RIGHT ROYAL BRIGG STREET WITH A RAILWAY REFRESHMENT STOP

The history of Albert Street, Brigg, is an interesting one, including links with the coming of the railway and the onset of the home video era. It was also, for some decades, the only B-road in the town - just ranking below the A18 and the A1084 in terms of highway importance.
Queen Victoria's husband Albert - the Prince Consort - died in 1861 and was honoured in the era of the Brigg Local Board by having this street after him. That decade saw a major review of street names in the town.
Albert Street formed part of a major extension of Brigg in the mid-19th century - its first sturdy properties being aimed at lower middle class and middle class families, apparently.
The railway station close by was opened in 1848 by the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway, and the Railway Inn, on Albert Street, was recorded as being open to thirsty travellers in 1850. Many hostelries were built near new stations across the UK - Barnetby eventually having two to mark its status as North Lincolnshire's largest, in terms of platforms and lines served.
But can anyone today help to pinpoint our Railway Inn's exact location?
 

Could it, perhaps, have been Eastfield (pictured above) - the attractive detached property at the town centre end of Albert Street, which is now occupied by DDM Agricultural?
Pictured here, it was used as offices by the Bains solicitors' practice for many years.
Or was the Railway Inn located in one of the nearby properties at the top end of Albert Street which are now in residential use?
When video recorders became available in the 1970s and 1980s at prices that ordinary townsfolk could afford, Alan and Carl Capp's shop on Albert Street sold, and also set up, many of them in Brigg households. The former shop has since been converted back to purely residential use.
Albert Street remains a through road for traffic today, but this was reduced considerably in the early 1990s when the new Barnard Avenue A18 inner-relief road made Bigby Road to the Monument roundabout the direct route for vehicles approaching Brigg from the Bigby High Road and Caistor direction (A1084). Today's Bigby Street only leads to Cadney via Elwes Street, although some motorists use it to access the car park behind the Angel.
However, from at least the early 1920s, Albert Street was the B1199 because it connected the Caistor road with Bigby Street near the Post Office. Traffic that was heading west then continued through the Market Place and over the County Bridge.
When exactly Albert Street was downgraded back to being an 'unclassified' road is unclear. Did the B1199 remain until the relief road opened?
Albert Street is now residential - mostly privately-owned properties but also including the Southfield House and Clarence House care homes, and the Tennyson Court sheltered accommodation at the Caistor end, close to the junction with Bigby Road. The current Tennyson building replaced an original one from the early 1970s.
 

Midway along this tree-adorned road is New Street - Brigg's smallest and shortest with only three properties. It links Albert Street with Bigby Road and Princes Street.
Albert Street is on the edge of the Brigg Conservation Area. However, it does not boast the extensive range of listed buildings that prevail in other streets within the protected zone.
Behind Albert Street are commercial units with vehicular access suitable for sizeable vehicles. Rowbottom's engineering business - facing Station Road - was based here for many years.
We have featured Albert Street today at the request of a former resident who says he likes to keep in touch with Brigg events by reading this blog. He had read our previous features about the changing face of other town streets. Below are links to those that have appeared so far. This series is proving popular, judging from the site-viewing statistics, inspiring us to 'pen' some others as time permits
Queen Street...
Glebe Road...
Elwes Street...
Bridge Street - County Bridge to the A18 junction with Bridge Street...
Cary Lane...
 

Point House, with Albert Street to the left and Bigby Road on the right.

The top end of Albert Street - nearest to the town centre.

Clarence House, centre.

Southfield House care home.

Tennyson Court.

A distinctive row of terraced properties on Albert Street.