture's if possible .
Eilleen.
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Hi Andy,
Thanks for letting us know more about Pyewipe Cottages! Very interesting indeed as my Grandmother was born in those cottages in 1900. My greatgrandfather was an engine driver at the time.
It seems from the 1901 census all the residents at that time were related to the railway. From my research the cottages were built around 1897. Were the cottages as remote as you note then as now, or was their a road prior to the dual carriageway which made access easier? And could you cross the Dyke easily?
It certainly would be great to post a picture here, but I will send you a PM to give you my e-mail
Thanks again
Gerry
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I believe the immediate area of pyewipe was one of those railway pinchpoints where there were at least 3 railway companies within yards of each other, and/or sharing the same tracks through running powers. In this case they are the Midland Railway, the Great Northern, together with the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincoln which became part of the Great Central Railway.
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Hi Gerry
What a daunting thought it is having to give birth in those cottages, especially in 1900. The cottages were remote and I should know as I had to make my way to school in the village and back every day. If you are ok with Google earth i can talk you through how to find it: Type in - 'Ferry Lane Skellingthorpe' and it should take you to a picture with a road in the middle of fields. Move up the road to the crossroads and there is a sewage works that was built about 1967ish. If you were to go straight on, the large buildings at the end is a slaughter house. What a lovely picture i'm painting. Didnt think anything of it when I lived there. Now, back at the cross roads, turn right then follow the road untill you come to what looks like an arrow head just before the dreaded dual carriageway (A46 by-pass). This is where your Grandmother was born.....the cottages, and this is difficult to explain,. If you say you were standing in the middle of the arrow head looking at the dual carriageway and turn 90 degrees left there is a sort of triangle of trees directly ahead flanked by a path on the right. In the middle of the triangle is a clump of darker looking greenery. That is exactly where they were.
If you go back to standing in the arrow head and look right, that is the cycle path I mentioned earlier that was the railway line and if you zoom out you can see where and where to it came and went. If you follow the line of the path past the cottages, under the bypass and you will see an avenue of trees bending round to the right which is obviously the continuation of the railway track. As you start to go round the bend you should see a bulding the other side of the river. This is the Pywipe Inn and if you were to stand at the front of the pub looking directly across the river my Fathers signal box and the railway sidings were in that avenue of trees. In your Grandmothers day you could get across the dyke by a platform with a chap pulling it by a rope. Hence Ferry Lane. I will try and get a photo on the site in case any one else wants to see it.
I best go have a rest now after all that. If you cant make sense of it, let me know.
Regards
Andy
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Hi Geoff E,
Sorry I didn't acknowledge your message yesterday as I just assumed it was Gerry who had answered and I was rushing around a bit.
Your research into the whereabouts of the cottages were spot on.
Just a bit more info for everyone. We were the last family to move out of the houses as my Dad was the signalman and had a job to finish. The other residents had been leaving periodically in the years before as things progressed and the need for staff had diminished, and then with Beeching the Chesterfield to Lincoln line was to be closed. Geoff was right earlier about passenger trains being specials as it was predominately a goods line bringing coal mainly from chesterfield area through to immingham, but I do remember when I was about 8 waiting what seemed days for the Flying Scotsman (4472) to come past on a special excursion. There i was sat on the fence with with my Mum and brother waving away like the railway children and the driver tooting and waving as it went past. My Dad has a photo from 1968 of the John of Gaunt (Britannia class 70012) coming through. Mainly though it was the old decrepit dirty black workhorses pulling freight past what seemed constantly day and night, and as the cottages were only a matter of 40 -50 yards away there was always a rumble going on. I would give anything for those days again though. The field to the north of the cottages was my playground, all to myself.
The road from the sewage works to the cottages was dreadful. It was never maintained and was full of potholes and only wide enough for one car. When we left the cottages stood for quite a while and were a haven for the periods youth and graffiti artists and gradually vandalised and wrecked until they eventually pulled them down and cleared the area. If you go now the area is neatly fenced off like some sort of memorial and apart from the flyover monstrosity is pretty much as was. There is some brickwork where the wall between the cottages path and the field was. My Mum says the land was sold to a London development company for some reason and my parents were offered the property for a small some. Now what they expected my parents to do with it i dont know, and needless to say we moved into the village in 1970. As i said earlier there are two cottages next to the community centre in Skellingthorpe that are copies of the ones that stood at Pyewipe and you can see them on Google street view. Better go, and at some point sort out the photo.
