Saturday, January 11, 2020

BIRD'S EYE PICTURE SHOWS BRIGG 60 YEARS AGO INCLUDING PUBS AND GRAMMAR SCHOOL


Here's an interesting bird's eye picture of Brigg probably dating from the mid/late 1960s  or possibly the very early 1970s.
The railway line runs left to right across the top of the picture, with the large goods depot evident, together with the station which has its full range of buildings still intact. Sadly, they were all removed long ago.
Other buildings of interest in the centre of the picture that are still present today include the Britannia Inn, the Queen's Arms (later The Fish Inn and The Vines) and also Ks Korner Cafe (now the China Garden takeaway).
The former workhouse buildings can be seen, centre left, near the tall chimney, plus Glanford Hospital (now on Health Place).
Horse Fair Paddock was yet to be utilised for housing and can be seen in the centre of this view, with the cinema adjoining. 'Brigg Pictures' closed in the mid-1960s but demolition was far from immediate.
A similar picture to this, taken today, would show the A18 inner relief road cutting a swathe through this part of the town, from bottom right. Built in the early 1990s, it resulted in the removal of several properties.
Returning to the 1960s image, we can see the Monument roundabout towards the top left, with Sass's extensive garage and Cordock's shop building still in place between the two front sections of the motoring business.
The lower portion of the picture shows part of Brigg Grammar School, including most of the Victorian boarding house.
Note the grass tennis courts and the garden used to grow vegetables for the table when boys still lived in the dormitories and occupied the common rooms of School House.
Buildings on the edge of the school field (bottom left) include the brick-built canteen (dating from the 1890s), the cricket pavilion (late 1920s), a wooden building used by the Scouts and for equipment storage, and another nearby that provided a base for resident groundsman Stan Beedham.

2 comments:

Ken Harrison said...

Despite the mention of the tennis courts and the cricket pavilion, Nige....the notion that the fields surrounding the grammar school were used as a sports field, the reality is that for most of their existence, the fields were used as grazing for the heardmaster's cows and sheep.

NIGEL FISHER said...

That's a MOO-T point, Ken!