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My great-grandparents moved to Ditton, near Widnes, some time after 1901. At that time Ditton was a village in its own right, these days it seems to have become part of Hough Green. Great grandfather, William Salthouse, worked in Liverpool and my grandfather, Jim, used to meet him at the station with Dolly, the pony, and the trap. We don't know the address of their small-holding, but we recently found a postcard which mentions Green Lane, Ditton. We do have some photographs taken at the small-holding, they must be nearly a hundred years old and I've done the best that I can with them. We know that William Salthouse was a police officer, probably in Everton, (Liverpool) when he married in 1871 although by 1881 and 1901 he was recorded as being a warehouse foreman. Grandad said that his mother always kept a policeman's helmet on the table in the hall as a deterrent to tramps which suggests that there might not have been any very close neighbours. |
Below is part of an old map of Ditton showing Greenfield House and Greenfield Farm. As far as I know, the Farm (at the right of the picture) is still standing, whereas Greenfield House has gone. I think the names have varied from time to time, too, when Lucy wrote their address on a postcard it simply said "Green Lane, Ditton"
By matching the photographs with the map, the Greenfield House seems to be a better fit, especially when lined up with the rows of terraced houses (see smaller picture below). I think that "Jim the Ploughman" is taken in field 260.
Both the House and the Farm are shown on the older map (third below) before the terraced houses were built.
This is the picture of "Jim the Ploughman" with the terraced houses in the background, at the left. Immediately behind Jim is the farm where Jim and his family lived, with the barn to his right. At the extreme right the row of trees (which continues further in the original photograph) seems to be along Green Lane, southwards.
