My Old Home - Iford

As I mentioned in my last blog we moved to Iford, Bournemouth, when I was about five. The house we moved into was called Sheepwash. It was an old coach house or stables that was converted into two houses sometime in the late 1930's or early 1940's. I know a lot of the history of this house as we lived there for a long time and my Dad also lived in the area as a child and had a lot of stories plus what his parents had also told him.

The house as I said was a coach house or stables for the local big house which was called Iford House, I believe it may have been called Iford Manor earlier in its history. The house became the property of the council and was eventually demolished to make way for housing and a parade of shops. these are now know and Iford Parade and Bridle Crescent.

Iford House, Bournemouth.

My Gran managed to have a peek through the windows of Iford House and remembered seeing large chandeliers. Behind Iford house, where Bridle crescent is now, some of the houses still have either  the wine cellars or garden buildings as part of their house. We still had the old wall that separated Iford House from the stables as part of our drive and that wall is still there. 

If you look in the picture below you can see on the left behind the four trees the wall and just behind that you can see what was our home.

Iford House, Bournemouth.

The picture below shows more of an aerial view of Iford Parade and Bridal Crescent, Sheepwash is nestled in between the trees in the middle of the picture. I like the picture below as it is interesting to see how much has changed, there aren't many houses along Castle lane East, and obviously no roundabout. 

Iford Parade and Bridle Crescent.

Dad has told me lots about Sheepwash and one was that behind our house where the woods are now there used to be an icehouse, and there were also tunnels that went under the road to the kitchen gardens. The tunnels were blocked up and the gardens were also built on and became known as Iford Gardens. 

We also found out while living there that Sheepwash had been used as a temporary morgue during the second world war. It was used for the Canadian Soldiers that were sadly killed during a bombing raid on Bournemouth Town centre. 

Sheepwash was haunted and I often saw something out of the corner of my eye, or you would hear the front door open but go to check and it was closed. Mum eventually hung a string of bells from the ceiling that the door would hit if you opened it so we would know if was it spooky door or not. 

I hope to blog more about Iford and the surrounding area over time, as it would be a shame to lose these stories. 

Vic x