IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
The Firs, NOTTINGHAM, NG5 3BB

With the initial section of Elmswood Gardens and Mansfield Road (A60) both behind the photographer, this is a view of the middle section of Elmswood Gardens with Sherwood Health Centre on the left and the two tower blocks - "Woodthorpe Court" and "Winchester Court" situated on Chestnut Walk, in the distance.

The Firs is now a care home for the elderly, but was previously a maternity hospital. The day the 1948 London Olympics opened was blazingly hot, something my mother never forgot as I was born somewhere in the building straight ahead on that day. The eaves of one of the more recently-built parts of The Firs take up the top right quarter of the picture, unfortunately, but also made it possible to take an east-pointing picture early on a bright May morning.

With Mansfield Road (the A60) behind the photographer, this is a view along Elmswood Gardens in the direction of Applewood Grove and The Rise. Behind the high brick wall lies an Abbeyfield (Nottingham) Society complex known as "The Firs". This now offers independent living accommodation, warden supervised accommodation and a nursing home all on one site. A house was first built on this plot in 1895 by Mr Alfred Manchester, a Nottingham tea merchant, as his private residence although between 1925-82 it was firstly, a private maternity home and then a NHS maternity unit. One of the two tower blocks in Chestnut Walk is visible in the distance.

With Mansfield Road (the A60) to the left of the photographer, this is a view through the former maternity hospital's entrance into the grounds of what is now an Abbeyfield (Nottingham) Society retirement complex known as "The Firs". This offers independent living accommodation, warden supervised accommodation and a nursing home all on one site. A house was first built on this plot in 1895 by Mr Alfred Manchester, a Nottingham tea merchant, as his private residence although between 1925-82 it was firstly, a private maternity home and latterly a NHS maternity unit.

In 1895 Alfred Manchester, a Nottingham tea merchant, built a private residence behind these now-defunct gates on Mansfield Road (a.k.a. the A60). Between 1926-86, "The Firs Maternity Home", and later on "The Firs NHS Maternity Unit", was developed on the site with an entrance in Elmswood Gardens - i.e. the road that the brown car is coming out of. Some of the newer houses in Hooley Street were actually built upon the tea merchant's kitchen garden around the corner, the land having been bought by developers during the 20th century. Thereafter, the street was renamed Elmswood Gardens. An Abbeyfield Society Retirement Complex is now situated behind these gates, albeit that its entrance is in this neighbouring street. Directly ahead is a section of Sherwood's main shopping promenade known locally as "Sherwood Shops", with Nottingham City Centre being 10 mins journey further on (by car).

There is an Ordnance Survey benchmark Image near the left hand end of the wall

Top half of Ordnance Survey cut mark benchmark described on the Bench Mark Database at www.bench-marks.org.uk/bm114815

A view of the junction of Edwards Lane, Sherwood at the point where it meets Mansfield Rd (A60). The Co-Op supermarket was previously a branch of Somerfield Stores Ltd. The Somerfield brand bought out the former Gateway supermarket chain in the 1990s but then the Somerfield chain was replaced by the Co-operative brand in a programme of store conversions that ended in Spring 2011. Behind the brick wall to the left are a range of retirement flats and bungalows on the site of the former Firs Maternity Hospital.

Adding welcome colour after the drabness of winter.