Our exhibition for 2020 was to be entitled “Do You Remember?” The idea came from a mention of Ebenezer Terrace in Newton Road and the plan was to feature sites which had changed several times. However, once we got started, the exhibition evolved in a totally different way, and the title was changed. Although we were well on the way to getting the exhibition set up, we are not going to be able to finish it for what will most likely be a considerable time, so we can use our web site for the original plan instead.

Starting with corner of Rectory Road and Newton Road, the first building to feature is the United Counties Bus Depot. The Wellingborough Motor Omnibus Co. Ltd. changed it’s name to United Counties Omnibus Co. Ltd. in 1933, and the depot in Rushden was built in 1936. The canteen was opened on the first floor of the depot in 1948. It overlooked the town, was painted green and cream to match the colours of the buses, and was complete with a dart board. In 1972 United Counties became part of the National Bus Company and in the deregulation split in 1986 it was bought by Stagecoach.

When the Rushden depot closed in 1978 it was taken over by builders’ merchants Toselands who moved there from Albert road. When they moved out in 1990the Council took over the site and in June 1983 the building and yard was opened as a recycling centre.

Above the Bus Depot in Newton Road was Ebenezer Terrace, a row of 16 cottages built in 1861. (Two of the cottages were demolished to make way for the Bus Garage.)

They were built by Samuel Knight, carpenter and builder, who lived in a thatched cottage in what is now Skinner’s Hill, but in the census is referred to as Duck Street, possibly one of those in the picture at the top of the article. He died in 1902 aged 94.

The properties in Ebenezer Terrace were built with brick frontages and stone to the rear. Each consisted of a sitting room, a kitchen and two bedrooms. The back yard to the rear had another row of buildings which housed a separate wash house and workshop. Many different tradesmen operated from these workshops including carpenters, shoe makers, pattern makers and clickers.

One of the residents was William Lockie the tinsmith. William Lawrence Lockie designed things for use in the shoe factories, dust extractors being one of the most important things. His son, William Edward, and grandson, Lawrence Edward, carried on the business. Both were known as ‘Ted’ and eventually had a workshop in Fitzwilliam Street. William Lawrence Lockie played in the Patriotic Orchestra and in the picture below, which is from the Rushden Museum collection, he can be seen standing on the right with the double bass.

In October 1902, following the death of Samuel Knight, the cottages were offered for sale by auction. The property was described a having ‘large barns and workshops in the rear, a frontage of about 433 feet to the Newton-road, and producing an annual rental of £159.’ The bidding started at £1,400 and advanced pretty briskly to £2,300, at which figure the lot was knocked down to Mr. Sanders.

By 1910 the cottages were owned by the Radburne family, who traded in the High Street as milliners and lace dealers.

Ebenezer Terrace was demolished in 1986, and the land became a car park.