The Austerby in past times

A railway line crossed the Austerby until it was closed in 1959 but the route it took can clearly be seen along the street today. This was the Midland and Great Northern line from Melton Mowbray to King's Lynn which opened in 1866 and running south of Bourne station on its way to Spalding and then into Norfolk. A level crossing together with a pedestrian footbridge over the Austerby formed part of the railway installations and this picture from circa 1950 also shows the crossing keeper at that time, Edward Garfoot.

This photograph is the work of Ashby Swift with assorted children who flocked to be in the picture taken circa 1920. The shops we see here were occupied by a family firm, Collins and Company, one dealing in fancy goods and toys and run by Miss Mary Ann Collins, and the other premises occupied by Robert Arnold Collins, plumber, painter, glazier, paperhanger and decorator, who had moved there from his previous premises in Willoughby Road.

See also  Wartime Bourne