IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Potters Close, BOURNE, PE10 9NT

A row of 18th and 19th century cottages, all brought back into good repair since the millennium. The red Honda has a curious montage of cartoon scenes on its front bumper.

This tiny house was built in the 21st century, and is dwarfed by the victorian workman's cottages beyond, which would normally be considered small.

The Butcher’s Arms public house in Eastgate was destroyed when a German bomber crashed there during World War Two and a garage known as Riverside Motors was built on the site in 1959 where five years later a 1,000 lb. unexploded bomb left over from the incident was unearthed as new underground petrol tanks were being installed. The garage was demolished in 2001 and has since been replaced by new houses.

On the narrow plot where once the Butcher's Arms stood, and then a motor garage, these houses were built. They are unusually narrow because of the shape of the plot, backing onto the Bourne Eau

This is the view downstream from the same little bridge as Image

This cottage overlooks the former navigation basin at Eastgate. On the left the footbridge crosses the incoming Car Dyke, originally dug by the romans, and on the right there is a bridge over the Bourne Eau merges into the basin

Georgian buildings in Eastgate.

The tannery trade which brought prosperity to Bourne in past centuries was centred on the Eastgate area which gave access to a constant water supply from the Bourne Eau which runs through the area. Several businesses thrived there and the owners built fine properties for their work and homes although these here have since been converted into apartments.

The river we know as the Bourne Eau begins at St Peter’s Pool, a natural spring that reputedly never dries up, gushing forth across the Wellhead Gardens and then through the town where some stretches are piped underground, and on to Eastgate before crossing below Cherryholt Road at Mays’ Sluice and out into the South Fen, joining the River Glen at Tongue End, its entire length being just under 3½ miles. In past years the river was navigable, allowing small ships bring their cargoes of coal and wool to the riverside wharves where they collected wool, skins and hides but today the waterway is largely neglected but still an attraction for wildlife.