A tiny patch of green

Trafalgar Terrace

A greenhouse, under an apple tree, in the middle of town – this is Trafalgar Terrace. It’s a tiny patch of green in the middle of the town. A space leftover which has reverted back to what it always was – a garden. It’s signified as a garden by a rather hopeful bird table, an apple tree and a conservatory where tomatoes are growing in the background. And it’s a reminder that the past is always present, ready to supply us with ideas that we might find more convivial in terms of patterns of living and action than those that exist and can offer roots to a more convivial future.

Comments about this page

  • Myself and my friends know Trafalgar Terrace as ‘Cat Alley’, and one day a pet owner told me that there were EIGHTEEN felines who lived along there! There were two white ones until recently, one of which (now deceased) was an incredible twenty-four years of age.

    By Stephen Drennan (28/08/2003)
  • I lived next door to this garden when it was owned by a Mrs Lock who was a school teacher and was one of the many nice neighbours I had during the time I lived there. A couple of well known actors lived in the Terrace too. I had some good and some bad times there and moved away 20 years ago.

    By Anna Barontini (nee Stevens) (29/10/2006)
  • It is some time since I visited this page but there seem to have been a whole series of comments, of historical value, that have been deleted. This is a pity and I wonder if they can be restored? I remember Anna well. Her husband of the time was cousin to my friend, Michael, who lived around the corner and with whom I have now lost touch. It was and is such a friendly Terrace. The house featured still survives and is the only one in the area to retain the traditional “twin” colouring, yellow and black lower down. The greenhouse also survives thanks to some inspirational restoration work by Paul Baker, the conservationist carpenter, in the 1980s.

    By John Austin Locke (11/09/2013)
  • The street’s most famous cat must be grey and white Gideon – there’s a photo of him in the North Laine book published in 2016.

    By Stephen Drennan (26/07/2018)
  • Gideon went on to further fame as a victim of the Cat attacks. A subsequent TV documentary also featured him! The perpetrator was caught. Gideon survived while a number of other poor cats did not. As of December 2022 Gideon remains alive and well and still prowling his Manor!!

    By John Locke (09/12/2022)

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