House for sale

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to go to a postcard fair with my youngest who was home from university for the weekend. I've been to these affairs before, but I think he was a bit surprised at the sheer number of postcards - and cigarette cards, tea cards, first day covers, books, maps, ephemera, coins, medals - on offer! 

So, we spend a happy morning leafing through postcard after postcard after postcard, and I will admit to buying a couple! What I also got were a couple of old Loughborough Echos. Yes, I know they're available in the public library, but he chance to own a couple of issues of my own was far to much to miss, so I came home with some from 1945 and 1954. 

I've only just had a chance to look through the 1954 issue and was reminded that in those days the front cover wasn't the place for the big splashy headline, but more the place for the small ads, those selling anything and everything, including houses and land. There were a couple of things that caught my eye: Shakespear McTurk and Graham was one of them. When I bought my first house (Oxford Street), SMcTG were the firm who surveyed it, and were based in the left-hand side of the Echo Offices building on Swan Street. Other familiar included: W. Pennington - they were the agents who I bought my first house from (anyone else remember Mr Lee from Yorkshire?). Gartons were also on the front page of this issue of the Echo (should I admit we used to call them snotrags?!) as were Armstrongs. Familiar also were Adkinson and Freckleton, based as now at the start of Leicester Road. 

The unfamiliar names included Cumberlands (auctioneers and estate agents on Church Gate), and Walker, Walton & Hanson, but on closer inspection they were based in Nottingham, so it's unlikely I'd have recognised the name.

I was particularly taken by Adkinson and Freckleton who were selling a modern semi-detached residence on Middleton Place, which had 2 reception rooms, 3 bedrooms and modern half-tiled bathroom, as well as a garden and coal store. Thinking about this, I'm supposing this was either number 71 or 73, being a pair of semis constructed between 1941 and 1945. 

Adkinson & Freckleton, property for sale in Middleton Place

The other thing that jumped out at me was the W. & F. Armstrong advert for a well built villa residence on Middleton Place containing and entrance hall, drawing room with bay window, dining room, breakfast room, kitchen fitted with a deep sink with hot and cold water, a pantry, 4 double bedrooms, bathroom with hot and cold water and toilet. There was also an outside toilet, coalhouse, shed, and a well laid out garden. Now, I can't quite work out which property this was! Might have been any of numbers, 3-13, 53-59, 61-67, 77-83, 85 or 87, all of which were built between 1885 and 1901.

W. & F. Armstrong, property for sale in Middleton Place

Of course, there were 101 other things of interest in this Loughborough Echo of Friday, January 15th, 1954, but they will have to wait for another day!

For other information on Middleton Place, and connections please see earlier posts: Spotlight On, Victorian House Plaques, A Society Wedding, Red White or Green Maybe?. 

You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follow:

Dyer, Lynne (2018). House for sale. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2018/02/house-for-sale.html  [Accessed 25 February 2018]

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Lynne