The Monday Photo

When I look at this house in Winslow High Street, I don’t think of its Georgian style 19th Century frontage and the large, timber framed 17th Century building behind it, I think of my uncle Dick and aunt Julie, who once lived there.

We used to visit them as kids; walking through the gate at bottom right, past (if I remember right) exposed timber framing to our left, and in through the door at the back.

Up and Down
We couldn’t get in via the front door on the High Street, because the ground floor was a bank, completely separate from their two story flat. Dick and Julie had just one room and a staircase at ground level; everything else was upstairs.

But the first floor was on several levels, with short flights of steps between. The kitchen in a small pitched roof extension was several steps lower than their hallway, and for years had just a skylight.

If I remember right, it wasn’t possible to put a window in the gable end because the roof of the bank vault was there.

But when the bank changed to a flat roof Dick chopped through the brickwork and at last there was a window in the kitchen. That was easier said than done, because the wall was thick and built of hard engineering bricks, to protect the vault beyond.

Young Man
I remember timber framing inside the house, but as a child I paid little attention to it, as I did to Dick and Julie’s furniture and antiques.

Aunt Julie used to tell me I should get my hair cut; it was shoulder length from my teenage years on, and would give me Christmas presents of aftershave, when I had a beard! Maybe this was a hint...

I still have a beard, but Julie might have been please to see the long hair is long gone; I just shave my head now to keep it tidy, as I’m going bald.

Sadly, Julie passed away at quite a young age, but Dick lived into his eighties. I’d love to have a look round the back, but the alley is private now.