This place l remember well. I lived just across the paddock in the bottom left with the cattle in it. Sykes Lane is shown turning into the farm. There was or maybe still is a stile which joined this lane and the pebbles with a public footpath which then passed into Church Field via the Plank over the Devon. My mother told me that when we first moved to Holly Cottage she used to go to Sykes Lane to fetch water from the pump in the lane, not to many mod cons in those days. In the top left hand can be seen a line of trees which marked the river Devon, also there was an orchard right on the river. I remember it being famous for its cherry plums – with local kids it was a sort of right of passage to scrump this orchard but with the added peril of being caught by Mr Calcraft. There were quite a few close calls as I remember. Above the house can be seen a Windmill which l believed pumped water up to the farm. It was the only one l can remember in the village. Further to the right can be seen the ironstone line as it makes its way to Belvoir junction. There also is the dark shadow of the railway bridge over the river where it dogsleg under the line. This was a magnificent wooden structure and a magnet to us kids. We would climb amongst its huge timbers over the river. Sometimes we would be under it when the train arrived with its load of ore and could see the timbers moving as it passed over head, some times it would stop held by the signal in the cutting behind Glebe House and you could hear the men talking in the guards van. The signed post is still in this cutting with its support wires. This structure disappeared over one weekend when the workgang cut it down to put a culvert into the river and back filled over it. I know, as I sat and watched it all happen. The same happened to the other wooden bridges on the line. The one over the canal at the Duck went as well, replaced by a culvert, but this has since been removed so that the canal can be used again.
Thanks Neil I think Sykes Lane farm and Shipman’s at the Bottesford end of the village were probably the last farms in Muston to use horses when the change over to tractors was underway. The last horses being used I saw were up Skerry Lane harrowing a field with Mr Shipman at the controls, and that would have been in early fifties. I was up there riding on Levsleys David Brown Cropmaster. Tractors are a passion of mine too.
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This place l remember well. I lived just across the paddock in the bottom left with the cattle in it. Sykes Lane is shown turning into the farm. There was or maybe still is a stile which joined this lane and the pebbles with a public footpath which then passed into Church Field via the Plank over the Devon. My mother told me that when we first moved to Holly Cottage she used to go to Sykes Lane to fetch water from the pump in the lane, not to many mod cons in those days.
In the top left hand can be seen a line of trees which marked the river Devon, also there was an orchard right on the river. I remember it being famous for its cherry plums – with local kids it was a sort of right of passage to scrump this orchard but with the added peril of being caught by Mr Calcraft. There were quite a few close calls as I remember.
Above the house can be seen a Windmill which l believed pumped water up to the farm. It was the only one l can remember in the village. Further to the right can be seen the ironstone line as it makes its way to Belvoir junction. There also is the dark shadow of the railway bridge over the river where it dogsleg under the line. This was a magnificent wooden structure and a magnet to us kids. We would climb amongst its huge timbers over the river. Sometimes we would be under it when the train arrived with its load of ore and could see the timbers moving as it passed over head, some times it would stop held by the signal in the cutting behind Glebe House and you could hear the men talking in the guards van. The signed post is still in this cutting with its support wires.
This structure disappeared over one weekend when the workgang cut it down to put a culvert into the river and back filled over it. I know, as I sat and watched it all happen. The same happened to the other wooden bridges on the line. The one over the canal at the Duck went as well, replaced by a culvert, but this has since been removed so that the canal can be used again.
Tony, thanks for adding these memories, which are gold-dust to our website. I can almost taste the cherry plums! Neil Fortey
Thanks Neil
I think Sykes Lane farm and Shipman’s at the Bottesford end of the village were probably the last farms in Muston to use horses when the change over to tractors was underway. The last horses being used I saw were up Skerry Lane harrowing a field with Mr Shipman at the controls, and that would have been in early fifties. I was up there riding on Levsleys David Brown Cropmaster. Tractors are a passion of mine too.
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