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tipsynurse wrote:Presumably the boundary hasn't changed between A74 DC and M6 because (whilst boarded up) it has an old looking brick wall up against the motorway boundary fence.
However the southbound carriageway was certainly widened, to add a third lane and replace the previous narrow hard shoulder by the present almost-standard-width hard shoulder.
I think the explanation is that the boundary fence was not originally immediately at the top of the cutting slope. The 1974 1:2500 map appears to show a gap, which may be the access road or track hinted at by ScottB5411:
However I started to become familiar with this part of the A74 around 1991 and I have no memory of any such accesses.
Is it not just steps on the embankment for the path to cross?
Wood View is included in the compulsory purchase order for the M6 in 2006 which AFAIK implies the owners refused to sell it voluntarily. Perhaps HE have just decided to dispose of it, and find someone mad enough to buy it.
tipsynurse wrote:Is it not just steps on the embankment for the path to cross?
Steps are certainly shown but I was talking about the gap between the fence and the cutting top all down the east side. Maybe that gap was some sort of track that could be used by vehicles and so explain what Scott said. But anyway the gap explains how the slope could be cut back to create the motorway and leave the fence unchanged as you noted.
The large scale plans (marked "Carillion") that I printed off the web at the time of the public inquiry show the pond about the same size but a different shape, extending further south nearer the house, where instead the pond as built extends further to the east.
The satellite view linked above also shows that there's a slight dogleg in the motorway fence line to avoid the house.
I'm not sure how up to date the website is, it doesn't seem to say and a few things seem out of date, e.g. land still registered to British Rail which I think was meant to be changed in 2013.
Next time I'm passing I'll have to knock on the door. Maybe its Theresa May's secret hideaway, what with entrance being at the back. "last place to look" and all that.
The current title plan and owners details are available instantly via a land registry search (£6 for plan and title docs) - I have checked and the details come up, so I suspect the FoI will parrot this back as an answer.
The current title plan and owners details are available instantly via a land registry search (£6 for plan and title docs) - I have checked and the details come up, so I suspect the FoI will parrot this back as an answer.
If the land registry hasn't recorded a sale then the title docs are likely to say little more than the compulsory purchase order. If on that basis it is likely HE still own it then this is the best way of finding out what they are fter.
The current title plan and owners details are available instantly via a land registry search (£6 for plan and title docs) - I have checked and the details come up, so I suspect the FoI will parrot this back as an answer.
If the land registry hasn't recorded a sale then the title docs are likely to say little more than the compulsory purchase order. If on that basis it is likely HE still own it then this is the best way of finding out what they are fter.
The land registry will generally record the transfer of title to SoS as advised by the acquiring authority at the GVD. If there has been a further sale that would normally be registered by the purchaser.
It is, of course, possible that I'm wrong, but there were all sorts of small accesses to the old A74 and on the satellite view on Google, you can make out what looks like a track dead ending at the boundary fence and I believe this is the access road. The old road didn't go as near to the house and the on slip from the rest area wasn't anywhere near as long and these were completely rebuilt for the M6, both sides. It's difficult to tell anything from street view, other than the house is most certainly occupied again.
Halmyre wrote:IIRC there's a similar house further north on the A74(M) but it's really bricked up - breeze-blocks in all the window apertures. What's its story?
If you go back on GSV this house was as well. In fact, perhaps even more curiously, it looks like the extension at the back is still bricked up with breize blocks.
I assume in remote locations bricking is done to reduce the likelihood of arson.
RichardA35 wrote:The current title plan and owners details are available instantly via a land registry search (£6 for plan and title docs) - I have checked and the details come up, so I suspect the FoI will parrot this back as an answer.
If the land registry hasn't recorded a sale then the title docs are likely to say little more than the compulsory purchase order. If on that basis it is likely HE still own it then this is the best way of finding out what they are fter.
The land registry will generally record the transfer of title to SoS as advised by the acquiring authority at the GVD. If there has been a further sale that would normally be registered by the purchaser.
From a little research, I can state categorically that the property in question was bought by a private purchaser from Highways England in February 2016.
ScottB5411 wrote:It is, of course, possible that I'm wrong, but there were all sorts of small accesses to the old A74 and on the satellite view on Google, you can make out what looks like a track dead ending at the boundary fence and I believe this is the access road. The old road didn't go as near to the house and the on slip from the rest area wasn't anywhere near as long and these were completely rebuilt for the M6, both sides. It's difficult to tell anything from street view, other than the house is most certainly occupied again.
Is it possible it was used as access for construction, as in the 2009 GSV there is a big pile of spare earth presumably from the embankments.
The Cumberland Gap was not a typical section of the dualled A74 - being mostly of late build it was one of the highest-quality sections. The only accesses on/off that section that I ever noticed were the six (later five) compact, LILO-style GSJs, all of which had proper (if short) tapers.
If you imagine these numbered 1-6 from south to north then numbers 1-3 were at the three overbridges. All three of these bridges survived and now cross the M6, though the junctions of course are gone.
Junction 4 made use of a link road passing under the south end of the bridge over the Esk. Junctions 5 and 6 made use of link roads passing under the south and north ends of the old Mossband Viaduct over the railway.
Number 1 was closed in about 1996. No doubt they would have liked to close them all for safety reasons but the others had to stay until the motorway and LAR were built as they provided the main or only access to various hamlets, farms, houses and the MoD arms storage establishment at Mossband.
If there was also an access to Wood View it must have been much less noticeable than the others, possibly a track starting at the back of the hard shoulder. (There were hard shoulders from J44 to Todhills junction.)
wrinkly wrote:The Cumberland Gap was not a typical section of the dualled A74 - being mostly of late build it was one of the highest-quality sections. The only accesses on/off that section that I ever noticed were the six (later five) compact, LILO-style GSJs, all of which had proper (if short) tapers.
If you imagine these numbered 1-6 from south to north then numbers 1-3 were at the three overbridges. All three of these bridges survived and now cross the M6, though the junctions of course are gone.
Junction 4 made use of a link road passing under the south end of the bridge over the Esk. Junctions 5 and 6 made use of link roads passing under the south and north ends of the old Mossband Viaduct over the railway.
Number 1 was closed in about 1996. No doubt they would have liked to close them all for safety reasons but the others had to stay until the motorway and LAR were built as they provided the main or only access to various hamlets, farms, houses and the MoD arms storage establishment at Mossband.
If there was also an access to Wood View it must have been much less noticeable than the others, possibly a track starting at the back of the hard shoulder. (There were hard shoulders from J44 to Todhills junction.)
From the google earth history image:
Wood View in 2003 on the A74.png (308.46 KiB) Viewed 681 times
