Wherry's Lane

One of the most frequented byways in Bourne is a narrow lane connecting North Street with Burghley Street 100 yards away and although it is hardly a street, more a space between the buildings, it is well used because motorists who leave their vehicles in the car park behind the Post Office find it a convenient shortcut to the town centre. This is Wherry's Lane, named after William Wherry, a member of the well-known business family who have been connected with Bourne since 1806 and who brought work and prosperity to the town for two centuries through the grocery and drapery trade, agriculture and other associated commercial enterprises. 

This lane is mentioned on maps of a hundred years ago and so has been with us long enough to deserve the attention of those who are in charge of our affairs and yet in the past few decades it has been allowed to become run down, to deteriorate into a blot on our urban landscape, a disgrace to the town. 

The section nearest North Street contains a number of red brick business premises, new and old, including a funeral parlour, a launderette, carpet shop and upholsterer's workshop, all of which are well maintained and blend naturally into the aspect of this traditional market town. 

But further down the lane, towards the very western end as it joins Burghley Street, it is a very different story for here we have the worst to be found in any of the neglected inner city areas of London and Glasgow, smashed windows, walls daubed with graffiti, broken fences, rusting ironwork, weeds, overgrown vegetation and dilapidated buildings. The surface of the lane is frequently strewn with litter and dog dirt and it is dangerous underfoot in wet weather because of mud, slime and large puddles and all of this is within a stone's throw of our busy town centre.

This section of the lane also includes one of the most unsightly buildings in Bourne, the Hereward Lodge of Freemasons, to which, ironically, many of the town's leading inhabitants belong. This brick-built, flat-roofed monstrosity is totally windowless except for a few panes of frosted glass at ground level and looks as though it has been exiled from service on some remote wartime airfield yet here it is within the town centre area in the midst of mainly historic properties that fit comfortably into the street scene.

After ten years of neglect, work begun on cleaning up Wherry’s Lane in June 2009 when workmen removed the detritus of a decade that has piled up alongside the western end of the pathway that has created a major eyesore.

A sample of the discarded rubbish that has accumulated includes a television set, piping, self-setting shrubs and trees, beer and soft drink cans, takeaway cartons, rotting fast food, plastic bags and an assortment of unmentionable items that should have been removed long ago. The worst affected area was alongside the old workshops in Burghley Street that had recently been purchased by South Kesteven District Council as part of a £285,000 property acquisition in readiness for the redevelopment of the town centre. When the deal was finalised in April 2009, the leader, Councillor Linda Neal (Bourne West), promised that this difficulty would be addressed. “Until now, the council has been limited in its powers to tidy up”, she said, “but we can now go ahead with the process and clear up this terrible mess.”

REVISED OCTOBER 2009