Andy
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As i said earlier there are two cottages next to the community centre in Skellingthorpe that are copies of the ones that stood at Pyewipe and you can see them on Google street view.
These ones? They (and the pair beyond) seem to be the only houses in the area in 1906 http://tinyurl.com/34sa9sr
Thanks for the interesting stories Andy. :)
My childhood was spent just a couple of miles away at Hartsholme. As a trainspotter in the late 50s, I always hoped to be stopped at any level crossing, but I don't think I ever saw a train on that line :(
In the 1980, an auntie and uncle had a house in Skelly that backed onto the railway. I don't suppose trains ever ran on Sundays, so I never saw a train then either :(
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Thanks Andy,
Your directions on Google Earth are excellent and your memories are fascinating.
In fact both my granmother (1900) and my great uncle Edward (1902) were born there. In the 1901 census as well as the my great granparents there were 8 children living there aged up to 14 years old. In the years afterwards the family left to live in Shirebrook.
Thanks again for the reminiscences and if you ever sort out a picture of the cottages I would be interested to see it.
Whenever I am up there again I will certainly have a good look around!
Gerry
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Yes there the ones Geoff. The one in the foreground is the station house and the two beyond are the cottages. Just up the road in the entrance to the community centre there is a little brick shed that would of been railway. Now used as the Skellingthorpe RAF heritage display.
Andy
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Just up the road in the entrance to the community centre there is a little brick shed that would of been railway. Now used as the Skellingthorpe RAF heritage display.
Yes, it looks the sort of building that would have had a weighbridge in the road in front of it, and vehicles (eg coal lorries) leaving and entering the station yard would have been weighed there. http://tinyurl.com/39eyxpp
In fact if you go to http://www.old-maps.co.uk/maps.html
Search Skellingthorpe (click Go)
then change the coordinates to 492800 371800 (click Go)
then select the 1932 1:2000 map and zoom in
you can see the hut and weighbridge in front of it.
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Have a picture of the Flying Scotsman taken at Boutham Junction, snow lying so winter, probably 1963. It hangs in my railway room, along with other souvenirs, including a unique carriage destination board for "Spilsby" Lincs, through coach from King's Cross prior to closure in 1937.
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Have a picture of the Flying Scotsman taken at Boutham Junction, snow lying so winter, probably 1963.
Flying Scotsman was withdrawn by BR in Jan 1963 and would have been in BR livery with double chimney and smoke deflectors at that time. There was virtually no snow in Lincoln that winter. It froze well though!
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I worked at Lincoln from 1962 to 1965, and commuted daily from Boston through that winter!I remember that outside our office doOutside the city there was more snow, and on my photo there was snow lying at Boultham Junction. or, BR Accounts Office St. Marks station a milk bottle had been broken on 23rd December. I reported it to the janitor for clearance, before he could do so it snowed and snowed heavily, the bottle was finally cleared when the thaw came in March 1963. So the snow laid for around 12 weeks and gradually became less as time passed. There was more snow outside the city and when the Scotsman was photographed at Boultham there is snow in the photo. The engine was in BR livery No.60103, with German deflector plates and banjo dome.
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I now must concede that my recollections of that winter are less than perfect. :o I had been under the misapprehension that Lincoln City's Boxing Day fixture had been postponed owing to a frozen pitch. I now discover that Aldershot had been able to reach Lincoln and the match went ahead, Aldershot winning 4-2 :( However the return fixture at Aldershot on the 29th Dec didn't take place.
Flying Scotsman's last run was to Doncaster on Jan 14, leaving Kings Cross at 1.15pm - it appeared to have been cleaned for the occasion. Its smoke deflectors and double chimney had been removed by early February.
Contrary to your earlier assertion, the Midland Railway barely got within a mile of Boultham Junction.
