Further to the discussion about The Grange in Leighswood, Aldridge, in the wee small hours I had a play with overlaying the relevant maps on Google Earth imagery to find out exactly where the property stood.
I overlaid the 1961 1:2,500 map on current, 2012 imagery, which shows how much the area has altered in the intervening 50 years or so. The main addition is, of course, Northgate, effectively built as a Leighswood bypass, relieving traffic on Walsall Wood Road. Interestingly, most of the housing had been built in the area by 1961, it was the industrial units to the west that came later. From the overlay, it can be seen The Grange was roughly where the filling station is today on Northgate, just west of Brookfield Close, as Warsawpact said it did.
I then overlaid the 1956 1:10,000 map on the Google Earth 1945 imagery. This was more difficult, as the old photos are not planar and are severely distorted (as I suspect the map is a little, too). It does however line up pretty well, even showing the verge in the driveway. Interesting that Walton Road in those days led only to The Grange, and wonder if the name Walton is significant in it’s history?
You can download overlays to play with in Google Earth from the links below the images. Please note that the 1945 one doesn’t remotely line up with modern imagery and vice versa. To find out how to use the overlays, see the instructions in this post.
The Grange, as shown on the 1961 1:2,500 scale map, overlaid on current Google Earth imagery. Form this we can see that Northgate came right through the building – about where the filling station is today, and in the region of Brookfield Close, as reader Warsaw Pact asserted. Click for a larger version.
The Grange – now overlay – hosted at Google Docs
(Click the above link, and from the file menu above left of the map, click download)
And here’s The Grange on shown on the 1956 1:10,000 scale map, overlaid on the 1945 Google Earth imagery which shows it. This is a remarkable thing, if you think about it. Click for a larger version.
The Grange – 1945 overlay – hosted at Google docs
(Click the above link, and from the file menu above left of the map, click download)