So after a lot of patience, stress and crossing of fingers, we eventually moved the 24 furlongs to our new house at the beginning of December. We were all very relieved, to say the least.
A month and a bit later I thought I would put up a little bit of the history that comes with our new house. Stoke has a long Industrial history, and some of it runs right underneath our garden!
We are about a mile from one of the largest former coal mines in Stoke, Chatterley Whitfield, and the coal used to be moved by a “Mineral Railway” to the mainline near Longport, and to a coal depot at Burslem.
Below is a photo of “The Vans” colliery train, heading up the hill from the Mine towards Tunstall, just before it reaches the tunnel that runs under our house. The people on the left of the picture are almost certainly related to Josiah Wedgwood!
This is a map of the tunnel and the surrounding area from sometime between 1899 and 1904.
This is an aerial view of the area today, the former mine workings are in the top-right of the picture.
The closer view below, shows the old railway line in blue. Our house is by the blue pin, in the middle of the picture.
If you think you might like your own tunnel, the one below can be yours for a couple of million pounds.
It’s an old BT tunnel underneath Central London, which is accessed from Furnival Street, a quiet path behind busy Chancery Lane.
Found via the excellent Boing Boing blog, you can read the full story, complete with slideshow at the New York Times.
UPDATE
I should really take this opportunity to say “Thank You” to some of the people who helped us make this house move a lot more bearable than it could of been;
Jason, at Ideal Mortgages Direct
Deb and her staff at Louis Taylor Estate Agents in Milton
and Anne-Marie, Kimberley and all the staff at Browell Smith Solicitors in Burslem.
Their patience and professional attitude helped us make it here!