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Geoff, My memory is I fear going ------. The Scotsman photo was in fact taken at Greetwell Junction, now well and truly extinct. You are quite right about the Midland and Boultham, but it was still something of a pinchpoint.
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Roger - You may enjoy this (some Boston stuff towards the bottom) http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.enefer/lincs/lincs.htm
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Just going away from Pyewipe I remember turning left out of Dixon Street in Lincoln onto Lincoln High Street and seeing trains crossing Gowts Bridge which nowadays would be a really really bizarre sight as it was a train crossing overhead on a simple bridge over a completely normal city high street. And the daft thing is I have never researched what it was all about untill you lot have stirred the curiosity in me with all this railway talk. And while i'm at it did you know that Lincoln is the only or one of the few cities where the main railway lines runs through the cenre of the city reguarly frustrating the traffic while the barriers come down and everyone waits for the the train to come through. Not many complaints though when Sir Nigel Gresley or Oliver Cromwell comes in with the Christmas market special in December.
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Ah yes, the "high line" :)
I was born about 60 yards from it (in Scorer Street) and within cheering range of Sincil Bank football ground. I remember on Saturday afternoons the trains creeping along so that the drivers could watch the football.
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Part of the Lincoln avoiding line if my memory serves me, the idea was to reduce some of the rail traffic through Lincoln so reducing the level crossing problems.It ran from Greetwell Junction on the Sleaford side of Lincoln, and rejoined the main line in the area under discussion.Geoff, many thanks indeed for the link to the railways in the Boston area. The Y7 on Boston dock brought back memories of a problem in the early 60s when BR withdrew the J69 class shunters and attempted to replace them with J94 class engines. I was most unpopular when I pointed out the axle loading on the J94 was 18 tons, the maximum loading permitted on the bridge was 15tons! Someone in high places had failed to do their homework. The J69s were of course reprieved for 9 months until replaced by the Diesel shunters D2025 etc.
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:o GerryS you said Shirebrook! Well I was born there and I am also an descendant of Julius A Hindley. His son William was my Great Grandfather. I am relatively new to genealogy and have been reading about the cottages fascinated. So thanks to yourself and Andy. And if ever you have any free time to share some information about the Hindleys I would be most Grateful.
Thank you
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Hi Noisylass
I have done research on the Hindleys and Julius Augustus and his ancestors and descendants. If you do a couple of more postings I can send you a private mail. I look forward to hearing from you again and hope to share some what I have researched.
Gerry
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I` ve just `stumbled` across this site, in my attempts to research the history of the railway in Skellingthorpe.
I live in Skelly and remember the old Pyewipe railway cottages , before the A46 bypass development, removed any trace of them. As has been mentioned, the 2 cottages in the village, next to the station-masters house, and indeed further up the line were all identical to each other.
I`ve been to the NRM at York, Lincoln Archives, and gathered up a number of books written about the railways in Lincolnshire. There is also a Lancs, Derby & East Coast Railway Co society. But try as I might it is proving very difficult to get any photographs of Skellingthorpe station.
I do have a few pics , which I`m trying to compile in to a display in the village, & following the varying comments in this thread has been very useful.
Would any of the thread contributors mind if I make references to your information, & better still ,would anyone have any photographs ( of people or buildings or the trains, that I could use?
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Neil C,
Welcome to Rootschat :)
You will not find a friendlier bunch anywhere :)
Eilleen.
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By all means use any of my contributions to this thread which will help. A bit of mutual help, please post anything you get on this thread, it may well bear further fruit
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Hello from a new member.
I hope anyone who was busy on this thread in 2010 is still watching because I have uploaded a photograph of Railway Cottages near Pyewipe Junction taken just before they were demolished.
My grandfather Henry Edmund Beasant was employed by the Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway as a signalman between 1897 and 1906. In July 1898 he worked at Clifton-on-Trent and his first child was born in South Clifton. His second child was born at Pyewipe/Skellingthorpe in 1899 and finally, in the 1901 census, he was living at Railway Cottages near Bolsover, Chesterfield. According to the GCRS, the cottages along this line were all built to a standard design and this is evident from the attached photographs. I am pretty confident that Henry also lived in the Railway Cottages near Pyewipe Junction in 1899 and I shall be able to confirm this when get the birth certificate.
