Photos of Bicester before and after: The Causeway and Church Street
We have been writing about all kinds of events happening in Bicester this last month. From the Christmas lights switch on, parkrun, Cafe 103 and all kinds of community groups. We thought next up we'll look at few photos from Bicester's past and present starting at the Causeway of the town and up Church Street.
First up we have a photo of the Causeway and what a contrast it is.
The first picture of the Causeway photogrpahed above was taken in 1905. During this time the Causeway was a busy commercial area filled with butchers, bakers, a blacksmith and shoemakers. Today it is home to several businesses from takeaways, restaurants, a hair salon and other commercial enterprises.
Next up we have a photo of the Causeway pointing towards Market Square. Today we have a Thai Restaurant situated where the old butchers used to be in 1900.
The next photo is where the Littlebury Hotel is now situated.
As you can probably see it has changed very little. Before the hotel was setup in 1959 the building was a family home owned by Alfred Truman. The final photo we are going to look at is the before and after of Church Street situated just after the Causeway.
Again very little has changed however the photos are contrasting. The main difference that can be seen is the churchyard entrance. Amazingly Church Street was home to the old police station built in 1857, later a court room would be added in 1873. This building supported twelve officers between 1900 and 1946.
Next month we will continue to post more before and after pictures of Bicester and we hope you find it as interesting as we have.
All photos that have been taken are available at Bicester Library given to us by the Bicester Local History Society in their book "Bicester Through Time".