Prior to that time the area of Leighton Heath was open Heath Land between the market town of Leighton and the Hamlet of Heath.
Much change had taken place to the area. The Industrial Revolution brought firstly the Grand Union Canal and then importantly the railway.
By the early 1830s the landscape changed with the enclosure act and the end of communial strip farming giving way to the fields we know today.
This was the end of the old rural life that had lasted for centuries.
1901 MAP of HEATH ROAD
The entrance of HEATH PARK HOUSE is on Park Road
OLD GATE STILL SHOWS THE NAME PARK ROAD
TODAY'S ROAD NAME HEATH PARK ROAD
My memories of the house date back to the mid 1960's. At that time I lived in the nearby village of Heath and Reach. I often walked past the house if I missed the School bus home. Strangely I always liked the house. It was different from the others in the road and shouted out its Victorian charm. In those days the plot was much bigger with an eccentric tennis court in front of the house and extensive kitchen gardens to the rear right. I had no idea my family would one day live in the house.
I HAVE DONE SOME RESEARCH ON THE OWNERS OF THE HOUSE
The 1881 census shows that Tom Atterton and his family lived in the house. Tom was an Organ builder with a shop in Leighton High Street.
Records show that many church organs in surrounding churches were built or repaired by him.
Strangely several examples of his work can be found in Sydney Australia
Records show that A J Pain lived in the house in 1919/20
The phone book shows R E Pain from 19933-38
The telephone number was Heath and Reach 30
I can remember a local builder Maurice White living in the house in the late 1960's
I have a piece of stained glass in the summer house with his initials.
We moved into the house in 1985.
Catriona started her Executive B&B about a year later.
We spent over twenty happy years welcoming many guests until her retirement at the end of 2008.
Our lovely house is now our home.
We wish it many years of continuous family life.
No comments:
Post a Comment