This photograph by William Redshaw is taken from an album of views of the Bourne area sold by J T Morris who had shop premises in West Street and dates from circa 1890.

The picture postcards above show North Road in the early years of the 20th century  with electricity poles and gas lamps along the pavements, although the houses are relatively unchanged. The mill in the far distance on the left in the top
picture was dismantled in 1915.

Two views of North Road from the early years of the 20th century, looking 
northwards, the picture below taken from a hand-tinted postcard before
the introduction of colour printing. Both pictures show Cuckoo Bush Cottage on the
extreme left at the entrance to what is now Christopher's Lane, a picturesque
thatched building that was demolished around 1960. 

The photograph above was taken in 1910 by Ashby Swift, a local photographer, showing the view looking towards town with the shops at the entrance to Meadowgate that were gutted by fire in 1922 and rebuilt as Woolf's Garage in 1928, while the row of cottages known as Albion Terrace can be seen in North Street on the right. The double telegraph poles that can be seen in both photographs were a distinctive feature in the streets of Edwardian England but most of the wires and cables are now either underground or carried by single distribution poles.

Cuckoo Bush Cottage in North Road on the corner of Christopher's Lane was such a quaint, attractive and olde worlde property that it became the subject of an Edwardian picture postcard entitled "A Bit of Old Bourne" and copies were bought locally by visitors and posted to addresses throughout the world. Many survive and they are much sought after by collectors.

A postcard view of North Road from 1890.

A more leisured age. This is North Road pictured in the early years of the 20th century, the pictures above are from circa 1910 and that below from 1914. Motor cars were still a rare sight and most of the traffic was horse drawn, such as the delivery wagons passing close to Cuckoo Bush Cottage that can be seen on the left.

A picture postcard view of North Road taken circa 1956 showing the bus stop on the route out of town.