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Welcome FiremanBill :)
Nice photos!
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For members who, like me, are interested in the LDECR, another fine example of this architecture is to be found at Clifton-on-Trent. Put NCCE004005 into your search engine for a lovely 1955 shot of Clifton Station showing another pair of Railway Cottages behind. This is where my uncle, Henry Beasant's eldest son, was born in 1898.
Link-
http://www.picturethepast.org.uk/frontend.php?action=printdetails&keywords=Ref_No_increment;EQUALS;NCCE004005
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I remember the cottages . just before you reached the railway crossing , there was a turning nothing more than a dirt track actually, by the side of the railway line. the cottages were set back well away from the road. you would not know they existed without prior knowledge.
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there was an isolation / fever hospital on burton rd at one time.
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The photo was presumably during the demolition of the cottages?
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Fantastic photos Fireman Bill, cant believe someone has photos of the cottages or my Dads signal box.If you have
Any more i would be thrilled to see them. As i stated earlier in 2010 i lived at No1 (nearest one in the photo), from 1964 to 1969 and my Dad was the signalman until its closure.
And if you are reading this Neil, you know me better as Jammy. Unfortunately i cant help you either
in your quest to find photos of the Skelly box. I suppose we all took it for granted until we reached a certain age.
I will put a couple of photos on at some point of Pyewipe.
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I`ll second Andy`s thanks to Fireman Bill, and add a pic of the cottages at Skellingthorpe ( i think around late 60`s/early 1970`s).
I thought it may have been you Andy.!.. ...just to say , I`ve gathered up quite a few pics of the station, one way or another, & am trying to get it all together as a permanant display in the village.
We`re still short of anything pre-50`s, if anyone has anything at all to share?
Bill would you agreable to my using these 2 pics of yours in the display ( with full credit/copyrights etc to you) ?
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Isn't it funny how perceptions can change?
Bill's photos show some old houses ready for demolition.
Neil's photo shows someone's home. :-\
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Hi,
About 2 years late but here are some photos of Pywipe cottages and the Pyewipe West Sidings signal box.
1. That me age 4/5 about 1964/5 in front of my Dads Rover 12. The Railway line ran parallel to the cottages at the bottom of the gardens to the right.
2. Me stood in the doorway seen in photo 1. We didnt use this door, we would walk past this door turn right and in the door to the kitchen. Also round the corner was the outside loo (wooden bench, hole, bucket) and shed.
3.This is 'Brittania' class 4-6-2 No 70012 John O'Gaunt passing my Dads signal box which I am fairly sure is an RCTS Special in 1965. Specials came along now and again. The Flying Scotsman came past in, I think 1968.
4. My Dad took this from the top step of his box looking towards Skellingthorpe. The cottages can be seen in the distance perhaps appearing a bit further than they actually were. I used to play war games in and out of the wagons parked in the sidings. Something my Dad never new about as it was strictly a no no.
5.Taken, I assume from a gantry.
6. He took this from the back of his box looking across a field, the Lincoln - Doncaster line and the Fossdyke canal to the Pyewipe Inn.
Hope these are good for you all.
Regards
Andy
P.S. I might have upload photos one by one or two by two, so bear with me.
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3 photos
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3 more photos
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Heres one of the StationMasters house at Skellingthorpe , (taken same time as the cottages, ) all 3 houses are still occupied today.
Struggling to find a decent close-up of the station at Skelly, but further up the line at North Clifton , the Station still exists, , see pics attached. All the village railway stations, cottages & station masters houses , along the L,D & EC Railway were pretty much identical as far as I can tell.
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north clifton
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The Brittania locomotive taken presumably on a Sunday diverted passenger train? 1960 or slightly later.
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The Brittania locomotive taken presumably on a Sunday diverted passenger train? 1960 or slightly later.
It says "an RCTS special" Roger, so need not have been diverted.
:)
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3.This is 'Brittania' class 4-6-2 No 70012 John O'Gaunt passing my Dads signal box which I am fairly sure is an RCTS Special in 1965.
