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I came across this photo of Woodthorpe Grange. Difficult to date it because the place has hardly changed for many years, but in close-up you can see people sitting outside and it appears to be 1940s - 50s. At some stage was it something like a nursing home ? 

woodthorpe_zps8erv3gbj.jpg

 

woodthorpeclose_zps3794vwk8.jpg

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Can't see anything mentioning its use . In 1928 there was a lot of discussion to making it a council school for boys but doesn't look like that happened .

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The coach built pram in the lower photo looks like the one we used to have for my eldest son.  It was given to us by my brother after his 3 children had finished with it.  If that was the case it would be in the 60s when the photo was taken.  The woman/girl next to the pram might be me as I used to take him in the park often when we visited my parents!!  I tried to enlarge it but it looks a bit blurred then.  

(I might be a bit blurred NOW - certainly feel like it sometimes - but I certainly wasn't in the sixties! )

I never heard of the house being an old person's home at any point but of course I might be wrong.  I remember they served soft drinks and ice cream there when I was young.  

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Was this somewhere near The Ewing School For The Deaf? I recall going there several times during the early 70s with the Junior Red Cross to help out at what was possibly their annual fete. We had our own Junior Red Cross detachment at the Manning School and it was run by a Miss Kathleen Barrow who lived at 1 Trevose Gardens which, I believe, was more or less opposite the Ewing School and ran alongside Woodthorpe Park. Presumably, Miss Barrow, who would then have been in her 60s, knew someone in authority at the Ewing School and offered the services of her Red Cross girls to help out with these events.

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The big  house is actually at the upper end of the park (Woodthorpe Grange). The School for the Deaf was on Mansfield Road and the entrance was opposite the lower end of Woodthorpe  Drive.  Trevose Gardens is just a little bit further along towards Sherwood and yes, it does run by the park for a short way - on the opposite side to Woodthorpe Drive.

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The cellars of the old place were used as Football changing rooms when I played up there in the 70s.........sloping pitches,always seemed windy and the soil was heavy 'clay like' on ya boots.......ex wife used to hate cleaning em after.............

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I remember seeing the  train run - was it for the last time?  Can't remember the year.  I stood on the bridge on Woodthorpe  Drive with my mum as it went underneath us.

 

Later on when I was a teenager, we used to explore the tunnel going South, but it was a long tunnel and I used to get scared.

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You find variations on exactly when the last train travelled the line - depending whether you count specials or scheduled services - but they all seem to agree around mid-1951.

 

The tunnel going south would have been the one which went under Woodborough Road and came out alongside the top end of Wells Road (now hidden by Walter Halls school).

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The last passenger train to use the line was a special train on June 16th 1951. Maybe that's what you saw, MargieH? I'm sure you were very little...

 

Goods trains could have been seen for a couple of months longer, but after that the only trains would have been for track removal.

 

There's a thread somewhere on this site about the line - it was known as the Nottingham Suburban Railway - and if I remember right included photos, or at least links to them, of that last passenger train.

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Merthyr Imp, yes, that sounds the right year.  I thought I was about 10 years old, but I was actually only 8 in 1951.  It must have made a impression on me as I can remember it quite vividly.

 

CliffTon, the tunnel I used to be scared in was the one BEFORE the one that went under Woodborough Road - it started soon after Woodthorpe Drive, went under near where the playground was (still is) and came out just before where the big flats are now.  It wasn't that long, I suppose but still scary.  I expect the one which went under Woodborough Road was longer but we never went near that one! 

 

 

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#6 Benjamin, I used to be taken by my dad to watch football on the park sometimes.  In later years, the matches were  played at the lower end of the park but the ones I remember were at the top end fairly close to the house.  I remember there were the 'Mapperley Methodists' and - I think- 'Porchester something or other'  I only went to please my dad.... never liked watching football, and still don't!  This would have been around 1950, so you wouldn't have been playing with the 'big boys' then!

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Yes Margie,..in the 70s we played on the top pitches,oh yes nearly forgot played on them in the 60s as well for Co-op Pathfinders when I was nearly a 'big boy'.........I remember Mapperley Methodists and teams with Porchester in their names,......the last time I was up there was on the lower pitches,and I was linesman for one of my Grandsons teams about 6 years ago...........

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2 hours ago, MargieH said:

CliffTon, the tunnel I used to be scared in was the one BEFORE the one that went under Woodborough Road - it started soon after Woodthorpe Drive, went under near where the playground was (still is) and came out just before where the big flats are now.  It wasn't that long, I suppose but still scary.  

 

That must have been Ashwell's Tunnel, then - just 70 yards long.

 

There's lots about the railway on the following site, including a photo of that tunnel if you scroll well down:

 

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/s/sherwood/

 

We moved to Sherwood when I was aged 11 (in 1961) and I remember discovering what was left of the station - I think the overgrown platforms were still there (this was before the flats were built) - and did once walk through the tunnel under Woodborough Road.

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To illustrate what Merthyr Imp said, this was Ashwell's tunnel - so short you can see both ends at once. The road over the bridge is Woodthorpe Drive and the train is travelling from Daybrook towards Sherwood.

ashwell%20tunnel_zpsulff6d4f.jpg

 

And this was Sherwood Station in the middle of Woodthorpe Park. The two tower blocks today are in the centre where the tracks curve right. And Ashwells Tunnel is in the cutting where the tracks disappear.

sherwood%20station_zpsiy8imdp2.jpg

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I think the bridge in the top photo is the entrance/exit to the Ashwell tunnel but above it is the park itself, not Woodthorpe Drive.

 

There was a 50 yard (approx) cutting between Woodthorpe Drive bridge and the start/end of the Ashwell tunnel. 

 

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Think I've mentioned here before, but my wife's older brothers best mate, has that tunnel in his back garden, he uses it as a wine store and storage.

When I last visited it was very damp in there and dripping lots of water (brother in law looks after the house and owners dog while they are away in Spain at their villa).

See here https://www.google.com.au/maps/@52.9866221,-1.1363366,60m/data=!3m1!1e3

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7 hours ago, MargieH said:

I think the bridge in the top photo is the entrance/exit to the Ashwell tunnel but above it is the park itself, not Woodthorpe Drive.

 

There was a 50 yard (approx) cutting between Woodthorpe Drive bridge and the start/end of the Ashwell tunnel. 

 

You are correct MargieH

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9 hours ago, MargieH said:

I think the bridge in the top photo is the entrance/exit to the Ashwell tunnel but above it is the park itself, not Woodthorpe Drive.

There was a 50 yard (approx) cutting between Woodthorpe Drive bridge and the start/end of the Ashwell tunnel. 

 

...and I agree as well !    I forgot the gap in between.  A few years ago I used to be drive along there quite often and remains of the bridge / tunnel / cutting were all still visible - and still are...    https://goo.gl/maps/PxMDg5cVYMP2

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Yes, I saw the little engine about 5 years ago.  Is it still there I wonder or has it been vandalised.  I'll have to have a look next time we're in Nottingham.

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  • 1 month later...

The tunnel Margie was scared to go in was still open in 1977-78 because I, as only a lad of 8 or 9, went in it. I still walk through Woodthorpe Park every day and also played football on the sloping pitches in the 80s, using the changing rooms under the main house when I did. I can confirm that the engine is still there by the bridge under Woodthorpe Drive Margie!

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During the 1960s myself and my mate who is also a member of this forum, walked the length of the old Suburban Line (as far as we could) and walked through most of the tunnels. Another time a gang of us did that walk and I remember sitting on the parapet of the north portal of Ashwells tunnel eating sandwiches and dangling our legs over the side. We were only sixteen. Happy Days.

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