Day 12 of Rosalilium's blog every day in November challenge
Your Hometown
(Tell us about your hometown. Maybe a city tour? Some photos or a video maybe? What are the top places you'd recommend? Or maybe tell us why it's special to you? Or your favourite memory.)
My hometown isn't actually the town I grew up in; when I met Andrew I moved 20 miles away to his hometown and it's where I've lived for the last 6 years. I'm not sure whether only 6 years qualifies me to call it my hometown just yet but it certainly feels like home.
Andrew's family have lived in the local area for over 150 years; there's even a lane named after his great grandfather who ran a general store there for several years. The townspeople used to say about going up to "Langley's shop" and gradually it became known as 'Langley's Lane'.
(It's missing an apostrophe though, think I need to get there with a black marker pen...)
It's a town which has seen huge changes over the last 100 years - up to the 1960s it had two main railway lines (a victim of the Dr Beeching cuts) and was founded on the coal mining industry with the printing industry being the main employer in the 60s and 70s.
Nowdays it serves as a commuter town for Bath and Bristol with most industry having left the town and houses slowly taking over instead.
Here's a few pictures of our local area - what it looked like then and what it looks like now.
Taken in 1996, the picture above shows the countryside and the colliery waste heap on the left.
The pic nowdays has a small trading estate with the waste heap obscured by trees.
A pretty big change from 1996, involving a roundabout and a Tesco superstore - the tree line on the left hand side is still the same though, albeit more overgrown!
Another pic from 2005, the printing works had begun to be demolished meaning you could see the countryside for the first time in years. All covered in houses now though!
What about you?
How much has the area changed where you live?
My hometown isn't actually the town I grew up in; when I met Andrew I moved 20 miles away to his hometown and it's where I've lived for the last 6 years. I'm not sure whether only 6 years qualifies me to call it my hometown just yet but it certainly feels like home.
Andrew's family have lived in the local area for over 150 years; there's even a lane named after his great grandfather who ran a general store there for several years. The townspeople used to say about going up to "Langley's shop" and gradually it became known as 'Langley's Lane'.
It's a town which has seen huge changes over the last 100 years - up to the 1960s it had two main railway lines (a victim of the Dr Beeching cuts) and was founded on the coal mining industry with the printing industry being the main employer in the 60s and 70s.
Nowdays it serves as a commuter town for Bath and Bristol with most industry having left the town and houses slowly taking over instead.
Here's a few pictures of our local area - what it looked like then and what it looks like now.
The view above was taken in 2005, with the large printing works ahead.
The view might be much nicer nowdays; it's just a shame so many jobs had to be lost to get it.
The pic nowdays has a small trading estate with the waste heap obscured by trees.
Probably the biggest change; in 1996 you could see fields and the town, nowdays just trees and the Tesco car park.
Almost unrecognisable, in 1996 there was a staggered crossroads and now there's a busy roundabout, a housing estate and the road's been altered to become straighter.
What about you?
How much has the area changed where you live?
The photos are fascinating. I love to see how an urban landscape changes.
ReplyDeleteIt is really interesting to see it changing over time - sometimes for the better and sometimes for worse. x
DeleteIt's amazing to see how things have changed - or not at all like the first one.
ReplyDeleteI know, sometime the changes are really different and sometime there's no much difference at all! :-) x
DeleteI just love how you did this post with the before and after - certainly makes you notice the changes. Your hometown looks and sounds very much like my old Yorkshire background, a somewhat sleepy rural town and then 2000's change and it was all housing estates and a Tesco. We also had a very busy train line (ran between York and Hull) that was cut due to Beeching, I don't think the town ever recovered.
ReplyDeleteThanks Rachael! It was quite good fun going round trying to stand in the same places as years ago and see the changes.
DeleteI think where I live has definitely suffered since the Beeching axe - the town high street used to cover a huge area and nowdays it's only one street. It's such a shame so many places have gone downhill. x
This is fascinating, to see how quickly things have changed.
ReplyDeleteI know; if I's have included pictures from 50 years ago, the changes would be even more noticable. :-) x
DeleteThis is such a fun feature, what a fascinating insight into your hometown. So interesting how it's changed - I love that photo of the row of trees that remains the same but now faces a Tesco superstore. That's nice that it feels like home for you. My boyfriend and I moved halfway between both of our hometowns to live together and it doesn't quite feel like home yet. xo
ReplyDeleteRosie | A Rosie Outlook
Thank Rosie! We considered moving to a town halfway between each of our childhood homes but in the end agreed that I'd move to my other half's - hopefully where you live will feel like home soon :-) x
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