Here is another photo of that special http://www.rcts.org.uk/features/mysteryphotos/show.htm?img=65-041-05
:)
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Hi rootschatters,
As the originator of this topic I have to say a special thank you to everyone, especially those that have sent in photos of the Pyewipe Cottages/ Railway Cottages. When I started this topic I was thinking I would be lucky to find any information but I have exceeded my expectations, now knowing their exact location and seeing photos of the cottages through their life and the surrounding railway and environs. Thank you everyone and if I could single out Andy and FiremanBill for their recent postings of superb and enlightening photos of the cottages. The cottages were a lot bigger than I had in my minds eye.
For the record in the 1901 census (when my ggrandfather lived there) these were listed families:
Skellingthorpe, Railway Cottages (starts at schedule no. 145):
Charles Rudkin, Pumping Engine Driver + wife/ 5 children;
Rueben Rudkin, Plate Layer on Railway + wife/1 child;
Julius A. Hindley, Railway Engine Driver [my gggrandfather] + wife/8 children;
Charles Elliott, Signalman on Railway + wife/1 child;
Fred Spineer (?), Platelayer on Railway + wife/ 2 children; and
Frederick Bircholme (?), Signalman on Railway + wife/ 1 child;
so there we have the 6 cottages of Railway/ Pyewipe Cottages. So a community of 12 adults and 18 children.
Thanks again, and I look forward to future revelations about this gone but not forgotten part of Lincolnshire.
Gerry
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It does indeed say that on the smokebox on a second look Geoff, the route fits so I would be quite certain that's what the train was.
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Lovely to see pictures of the old pyewipe/Skellingthorpe railway, i have been walking down there regularly for the last 25 years. Most of the old railway yards are woods now. It's odd when you see a turntable and old wooden buffers in the middle of a wood, plus old lamp posts where they once stuck gas lamps in. One sad sight is the old canteen the years take there toll on it plus all the vandalism but when i first started going down there it was nice.
There are still lots of reminders from the old railway days down there i know from research it was once a major railway yard it must certainly be able to tell a few stories, i have taken some lovely photos over the years in all seasons.
Really nice to see some pics of it in it's hey day.
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The turntable might be useful to a preservation society!!
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I am surprised the turntable is still there I thought it would be somewhere at a Railway museum.
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Hopefully it will be rescued and used to good effect on a preserved steam railway if it can be made serviceable.
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That would be wonderful Redroger .
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The turntable is all black brick surrounding in a lovely circle and bricks back then had the dates stamped on, but considering it's age is still in nice condition. Various things still remain from the railway days, lots of LNER items, i must admit i have come across some nice things over the years. In the late 80s there was allsorts of things laid about, even railway caps i suppose these have since rotted.
The wooden buffer stop that's left has a few initials and dates carved into it one was 1913!!! The place is not easy to get to at all and has become an overgrown wood but this is not so bad as it protects from vandals a bit as it's so hard to reach. Another thing that is left from long ago is the concrete shed supports running through the wood, it's strange to see unless you know what it once all was.
The canteen is battered now as it is more easy to get to, sad really because it must have been a lovely place to be on a cold winters day. I have lots of photos of the old turntable etc if anyone is interested, not sure how easy it is to upload on here.
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Smithy would you be kind enough to email some to me please ? I can't view pictures posted here. I have a copy of a book about Lincoln Railway written by one of the workers and helped by my Dad . Very interesting I think.
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Yes sure, every year i take a few pics down there throughout the season. Interesting thing about that area is that in each part you find items from a different era, it seems that over time it got smaller and smaller. Lots of fire buckets down there mostly trampled on etc now. Looks like around the turntable and engine shed was the oldest part, all the guards buildings, timekeepers etc building remains are still there. I can honestly say that in 25 years the only thing that really changes down there is that the trees are much larger now.
When i first started going down there i knew a couple of the old guys who either worked there or around there, their dead now sadly but they told me some of the stories and history of the place, certainly was not a dull place. One of the last signalman at pyewipe was a Mr Martin, nice old chap, he's dead now sadly.
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That is amazing and unbelievable it is still there in good condition. Sounds a most enjoyable venture of discovery . The last time I walked around there was in the sixties when visiting at the cottages.
