Ancestral Abodes

I have spent many, many, many hours (and a few pennies) keeping the family heritage websites in business over the last 18 months. My interest emerged as a consequence of
  • a) advancing age, 
  • b) increasingly vague remembrance of stories told eons ago my grandmothers Celia and Maisie
  • TV's 'Who do you think you are?' and
  • 4 suitcases of photos and letters handed to me by my eldest aunt.
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Orwell farm, 2009.


 2 years ago I visited two houses close to Loch Leven, Orwell Farm where Maisie was born in 1901 and Grahamston Farm where her mother had been brought up.
Orwell farm 1901/2
Grahmston 1890s













Grahamstone farm, 2009.











Grahamstone was farmed by  Alexander Dickie (born 1829). The land making up the farm was exposed after the water level of Loch Leven was lowered with the opening of  'The cut' in 1830 which exposed 1100 acres of land for farming.

These days the farm produces acre upon acre of turf.
 

Gillhurst Drive from the garden, 1928
Half-timbered Gillhurst Drive from the road, 2011
Last month I took advantage of a visit to my son in Birmingham to visit two more houses where Maisie had lived. Firstly Matt and I found Grannie's first marital home where my father was born....   this has transformed into a half-timbered semi









We found 270 Hagley Rd in a sorry state. The photos in the collage are separated by 75 years. 
 

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