Houghton Regis’s Dog Kennel walk in better days
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
WITH the attractive Dog Kennel Path very much in the news, for all the wrong reasons, now might be an appropriate time to publish this old, undated, photo taken from the path looking across the fields towards Houghton Regis.
The path runs from High Street North, Dunstable, alongside Grove House Gardens, to Houghton Regis Green.
It’s called Dog Kennel Path because at one time the hounds of the local hunt were kennelled near the green.
This Yesteryear photo is a much-enlarged version of a snapshot in an album assembled by two pioneering amateur photographers – Frank Eyre and his daughter Bertha. It shows, in the foreground, a horse-drawn cart gathering hay.
It has taken a considerable time to identify the location, but the crucial clue is the large house, now painted white, with six upper-storey windows, shown just above the cart in the old photo.
This is clearly what is now 55, 57 and 59 Cemetery Road. Mrs Stephanie James, who lives at number 59, says her house was built in about 1901/2.
There is now the Orchard Close children’s playground on what was once one of the fields around Townsend Farm.
Houses and bungalows have been built on the allotments seen on the left of the old photo.
The Townsend industrial estate would now be beyond the left of the picture. The distinctive shape of All Saints Church can be seen on the horizon, on the left of both photos.
The colour photo was taken last week from almost the identical spot, although trees now obscure most of the view of Houghton Hall park on the right-hand side.
> Yesteryear is compiled by John Buckledee, chairman of Dunstable and District Local History Society
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Bedford
Tuesday 21 May 2013
Today
Light rain
Temperature: 8 C to 14 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 3 C to 15 C
Wind Speed: 21 mph
Wind direction: North west
