South Street in 1910

Church Walk and the tower of the Abbey Church ahead are featured in this rare archive photograph from 1910, showing the main road into Bourne from the south. The gas street lamp in the foreground was one of 56 dotted around Bourne at the time with Brook Lodge behind, built in 1776 as the town’s first vicarage, while on the right can be seen the historic almshouses and the early 18th century Cavalry House fronted by iron railings.
The street scene is much the same today except that this is now the main A15 trunk road which carries an increasing amount of heavy traffic despite repeated appeals for a north-south bypass to avoid this dangerous double bend.