Steve Allcock
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Posts posted by Steve Allcock
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@The Pianoman You couldn't have driven up the lane in my photo as this is only a bridlepath/service road and is closed both ends to traffic (unless you are Severn Trent and have a key). Basically from Turkey Fields Farm, drive over the M1 bridge, turn right into Strelley Village, go past the church and after 100 yards the road bends sharply to the left. Park on this corner (there's plenty of parking room), walk past the barrier and about 200 yards along the bridlepath and there's a gate on the right saying 'Private' (this is owned by Severn Trent as a road leading to the reservoir). This gate is now shown on the photo I posted (top right). There's no problem going through this gate as the lane is used all the time by dog-walkers like myself. Walk to the end of the lane (another 200 yards) and there's a cattle grid with an old wooden gate. If you go up to this gate and look over a few yards slightly to the right, you'll notice that the colour and vegetation of the ground is different to the rest of the field. This is where the old farm stood (I think). Good luck.
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Bingo! Thanks for your help Cliff Ton.
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Hi Cliff Ton. I used the site recommended, joined Imgur and added the Imgur link to my previous post but it only added the link and not the photo. Is this how the nottsalgia forum site works or is there a way of displaying the photo onto the site instead of just a link? Appreciate your time.
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Thank you Cliff Ton. Which is the one you recommend and, once uploaded, what will I need to do to attach the image to this site?
Shame the restriction of uploading direct is so low. Would be so easy.
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Would like to provide an image but 52kb allowance is stupidly low???
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Hi @Fleursmith and @radfordred. I haven't gone away. I just don't look at this site too often that's all.
Fleur, re you comments about your family leaving Catstone Hill Farm in 1963, this date ties in perfectly with the family my Dad knew who I think moved in around 1964. I'm sure it must have been a short/temporary arrangement because not too long after the farm buildings were demolished to make way for the building of the reservoir. If my memory serves me correctly the people who moved in were called 'Haynes', the same name as the family who live in nearby Spring Farm (maybe a coincidence?). To find where the farmhouse was you need to enter Strelley lane bridlepath from Strelley Main Street (you'll need to park your car at the entrance to the bridlepath), walk about 200 yards and there's a gate on the right saying 'Private' (this is owned by Severn Trent as a road leading to the reservoir). There's no problem going through this gate as the lane is used all the time by dog-walkers like myself. Walk to the end of the lane (another 200 yards) and there's a cattle grid with an old wooden gate. If you go up to this gate and look over a few yards slightly to the right, you'll notice that the colour and vegetation of the ground is different to the rest of the field. This is where the old farm stood. I still walk within feet of these foundations twice a day when walking my Weimaraner dog and, although the hedge has been regrown/redirected, you can still see the old gateposts to the farm either side of the field (you really need to look hard to find though).
@radfordred - if you're up there on a bike ride and see me with my grey ghost (Weimaraner), please stop and say hello.
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Interesting times indeed Shirley. Catstone Hill Farm would definitely not have had a phone in the mid 60s. As I said, I would be surprised if they had electricity (or even mains water). I think you may be referring to Spring Farm (off Trowell Road) owned by the Haynes family but recently sold at the end of 2018. Strelley and the surrounding areas was such a great adventureland for us as children back then. Even finding and entering all the old mine shaft openings (so dangerous and now all filled and covered up). There are still old reminders of an age long gone out there still but you have to know where to look. I'm walking my dog for over two hours a day through the area so feel I know the place really well. It's so entrenched in history.
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Hi, I have some scant information about Catstone Hill Farm. I'm unsure whether it will help but here goes... I have lived in the area all my life and still to this day walk my Weimaraner past the location of the farm twice a day. My recollection of the actual farm was way back in the mid-1960s. My father was a long-distance lorry driver for a furniture company called Gimson & Slater and one of his fellow drivers, called Norman, retired and went to live at Catstone Hill Farm with his wife and disabled daughter. I presume it must have been a 'tied cottage' because he definitely didn't own the farm. I'm guessing I must have was about 10 years old at the time so every trip my Dad made to visit his old friend was an adventure for me. I always took a mate and a football and we used to take the short walk to the M1 which was built (but not yet in use) to have a kick around on the tarmac. Anyway, back to the farm, I remember it being an old scruffy ramshackle building surrounded by dirty disheveled barns. I'm not even sure it had electricity (which may have been the reason he got the place because he certainly didn't have a lot of money). He didn't keep any livestock other than chickens which were wandering all around the yard in front of the farmhouse. I remember him always complaining that the local fox was always taking more of his share of the chickens. In the back of my mind I have a feeling that he may have been looking after the farm up to the point it was to be demolished. I'm guessing it was demolished to make way for the Catstone Hill reservoir built next to the farm on top of the hill. A lot was going on in this area around this time including the removal of the quarry (about 200 yards to the South). We called this 'Sandy banks' and had hours of fun as schoolchildren there. I believe it was filled in with tons old bricks taken from the demolition of the terraced houses in St Anne's. Some of the bricks are coming back up to the surface if you walk along Strelley Lane bridleway (from Bilborough Road to Strelley Main Street). These can be serious trip hazards, especially in the dark. One of the sad parts of the groundwork is that the actual 'catstone' from the druids bowl on the hill was supposed to have been knocked down and accidentally buried amongst the rubble. Whether this is fact or hearsay I'm afraid I don't know. Hope this helps.
Catstone Hill Farm, Strelley
in HELP NEEDED!
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Excellent! The old map confirms the exact location of the farm I provided on my aerial view posted previously. Good find. To the right of the farm on your map you can also see the old 'Sandybanks Quarry' as we called it (marked 'Sand Pit'). This was filled in using bricks and debris from the St. Ann's Housing Estate clearance around 1969/70. As kids we had hours of after-school fun playing in the old disused quarry. Imagine the H+S officialdom that would exist today to prevent access to the site. If you climb to the top of the hill here you can still find the original Catstone boulders (made up of conglomerate rock). These are placed in a circle surrounding a bowl shaped depression on the hill - apparently the name 'Catstone' could be a corruption of cap-stone. I've also heard locally that the keystone of the circle was accidentally buried when filling the quarry. I'm not an historian but I know the circle is supposedly ancient and to this day attracts Druids to it, especially during the equinox. all very interesting.