Glancing Back Burntwood; Pictures from a different world

May 7 2009 with Ron Bradbury

This week’s photos are courtesy of a friend who prefers to stay anonymous.

The first (above) is a fine photo of Edial Hall Farmhouse from the early 1950s and shows Henry Styche by his gate.

The adjoining Hall of Samuel Johnson fame was demolished in 1809 and the Farmhouse was bought by Henry and Frances Styche in 1811.

I can only presume that the Henry Styche pictured here was renting the farm, as the previous Styches had sold the Hall Farm by 1896.

Early drawings of the original Edial Hall do not show the attached farmhouse as having three storeys, but a single storey building with a dormer roof similar to the present one.

The second photo (below) shows the main entrance hall to St Matthew’s Hospital in its heyday. This was probably the finest building that Burntwood ever had and the frontage, at least, has been saved from the demolition ball of so-called progress.

Once the provider of thousands of jobs over many years, it is now just a pleasant housing estate for commuters.

Note the sweeping hedge and tree-lined drive that went through the immaculately kept gardens.

The last photo (bottom) will bring back memories to many in Chase Terrace as it shows Doctor Pooley`s surgery as it used to be on Sankey`s Corner.

These were the days when a wooden shed or the doctor`s front room served as the surgery.

Anyone who has visited the new temporary Well Being Medical Centre at the Leisure Centre will tell you of the opulence of the waiting area etc - which is a far cry from the olden days when a few kitchen chairs arranged around the walls of a room in Doctor Wigmore`s house in Chase Road, Burntwood, was the best we could expect.