Then & Now

Woodcote Avenue – Then & Now

Woodcote Avenue – Then & Now

This then & now pairing shows an oblique aerial photo of Woodcote Avenue and its junction with De Montfort Road. The ‘then’ photo is taken from the Cambridge Air Photos collection and is dated precisely to 30th January 1966. The ‘then’ photo is simply titled “Housing Estate, Warwicks, UK” and shows construction in progress of the final couple of houses to be built. The ‘now’ image was taken from Google Maps in 2017.

According to A Portrait of Kenilworth in Street Names (Rookfield Publications, 2015) by Robin D Leach and Geoff Hilton, the development of Woodcote Avenue was begun in 1964, Priorsfield Road in 1965 and Denton Close (visible in the bottom right of the images) in 1965. At the top of these images is De Montfort Road, which was established as early as 1953, named, of course, after Simon de Montfort, who held Kenilworth Castle for 30 years, until his death at the Battle of Evesham in 1265.

This estate occupied the site of the old Castle Nurseries, the glasshouses of which are visible to the rear of this Then & Now image of Kenilworth Castle. Denton Close was named after the Castle Nurseries’ final owner, before redevelopment of the area as a housing estate commenced.

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