This house stands in the Brookend area of Welland on Drake Street (see map). It has been a farmhouse and a grocer’s shop during its existence and probably dates from the late 18th or early 19th century. The name appears in census returns as Slade Firs and Slate Firs. When Sarah Green, widow, was running it as a shop in 1851, the address given was simply, ‘shop, Drake Street’.

This photo taken around 1910 shows the house as a shop and tea-room. The front door has since been replaced by a window and the gateway and path no longer exist but the house is still easily recognisable.

Slade Firs c 1910, courtesy of Sheila Hoare