Streets through time - Trotters Lane
No 9 The Mullions aka Clematis Cottage
The building is described by Historic England as Estate cottage, now a house, and attached boundary walls and stable. Dated 1793, altered c1860-1875. Red brick with ashlar dressings and concrete tile roof with wooden eaves brackets and traceried bargeboards. Gabled rear wing, and attached single storey stable parallel to the main range. This building is one of those built or altered c1790-1820 by George de Ligne Gregory and further altered c1860-1875 by John Sherwin Gregory
In the Estate sale of 1937, the property was known as Clematis Cottage and the tenant was Mr Lane.
Local residents recall a Mr and Mrs. Wright once lived in the Mullions.
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Mrs Wright was born around 1900 and was the daughter of the either the Rector of Cropwell Bishop or Cropwell Butler and was of charitable nature visiting the poor on a Sundays with food parcels. Before she married she went to Ireland as a nanny and worked for a Major Coulthurst who played a significant role in the Easter Uprising in Ireland. She was quite the local celebrity and of outgoing personality. She had a number of cousins - one was one of the first white hunters in Africa another built bridges in China. In her early twenties she wanted to be an actress. In those days you had your photo taken and printed on post card and she entered a competition which was judged by Howard Carter.
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One of her childhood friends was pilot and WW1 hero, Albert Ball. She did have a photo of him on his motorbike by the vicarage window but it is unclear where it went when her belongings were sold.
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She married into wealth. Her husband used to race Bugatti's at Brooklands and fought at Scapa Flow. Her mother in law took to her bed after her last child and after Sunday prayers they would all gather round whilst she decided who would have the Rolls that day.
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Another anecdote is that she used to fly to Belgium on regular shopping trips in possibly her own plane.
Above taken when? Any ideas on the lady (Mrs Wright maybe?) and the child in the sailor suit?
Above taken in the late 1960's.