Bridge House

The Staceys lived in a cottage in Ravenfield which was next to the school house.  You can see them standing outside the house in my page header.  When the railway came to Ravenfield in the first decade of the 20th century the cottage became known as Bridge House.

This is a postcard  showing the cottage before the railway arrived.  The bridge crossed the road at the end where the trees are.  Must be Staceys standing at the gate but who I do not know.

I do not have a picture of the   railway bridge  but found a website with one.  Tried to contact the site owner for a copy but their address is no longer current so have linked to the website.  It must have spoilt the peace of such a small village to have a railway going through and especially for the Staceys living so near.  Would it have been granted planning permission today?

Below is a picture I took in 2006 of Bridge house from the same aspect, without Bridge again as it was demolished at sometime, maybe in the 1960s with the "Beeching Cuts"

Ravenfield is still a small village and has been winner of Britain in Bloom competition.  There are more photographs and information on the Old Ravenfield website.

One of my distant cousins sent me copies of old postcards of Ravenfield dated around 1906 and each one was accompanied by a description written in 1978 by a Mr G E Osborn who was a resident there.

This is a view of Bridge House from the other side.  I am sure the Staceys are standing outside on this one.  If you enlarge the picture by clicking on it you will see who I think is John on the right and Mary standing in the road with her hand on her hip.  Don't know who the very pregnant lady is or the children.  Below is a copy of the description supplied by Mr Osborn. 

Below is a picture of Bridge House that I took in 2002

This is a picture of the Old School House, mentioned above, that I took in 2006.  Today this house is for sale for £360,000.  Pity it is too far away as it looks like a very nice house from the estate agent's description. Wouldn't it be great to live next door to the house where your ancestors lived and in such a lovely small village.  (Population about 2000 now)