Town Walk 2026 - Part 07 - West Street to Market Street
w/e 04 January 2026
All of this week's pictures were
taken with a Nikon D3300 camera
This part equates to Stages 12 and part of 13
of the original Town
Walk from 2003.
Part 12 of the original Town Walk was a detour from South Street
along West Street, Albert Street, Queen Street and back down
South Street to Gladstone Street. Now we will follow the same
detour by turning off South Street between The Wedding Boutique/Suit
Lounge and BGB Barbershop into West Street. The buildings, apart
from a coat of paint and new shop signs, have changed little
outwardly since 2003 when they were occupied by the House of
Ashley Peak and Goldfinger Jewellers respectively.
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The Lifestyle building in West Street has also benefited from
a new sign and painted frontage in the intervening years. In
2003 I wrote that "within living memory that horses
were shod here" but twenty plus years on there are probably
fewer people that can recall the smithy. It is still worth reiterating
though that this is where "the gates to St Mary's Church
and St John's Church were made."
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Continuing along West Street, the painted advert for L A Price
is still there but is much more difficult to read now but it
does serve as a reminder of earlier times and businesses that
were once well known in the town.
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I also mentioned previously, although I didn't include a photo,
that "another link with the past"
stood opposite the end of West Street and that "two nursing
homes" were "standing on the Rutland Foundry
site." This is the view along Albert Street from the
end of West Street showing the Cedars and Larches Nursing Homes.
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A right turn into Queen Street takes us back to South Street
passing the 1858 built Baptist Church, the appearance of which
has changed very little externally since its original construction
except that it was once rendered in cement but that was removed
in the 1980s. It's also worth pointing out that the car park
opposite once housed a terrace of about ten cottages.
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Returning down South Street to the end of West Street,
our detour has come to an end and the route continues along Gladstone
Street. Like the properties opposite West Street the business
owners have changed since 2003 and the Discount Electrical shop
and Swirls have been replaced by Cocoa's and The Crafty One.
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Hidden between a row of business premises on Gladstone
Street and the Gladstone House Surgery is the remains of a wheelwright's
forge and associated chimney. The uninitiated could easily miss
it as the growth of the surrounding vegetation partially obscures
it even more now than it did in 2003.
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Part 13 of the original Town Walk started with a view similar
to this showing where Market Street ended due to the construction
of Chalons Way. The view then showed properties at the top of
Park Road and further away, the familiar tower of the Catholic
Church. Whilst the Church is still visible, the development on
the other side of Chalons Way at the top of Park Road now obscures
the older properties.
Looking the other way along Market Street and Chalons Way, shows
more of the new development which occupies the former Hallcroft
(later Cantelupe) and Gladstone School sites.
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Between Derby Street and Hallcroft Road and facing onto Market
Street is the former Anchor Inn. The anchor still hangs above
the door but that has now been bricked up and the entrance to
the now converted block of flats is from the rear. In 2003 I
wrote "there are no seafaring connections.
The name was derived from a proprietor called Anchor Carrier."
The 1859 date on the lintel above the
middle window on the upper floor is more difficult to read these
days.
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Across from the former inn is Weaver Row, a jitty leading through
to South Street and a reference to when weavers' cottages stood
here in the 17th and 18th centuries whilst the view down Hallcroft
Road towards the footbridge over Chalons Way now shows new properties
that have been built on both sides of the road.
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