First of the pictures handed to me, and a common one seen around the village, but rescanned with very high quality modern equipment brings more details to the fore.

The picture above is labelled "Grafton 1850".  I dont have any evidence for this, but I have rescanned it aand some more details have emerged. It has been pointed out to me that the house on the left was built in 18  which clearly dates the photo after that.
The building in the background on the right is clearly signed "Shoulder of Mutton", this being Graftons long gone Pub.
The young man in the centre of the picture is walking down the hill to the left as we look at him and appears to be walking away from what is a parked bicycle left in the middle of the road. Further up there is plenty of evidence of village life in full swing, including chickens roaming free on the viillage roads.
The roads are unmetalled: certainly an intersting challenge on cold wet winter mornings!
Surprising (for me at least) the roads are very wide with, unlike today, clear footpaths running between the houses and the road.
One very obvious feature which becomes more and more apparant as we look at these old pictures is how the modern gardens and trees encroach on the open aspect of the village: the buildings on the right  on the old picture are very clear, but on the modern one are entirely obscured by trees.
Below is the modern view for comparison, and below that, for my own amusement, I have merged the old with the new. The effects are somewhat eerie, especially where the ghostly figures of these long dead village children appear.......

 

The next series of pictures are of Ivy House
Ivy house started life in approximately 1640 as a farmworkers cottage. The house would have been 2 celled with a rear outshot staircase leading up  to 2 dormer style bedrooms under a thatched or rough tiled roof.

This picture shows an empty Ivy House.
The garden at the front  of the house is overgrown, the windows appear broken and there is an air of neglect. I am told that the house was empty for some time during the late 1960's to the late 1970's: could this picture have been taken then? If anyone can offer any suggestions please use the 'contact me' page to offer suggestions.

This is a painting, date unknown, copied from the 1912 photograph.

 









This is another date unknown picture: there are telegraph poles cleary visible, and the road is made up: 1950?

Here is the Daniel family outside Ivy House ~1910. The old chap 3rd from left is Mr J Daniel, the tenant farmer, and grandfather of our own Billy Daniels ho still lives in the village, and who kindly lent me this picture.

 

The village was sold off in lots in 1912 for and on behalf of the Masey-Thompsons, the owners, who lived in Kirby Hall. This was the picture taken for plot 12, Ivy House.
Note the only entrance into the Farm is through the small gate still to be seen today. I am assuming that the young lady perched on the wall wasn't included in the sale!
Note also that the roads are not made up, and are just dirt tracks.
This picture well illustrates the open nature of the village in past times, and also gives good views of Dew House, Ivy Farmhouse and what is today Dew Farm Barn

This final picture of Ivy House was taken in the late 19th or early 20th century, as evidenced by the unmade state of the roads.  Interestingly it shows the corner of the cottage that stood where the green next to the shop is now.

 

 

The Hunt, early 20th century

 

 

 

1400 AD

1833

1870

From the South East, 1870