14-Jun-2002, 10:16 PM
Vanessa:
The old Hargreaves family house is (maybe was?) immediately east of the end of the old Mayfield fence that ran along the edge of the sidewalk on Church Road, on top of a dirt bank. At one time, there was no development across the road (where Stokes Hall was) between Beech Avenue and Wellington House, just a number of fields where a farmer kept cows. There was no sidewalk on the Stokes Hall side of the road. Those fields actually reached across to where my grandparents lived at the foot of Crawford Avenue.
I used to deliver papers on the Church Road route for Threlfall's shop at the Cross, and Hargreaves was one of my customers. The house was just about invisible, as the trees in the front garden were very large. As you came up to the slight kink in Church Road, the driveway to the house angled off to the right, then there was a small pedestrian gate a bit further east.
On my last visit, that area was nearly unrecognisable, with both Stokes Hall and Wellington House gone and the Mayfield built on. I don't remember if Beechfields (the big manor house a bit further up towards Balshaw's on the south side of Church Road) was still there or not.
I've told my brother about this site. He's a very busy lad (runs a pub in Plymouth) so I'm not sure if he'll join in. At least I can ask him questions.
Frank Damp
The old Hargreaves family house is (maybe was?) immediately east of the end of the old Mayfield fence that ran along the edge of the sidewalk on Church Road, on top of a dirt bank. At one time, there was no development across the road (where Stokes Hall was) between Beech Avenue and Wellington House, just a number of fields where a farmer kept cows. There was no sidewalk on the Stokes Hall side of the road. Those fields actually reached across to where my grandparents lived at the foot of Crawford Avenue.
I used to deliver papers on the Church Road route for Threlfall's shop at the Cross, and Hargreaves was one of my customers. The house was just about invisible, as the trees in the front garden were very large. As you came up to the slight kink in Church Road, the driveway to the house angled off to the right, then there was a small pedestrian gate a bit further east.
On my last visit, that area was nearly unrecognisable, with both Stokes Hall and Wellington House gone and the Mayfield built on. I don't remember if Beechfields (the big manor house a bit further up towards Balshaw's on the south side of Church Road) was still there or not.
I've told my brother about this site. He's a very busy lad (runs a pub in Plymouth) so I'm not sure if he'll join in. At least I can ask him questions.
Frank Damp
Frank Damp (wife Eileen, nee Nixon)
Leyland resident 1941-1965, emigrated to the US in 1968,
retired to Anacortes, Washington State, USA in 1999.
Leyland resident 1941-1965, emigrated to the US in 1968,
retired to Anacortes, Washington State, USA in 1999.