Crabtree Cottage

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Horace Crabtree and his wife with Selina Barrett (nee Cripps) outside their house
Arthur Barrett 1909-1986
Lawrence Barrett 1902-1918
2009. Freshfield
Crabtree Cottage was at No 111 Old Road, where Freshfield is today (2018). The view from the back of the cottage shows the open land across to the windmill on the skyline to the left. The people are Selina Barrett in the long dress, her daughter Ellen and her two sons.
Selina Barrett being driven by her son, Bert, along Old Road in the early 1930s.
Uncompleted building as builder went bankrupt, Richard harding has suggested (16.7.2022) that these were apparently two interconnected experimental cast concrete houses put up in about 1936/7 at the bottom of what was then a field by a German owner who it is believed left the country after or during the war (others will know more than me). The houses were on the boundary of Richard's garden (73) and he thinks that the photo was taken from his garden. As far as he knows the houses were never completed or occupied and they gradually fell into ruins until knocked down when nos 75A and 75B were built in about 2017.
Uncompleted building as builder went bankrupt, see above
91 Old Road. Bert Barrett bought this plot of land c. 1939 and built this bungalow. In the gable end was a stone Acanthus leaf carved by his brother, Tom, who was a stone mason and worked on the colleges in Oxford.
No 93 Old Road. Bert's younger brother, Arthur, built this house c. 1939. In the photo are Albert Hutchins with his son George (Selina Barrett's grandson)

PDF Files:

Barrett family tree

Archive Notes:

Four pages of photographs and information about old houses at the top end of Old Road. These include Crabtree Cottage (Old Road), now Freshfields, 111 Old Road; an uncompleted building; and Nos 91 (built by Bert Barrett) and 93 (built by Arthur Barrett and in the photo are Albert Hutchins and George Hutchins).

Ezra and Obadiah Cripps bought the land known as Crabtree Field c.1900 on which to build houses for his large family. The original house on this plot was Crabtree Cottage, built by John William Barrett and his wife, Selina (nee Cripps). Records show that the well cost 15/-. The house was demolished c. 1990 to make space for a large new mansion for Wheatley’s most famous footballer, Martin Keown (b.24/07/1966 who played for England between 1992-2002).

The house is now known as ‘Freshfield’, 111 Old Road.

Map Address:

63+ Old Road