This fascinating 1930s postcard of the Church Square area shows how much has changed in the intervening 80 years or so.
At the top right of the picture is the Manor House, with a large Victorian extension which was swept away when the house was restored to its original design of 1830, in the 1960s. At the bottom right boats cluster around the boatyard at Ferry Square, for many years run by the Purdue and Poulter families, but now the site of the Warren Lodge Hotel extension. Millbrook House and its grounds occupy the bottom left of the card.
The house was later reduced to a single storey, but in recent years has been restored to its former size. Just above this, rows of vegetables and fruit can be seen growing in the kitchen garden of the house, which like the other large residences along this part of the road, had ornamental gardens around the house, with the more functional areas on the opposite side of Chertsey Road. Soon after this photo, the gardens on the corner opposite the Square were replaced by the Anchor Service Station (the canopy of the petrol pumps still survives as part of a car showroom).
Further above this again, a row of cottages can be seen in Cemetery Lane, behind what was then the Rose and Crown pub, but is now the Castello restaurant. The cottages have long since disappeared. Finally, just above the church can be seen the Rectory, now called Erasmus House, with its large lawn and kitchen garden, much of which has been swallowed up by the new Rectory and the Parish Centre adjoining the church.
‘The History of Staines Linoleum’ will be the subject of a talk by Nick Pollard to the Sunbury & Shepperton Local History Society, at 8pm on Tues 21st April at Halliford School, Russell Road Shepperton. All welcome, £2 admission for non-members.