1927 Aerial Photo of Ham - courtesy of the Britain From Above web site. Features: The road coming in from the bottom left is Sandy Lane (when the Ham end was still a narrow lane) leading up to the Royal Oak pub and two adjoining cottages. The Avenue (Great South Avenue) crosses Sandy Lane and leads to the back gates of Ham House where there is a very wooded area at the rear of Ham House gardens. The rear of the Manor House and its extensive grounds, plus large kitchen garden /orchard is most prominent in the bottom third of the photo. Beyond the Manor House, a section of Ham Street runs from left to right from Newman House (previously Grove House and Grey Court House), and heads northwards (to the right of the photo) towards Ham House & river . At this time, the original (and only) line of Ham Street ran directly past Cut Throat Alley, and then took the ‘dog-leg’ turns before running a straighter line again towards Ham House and the river. Cut Throat Alley (previously Cut Through Alley) can be seen as a white line that connects The Great South Avenue to Ham Street, and on the left side of the Alley is the large kitchen garden /orchard of the Manor House. At the Ham Street end of Cut Throat Alley is a house and other out-buildings which sit facing the alley. Presumably the ancient Mulberry Tree sits behind this house. Large green houses and/or farm buildings also sit adjacent to the dog-leg bends of Ham Street. When the farming land was relinquished and sold off extensive building programmes took place, mainly for Council Housing. Today this scene would show Riverside Drive, Murray Road, Stretton Road, Stuart Road, Woodville Road, etc. A new straighter section of Ham Street was also created post this photograph, and from that the ‘triangle’ area opposite Cut Throat Alley was created. The house and other buildings on the triangle were demolished, and today it is mainly given over to grass. The ancient Mulberry tree survived though, and was encircled by metal railings. Sadly the very old tree died in more recent years, but has been replaced by a new Mulberry tree. The extensive area of orchard along Ham Street, that could be seen marked on the previously posted 1894 OS Map, has dwindled, although some still appears to exist in a smaller area closer to Manor House. Much more of the area seems given over to Market gardening activity. Further up the photo, (which is westwards towards the river and Strawberry Vale beyond) is a very rural scene of managed fields. Between the fields and the river are the gravel pit workings of the Ham River Grit company. Only one water filled pit exists today, and is used by the Thames Young Mariners. NB: To view this photograph, and many others, in their full glory, I recommend joining the Britain From Above site - which is very easy to do, and free(!) - as this then allows one to enlarge the photos and see some great details. Please note that the Britain From Above web site has Copyright and T&Cs for using their photos. britainfromabove.org.uk/image/epw017372?search=EPW017372&ref=0
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 09:50:00 +0000