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Finedon
Finedon maps
Historic maps of Finedon and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Finedon maps
Finedon area books
Displaying 1 of 8 books about Finedon and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Finedon
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Northamptonshire memories
The Rookery
The parade of shops situated on the right was once the site of a large house called The Rookery, we lived at the Rookery from 1956 -1962. This adjoined the old Procea Products factory where my father worked for many years as a lorry driver/mechanic. Procea was famous for making slimming bread. The Rookery was owned by Procea and split into 3 houses, (we lived in the centre house), Jack Thomsons (manager at Procea) had some of the rooms and the Brailsford (dentist) family had the house closest to the factory. Sadly The Rookery was pulled down in the mid-60's. The house was grand with large windows and very high ceilings. Today The Rookery would have been a listed building and saved for future generations to enjoy. The 60's have a lot to answer for in building terms, the shops which now occupy the old Rookery site do nothing for the high street except perhaps making a little more room as the Rookery was situated nearer to the road, even... Read more
The Bull
This scene in 2008 looks almost exactly the same as it did in 1969. Further down (out of sight of this picture) many changes have taken place. George Burton's papershop is now a pizza parlour (didn't even know what a pizza was in the early 60s!). Duncan's Chemist shop (famously made of wood) has been demolished, oh how as a youngster I drooled as I looked in his shop window at those wonderful blue and white striped Dinky toy boxes containing every car and lorry in miniture' Even when we were ill it usually meant a dollop of Lucozade (lovely stuff) from Duncan's. I can still remember the long glass bottle with a screw top and that wonderful transparent amber coloured wrapper which I can still hear to this day! It still amazes me as a feat of advertising and product image that during my childhood Lucozade was meant to aid recovery from illness and yet today it is targeted at fit athletic people. Mr Duncan always wore a crisp,... Read more
The Old Red Lion
I was born in the above pub in 1940. My grandmother Mary Jane Abbot used to run it and there was an old skittle alley in the bar. I was born in the room above it. The pub used to have an old rose garden, an orchard and a small car park, a pet pig [Sally] and I used to help pull the pints aged 3 in the bar. There was an old boy called "Champ" who used to tease me all the time, telling me "You've got your Mam's ribbon on" or some such nonsense. Another esteemed customer was a Mr Fort. My uncle Colin was a fine jazz piano player and played in the pub [where he lived with Mary Jane] until he married in about 1950. The rose garden and the skittle alley have gone now. I used to play in the fields of corn, and we spent Christmas there most years when I was a child. I adored it all and still miss it. A lady... Read more
The Red Lion Isham
We bought our house in 1968, it is almost opposite the Red Lion. The landlord at the time was Mr. Fred Nobles who was my wife's uncle, and we believe he had been landlord from about 1955. The pub still had an orchard at that time with Gents toilets "up the yard". One of the most talked about clients was the Lion from Wellingborough Zoo who visted the pub and stood with his front paws on the bar while partaking of some liquid refreshment. Fred continued as landlord until I think 1978, when the pub was taken over by Mr. P. Stanbrook.
Mrs. Hilda Cheney was still living with her husband Jack in Langton Place, and every washday would walk across the A 509 and hang her washing out on a line on the Motar Pits which was common land.
Life in Wellingborough After The War
My family moved to 121 Midland Road during the winter of 1946 as my father worked in a local paint factory till 1948. There was a huge monkey puzzle tree in the front garden. I was 7 and my sister was 10. We loved that house. We used to belong to the Boots Booklovers library in the town and were allowed to go and change our books on our own. I remember going to the Wellingborough Zoo for special occasions and can still see the polar bear walking to and fro along his cage. We used to collect conkers from the park near our house and give them to our dad for his work, as they needed them to extract the oil for their paint. Our milk was delivered on a horse and cart and poured into jugs at the front door. We kept it in the pantry during the winter and scalded it in the summer, which gave a thick creamy crust for our cornflakes. We had brought a... Read more
I Helped Out at The Zoo
When I was still at school I went and helped out in the evenings and weekends at the zoo and one of my jobs was feeding the penguins.
Boys Swimming at Wilby Lido
From the mid thirties until the building of the new swimming pool in Wellingborough. After the war in the late forties, fifties and sixties, the boys of Wellingborough Grammar School regularly had swimming lessons and their annual swimming gala here. Is this a picture of a swimming lesson?
