MonoMonday: Middle Leigh

In Medieval times, the area which is now my home village of Street consisted of three separate hamlets: Lower, Middle and Higher Leigh, each consisting of a few cottages and farmhouses. Lower Leigh is where the area around the current High Street now stands, the name Higher Leigh also no longer exists (although Overleigh is an extension of Ivythorn Road here) but Middle Leigh still runs diametrically through the centre of the village.

Hecks' Cider Farm pictured here is something of a local institution: they've been making their cider for 6 generations since 1841 and selling it from these premises since 1896.

It wasn't until the late 19th to early 20th Century that the three hamlets became joined together when the Clarks' shoe factory required more housing to house their growing workforce. Most of the houses in Middle Leigh still date from that time.

I strolled up there this afternoon for this blip for today's challenge of "Middle" after spending nearly an hour in Boots while their computer uploaded my 900 photos for printing, then insisted I check about half of them which it wanted to crop.

The morning was spent swimming and shopping.