I thank John Emery for this snippet concerning the following history of St Martin’s Spinney.
The area of land known as St Martin’s Spinney was previously part of Welton House estate, formerly the home of Sir Halford and Lady Reddish.
Over the years the house and estate changed hands, and the 63 acres of farmland was sold off separately from the house – the house was last used for offices. On the night of 8 March 1986 the building was gutted by fire, after which it stood derelict for a number of years until the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) acquired the site and demolished what was left.
The site was then redeveloped into what is now known as Halford Way however a narrow piece of land, behind the village hall and White Horse pub, was surplus to requirement. The parish council approached RBS with a view to purchasing the land for the village however the bank donated the land and paid all legal costs as a goodwill gesture.
The first photo shows the bank representative (David Cartledge) presenting the deeds of the property to the chairman of Welton Parish Council (John Emery) on 8 Aug 1998. The council, together with volunteers, subsequently developed the spinney at a total cost of £3,800.
