Brambledean, Broadoak, next to Broadoak House ? (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Friday, April 12, 2013, 21:41 (4244 days ago) @ Jefff

Hi again,
using the great Old Maps website I see Brambledean is the building adjacent to, if not attached to, Broadoak House, right on the main road in the centre of the village. Does this sound right ? (apologies, I don't think I've ever been to Broadoak, nearest I've been is Elton Corner before turning off the A48 heading to my hometown Cinderford from Gloster etc)
http://www.old-maps.co.uk/maps.html

Apologies if you already know this website, otherwise the notes below will hopefully help. First enter the postcode GL14 1JB in the search box, then select "Brambledean" from the resulting dropdown list, click this.
Wait for modern map of your area to load, with the searched item (postcode) dead centre.

On the righthand side a dropmenu will list the available maps for your area, in varying scales and in chronological order.
Click on the desired map image - main map will be replaced by your chosen old one - be patient as it can take a while to load.
Often the most usefull map (most detail) will be one of the large scale maps eg 1:2500, early OS maps show individual buildings etc etc. In this instance I suggest you start with the "1973-74 1:2500" map. I recommend you now select an overall screen zoom setting of abt 200%, such that the framed map image fills your screen yet remains readable. Furthermore, if you now click the "spyglass" icon it will then zoom again but with no loss of clarity.
As long as you are able to persuade the site's search engine to load the right map for the area you're hoping to study (postcode is best way !), and you allow time for it to "think" and images to load (very slow on my old basic laptop but fine on my modern pc), this is a truly excellent & most usefull website.

For your search, at centre of the 1973-74 map you'll see Broadoak House, next door/above is labelled "Brambledean" albeit at an awkward angle to see.
If you now select an earlier map, still keeping to the 1:2500 scale, you can see how the village changed over the years and particularly Brambledean. These maps are old Ordnance Survey maps so highly accurate and higly detailed, altho sometimes the placename spellings will vary from nowadays just as in Census's etc.
I wonder if the Brambledean terrace was built to house staff from the presumably important Broadoak House next door ??? Does it look similar ?. I see the 1902 map and before doesnt quote the name "Brambledean", maybe it wasn't in use until later ?

I do hope this helps a little.