1905 Broompark Road pictured from Main Street (PV)

Let me take you to 1905. To Broompark Road. Pictured here from the junction of Main Street is a rural scene looking to the North West down Broompark Road.

Let’s first get our bearings in a modern context, as the buildings on the right and the wall is now gone. The layout of the road is still the same and the houses in the background bar the entrance to Kirkton Park are still there. The stone wall is now Ally Bally Bees Nursery and the Motor Garage. The buildings are now the Carpark for the Nursery. Directly across the road from this out the picture to the left would be Swinfen Dentists and Blakelys Pub.

Back in 1905, a flat capped boy holds parcels whilst out on errands. Next to him a toddler, barefoot, despite the rather rough looking pavement. Behind him, an elderly Victorian lady looks for her keys in her bag. A gentleman stands with his pipe posing for the photographer next to a group of children of varying ages. The road is unsurfaced and covered in horse “dung”. An entrance through the 8 foot wall leads into the Broompark Quoiting Green. The wall ran all down Broompark Road (according to map of this era), behind the treelike, the expansive fields of Broompark Farm. Perhaps the wall was so tall, to keep people from stealing the farm potatoes or produce? A horse and cart in the distance compliments this scene.

Today, it looks very different and I think I know which era looks more idyllic.