Before and After

 

The clock tower when new, with numbers 1 & 2 The Square on the left, and number 3 ‘The Globe’ on the right. The modern view is from June 2008 as the re-development of Abbey End ‘north’ nears completion

 

The frontage of ‘The Globe’ was where the modern exit from the bus lay-by now is

 

The clock tower was the subject of many pre-war photographs making it an easy focal point in modern recreations

Number 4 The Square, Lord Leycester’s Lodge on the right, was very badly damaged and later demolished. Visible above its ridge tiles are the chimnies of number 6 that are still visible today. The raising of the road level has buried the clock tower’s steps

 

 

Perhaps more than any other, this is the picture that shows just how much Abbey End was changed by the land mine

As close as can be estimated, the broken yellow road markings today follow closely the pre-war property boundary. To the left, the modern pavement edge on the other side of the road is several feet behind the pre-war property boundary, but this varies along its length due to its shape

The modern lampost on the left is very similar in height to the building that once occupied the same spot; numbers 7 & 9, ‘Salumin’ and ‘Roseary’

 

These two photographs are from remarkably similar angles.

The upper, probably from the mid-1930s, shows from the left, the entrance to the rear yard of ‘The Globe’, Hanson’s music shop, the entrance to an extensive yard (which has been built over since the photograph of Leycesters Lodge was taken), Mander & Co wine and spirit merchant, and Arthur J Cooke the grocer

The second view was taken c.1960, some 20 years after the explosion. Clearly visible is the missing top of the clock tower, temporary roofing repairs to the wine merchants and grocers, still boarded up windows and the tattered end building where Hanson’s once was

(Upper photograph courtesy Susan Tall, lower photograph courtesy Jim Cooke)