Old, and Some New, Photographs of Woodbridge & Melton
Watsham and Wildings Garage was established in 1900s. They originally occupied two old cottages that were converted into a garage. Following a fire during the Second World War a flat roofed building was erected and the garage operated there until the business closed in 1958. For some time after Deben Garage used it for a hire and used car business. From 1979 the first floor was used as offices by the Woodbridge Timber Company. This timber importing firm moved to the Thoroughfare in 1984.
Below these buildings, on the site of the former brewery, there was a large three storey warehouse which abutted Station Rd. The building had been used by the Suffolk Seed Company.
In 1992 the builders Ingram Smith started to convert the above building into Cumberland Mews. On Cumberland Street four town houses were built. These three storey houses have features which reflect those of the buildings on either side of them.
Behind the three storey houses there are 14 smaller terraced houses built round a paved courtyard. Vehicular access to the courtyard is from Station Road.
To the left of the rear entrance to the courtyard there is a three storey apartment block which matches that of the warehouse which used to be on the site.
The building to the right of the rear entrance to the courtyard pre dates the building of Cumberland Mews.
A fire engine station was erected towards the end of Cumberland Street in 1855. It was just below the two houses which had been given to the town, by William Bearman in 1661, "for the use of the poor". The fire engine station, the two houses and a adjoining plot of land were called the Town Lands. A photograph of the fire engine station and the two houses is on the right.
Before the fire station had been built the two manual fire engines were stored at the base of the church tower. During the Second World War the National Fire Service erected a larger fire station on Deben Road. This building was only of temporary construction and in 1961 the brigade moved to the new location in Theatre Street.
Sometime after 1927 the rest of the Town Lands were used as a yard by the Town's Surveyor. During the Second World War the land was used by the Civil Defence. The land was then rented to the NHS and it was used for the Woodbridge Health Clinic. It was at that time that the two houses given to the town, by William Bearman, in 1661 were demolished and the vacated sites were incorporated with the land rented to the NHS.
In 1960 the Poor's Houses Charity was set up and was endowed with the town lands. The old fire station was sold by the Trust in 1964. After the NHS moved out in 1996, the rest of the land was sold for housing development and the proceeds went to the Poor's Houses Charity.
After the all buildings on the former Woodbridge Health Clinic were demolished and four houses were built on the site.
This pair of back-to-back houses at the junction of Cumberland St. and Station Rd were demolished in order to widen the entrance to Station Rd. Further road widening of Station Rd, and an extension of Quayside to join up with the bottom of Lime Kiln Quay Rd., were required to the create the Throughfare Bypass. This work was completed by 1975.
Just beyond the junction with Station Road there Westholm, a large house which was built in the early 19th century. Westholme abutted Cumberland Street and had an extensive garden which included a lake. In 1970s the house was was subdivided into three and each part was allocated a small garden.
Subsequently The Housing Association built thirty-four retirement homes on most of the rest of the original garden. These houses were along Morely Avenue which is off Kinston Way. What was left of the original garden was used to create a small public garden along Cumberland Street. A path through the garden lead to Morely Avenue.
Westholm is not very attractive when seen from Cumberland St. because it is 3ft below the road. The other side of the house had a magnificent vista but much of this is now lost because of the hedge abutting the retirement homes.
The pair of yellow cottages mark the end of Cumberland St. Beyond them is the entrance way to the Cherry Tree Inn, the only remaining public house on Cumberland St. There is a dilapidated building between the cottages and the Inn. It has been suggested that this building was an old smithy.
