James Gray: Opposite Southdown Road –1900s. jgc_20_145
2018: The tramlines have gone, to be replaced by cars. (Photographer: Andrew Renaut)
James Gray: The houses seen on the left are the last two houses on the west side of Waldegrave Road, whilst opposite can be seen the gap in the new houses, which is Osborne Road. The view in the distance across the railway shows a few houses in Dyke Road, the Tivoli Crescent steps, and the site of Tivoli Crescent North end of Matlock Road. jgc_20_146
2018: The trees have grown but little else has changed. (Photographer: Andrew Renaut)
James Gray: The trams came to Preston Drove in 1901 and these photographs show the installation of the centre tramway poles in progress. It is almost impossible to identify these particular houses in course of erection, but my guess is that the horse was facing into what is now Lowther Road. jgc_20_148
2018: The building under construction is 135 Preston Drove at the junction with Lowther Road. (Photographer: Andrew Renaut)
James Gray: Preston Drove, at the corner of Surrenden Road, in June 1906. The houses and shops between Preston Park Avenue and the Beaconsfield Villas were then being built. Additional Information: Park View Hotel. jgc_20_139
James Gray: The view is from just east of Southdown Road with the recently opened Blaker’s Recreation Ground on the left and Cleveland Road in the background. It can be seen that houses in the central portion of Preston Drove were built first, and those to the east and west, later on. jgc_20_147
2018: From the same position looking east along Preston Drove a century later. (Photographer: Jane Jordan)
James Gray: An unusual view of St John’s Church, Preston, in 1908. It is seldom that the south walls of the church are seen in a photograph. This was taken from a point east of the old Preston Vicarage, possibly in the extensive grounds which continued along Preston Drove as far as Bavant Road. The vicarage was demolished in 1931. Knoyle Road was started about 1900 and a few houses can be seen on the north side but none on the south. jgc_18_227
2018: The south side of St John’s Church looking across the bowling greens from Preston Drove in 2018.
James Gray: The Geneva Sports Inter House tug of war, held on the cricket ground; Preston Drove in the background. jgc_18_084
2018: The cricket field is now known as the Preston Park Velodrome. (Photographer: Mark Stephenson)
James Gray: Car 39 at rest in Preston Drove. It was facing west between Cleveland Road and Chester Terrace, and the wall to the right is that of the side garden of 122, Chester Terrace. The year of the photograph is not known. Car 39 was supplied to the Corporation Tramways in 1903 and taken out of service in 1925. jgc_20_151
2018: The trams have long gone and buses no longer use Preston Drove as a route into and out of the city centre. The wall referred to by James Gray remains though it has seen better days! (Photographer: Andrew Renaut)