Old, and Some New, Photographs of Woodbridge & Melton
In 1975 the Thoroughfare bypass was created by linking Quayside with Lime Kiln Quay Road. In order to reduce the amount of traffic along Cumberland St. it was made one way and the entrance to Cumberland St. was turned through 45 degrees to slow traffic down. To create the space needed to make this change, and to widen the entrance to Station Rd., the pair of back-to-back houses at the junction of Cumberland St. and Station Rd. was demolished.
The photograph on the right shows the changes which had been made. The former entrance to Cumberland St was blocked off with pollards and the short section of the old road which was remained became drop off point. This change also had the advantage of widening pedestrian access to Cumberland St.
The three storey house to the left of altered entrance to Cumberland St. is Hamblin House and it is there that Thomas Churchyard died in 1858.
Groom House, No. 68 Cumberland St., is in the centre of the photograph on the right. It is first recorded in the 1840 Tithe Apportionment. At that time it was the Horse Shoe Inn. By 1874 it is the Horse and Groom and in 1927 it is the Horse and Groom Public House. There is no mention of the building the trade directories for 1937 and it is recording as being a private residence in 1985. The closure of the Horse and Groom left nearby The Cherry Tree Inn, which is on the other side of the road, as the only inn or public house in Cumberland Street.
Nos. 64 and 66 the right of Groom House. There a two modern residential properties set back from the road. They replace two buildings which were nearer the road. No 64 was recorded as being a shop in 1925 and as pork butcher in 1937. Beyond it is a timber framed cottage with red brick cladding. The building beyond it is Fern Cottage which in 1925 was the office of William Brinkley, assessor and collector of taxes. By 1937 it was a private residence.
Phot1209
Thomas Wood created a nursery in 1749 on land which had once been part of the garden of Woodbridge Priory. By 1784 the nursery had been expanded by purchasing a large plot of land abutting Cumberland St. By the entrance to this plot there was a large redbrick building, set back from the road by a large lawn, which became the home of the Woods family. This building can be seen in the recent photograph to the right. In 1840 the nursery was expanded by purchasing the adjoining Cherry Tree Meadows. Most of this land ran alongside Ipswich Road. When the nursery, with its fine, old Georgian house, was put up for auction in 1897 it was bought by Roger Crompton Notcutt of Ipswich. The Notcutt family eventual created a chain of garden centres and nurseries.
The entrance to the Woodbridge Garden Centre is at the end of the line of two storey buildings. In 1925 all these buildings were private residences. They have since all been acquired by Notcutts Ltd. Just beyond the entrance to the garden centre Cumberland St. becomes Ipswich Road.
