"The Elms", 270 Hertford Road (now demolished)

A gentleman called Henry Parry, member of the Local Board of Health, lived there in 1870-1871.

A note on the back of the print reads: "Home of the Misses E. & G. Watts. "The Elms", 270, Hertford Road. Also owned the corn chandlers shop on the corner of Hertford Road & Carterhatch Lane. Photograph taken in the early 1930's. Said to have been 200 yrs old & thatched at one period."

Accompanied by one page of a manuscript letter, unsigned but sent from Langley, Berks and dated October 21, 1976. The relevant part of this letter reads:

"I enclose the picture of "The Elms" our old house. We do not know why it was so named as we only had a huge sycamore & a few holly trees when we went to live there. The said sycamore was cut down when motor busses [sic.] came along for the first time, maybe a few heads would have been chopped off & left in the garden as the busses had no covered tops at that time. The railings (iron) were taken down in the Second World War to be used for armaments I suppose. We had no say in the matter in spite of their age & interest. The lamp holder in the centre we understood held the only lamp in the street for quite some way. We did not have a lamp as street lamps were in."