Pyewipe Cottages or Railway Cottages, Skellingthorpe

[Redroger]

A large part of western Boston, Lincs did not get mains sewerage until the early 1960s!

[GerryS]

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

[AndyPick]

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

[Geoff-E]

Hi Andy and welcome

How nice it is to have first-hand information rather than guesswork from afar.

[Eilleen]

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.

[GerryS]

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

[Redroger]

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.

[AndyPick]

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

[AndyPick]

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