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Sadly the cottages have long gone. I probably walk down there 2 or 3 times a week so over the years have come across different things. I would have liked to have seen it in the 60s. One of the old guys i knew said the canteen did a lovely breakfast (he was a engine driver), i have never seen a picture of the canteen in it's hey day sadly. There are still some old signals down there, red and white ones, lots of LNER insulators 1940s dated. Now when i first started going down there there were lots more items from the railway days but slowly things just disappear. It's surprising how much was left after the main parts of it closed. It's only when you see some of the things there you realise how big the place must have been in it's day.
Odd really there are more LNER items down there than BR. Really was a huge yard in it's day.
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A map of the yard may be seen here. Choose (on the right) the 1932 1:2500 map http://www.old-maps.co.uk/maps.html?coords=495085,372092
:)
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If anyone here is ex diesel shed staff I have a few photos from 50's 60 's 70's . Sadly I don't know who most of them are but remember meeting the older ones as a child. I must see what else I have actually and check the book of memoirs too.
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Not too odd Smithy. Things were and are used on the railway until they are no longer serviceable. "Chairs" which the rail rests in when it is attached to the sleepers are a well known case in point. Much of the rail in Lindsey Oil Refinery was laid in the 1960s on chairs which bore the logo of the MS&LRy. dated to around 1850. So far as I know they are still in service. Locks on "slam door" coaches were often over 100 years old having outlived the original coach they had been installed in. etc. etc. Much of the 3rd rail conductor rail on 3 rail electric systems is over 70 years old. Though technically obsolete and inefficient it is still in service.
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Ah Redroger, that explains that then, most things that turn up down there are LNER. The old fire buckets they were all mostly LNER, just a few BR ones.
Still lots of reminders of it's railway days, back of the turntable you have 4 or 5 inspection pits all about 40 yards long, then there are the large wells. There was a water tower back of the inspection pits but they pulled that down about 5 years ago for some reason or other. Oddest things i have found down there were 40 gallon drums of grease,,full with wooden tops on, and the grease/lube inside looks perfect, wooden tops though they must be donkey years old, lots of BTC crockery mostly broken but a few good ones turn up. Most of the engineering stuff that was used down there is dated from about 1939 up until about 1953.
As i said you don't really get a lot of people down there as it's not east to reach really. But it's former railway days are everywhere.
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One of the old lamps that stands in the old pyewipe goods yard, the actual lamp was in the top of that about 25 years ago when i first went down.
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again the old pyewipe goods yard. Concrete posts are part of the old goods shed.
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The saplings look about the right age to fit with the closure. No sign of vandalism in the photos which is encouraging and suggests the site is really isolated or as I know difficult to reach. Any chance of a picture of the turntable?
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Yes trying to find one, over the years i have put all my photos on disc, so now i have piles of cd discs with family, holidays etc all labelled photos! So having to search through, i'm off down there tomorrow or saturday anyway so will take the camera with me and get some more pics.
As for that area in pictures yes not easy to get to at all, which i suppose is part of the reason it still has some nice items down there. The old buffer stops that date 1913 are made of wooden type sleepers, that looks really strange in the middle of the wood.
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Great Smithy look forward to seeing the results.
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I am very interested in this discussion about the pyewipe as the area was served by the ferry across the Fossdyke at the bottom of Ferry Lane in skellingthorpe. I've found nothing on the internet and Lincolnshire Archive has but two documents which refer to it (one reference: Ferry, private). I lived in skellingthorpe from age 0 to 12 and Ferry lane was a regular walk for us. It is surprising that there is so little information given that the name Ferry Lane persists
I see Linnet 27 identifies the ferryman and I wonder if she or others have more info. Some photos would be lovely. I don't see that it could be a rope or chain ferry as boats would pass so maybe it was a raft and poled across?
My Dad told me that he used the ferry to cycle to school in Lincoln and used to stick out a foot onto a post to stop. Once he missed the post and fell in.
A little more information! The cottage in the photo was Ferry House, Skellingthorpe, taken in 1941. William Bourne was a railway worker and also ran the ferry across the Fosdyke Navigation to the Pyewipe Inn on Saxilby Road.