Yeovil's Virtual Museum

kingston villas

Kingston

 

A short terrace of five cottages on the west side of Kingston - still extant and rare survivors of the widening of Kingston to dual carriageway status in the 1970’s.

The centre cottage was a beerhouse in Victorian times and retains one of only two surviving boot-scrapers in a private house in Yeovil (there's another one at the rear of Mansion House) - a physical reminder of the days before roads were properly surfaced.

 

 

 

This colourised photograph features in my book 'Yeovil From Old Photographs'

So, how narrow was Kingston! Still looking towards the town centre at left are the houses of the previous couple of photos. At right is the terrace known as Kingston Villas and the wall of Kingston House (later the Park School) - the only survivors from Kingston's early days.

 

This almost-aerial view along Kingston, looking southeast from the roof of Swallowcliffe House, once a private residence. The photograph was taken in the 1950s when Swallowcliffe House was used as the Ministry of Labour Employment Exchange. In the foreground right of centre are Kingston Villas - rare survivors of the widening of Kingsway. The large white gable wall just beyond Kingston Villas belongs to Kingston House, now part of the Park School. At lower left is the entrance gateway in the garden wall of the Unitarian chapel.

 

This colourised photograph looks along Kingston from the (mini) Fiveways Roundabout in 1967.  Kingston Villas, at centre, are the only survivors from this photograph.

 

Kingston Villas, rare survivors of the widening of Kingston. Photographed in 2013.