The drawing above has been copied from Page 58 of George Freeston's 1953 scrapbook and shows buildings etc. extending from Back Lane (the RD2 bridleway) on the left to the Stoke Road on the right.  The view is artificial in the sense that the house called St. Michaels (demolished in 2008 and replaced with 5 terrace houses), the School and all the houses lining the south side of the High Street and the west side of Stoke Road are rendered transparent.  The "field" in the foreground is a combination of the school playing field to the left, with the garden of St. Michaels, and the long paddock once associated with Crieff house on the right.

On the scrapbook page there is an array of densely scribed notes for each numbered component of the view.  The notes are reproduced below with a small amount of editing and some addition of links.

1.  Behind this wall were the glass-houses which Joseph Westley built with the idea of heating them with the waste steam from the flour mill.  He employed Alfred Alexander from c. 1875 to run the plant nursery business that was an off-shoot from the milling.  By 1.15pm on November 14, 1940 a time bomb* fell nearby and some five hours later exploded and destroyed the green-houses which were by that time occupied by Walter Alexander who had continued his father's horticultural business.  There was little else damaged by the bomb.  Local lore has it that Walter Alexander, also a photographer of much note, repaired some panes in a glass-house with glass recycled from some of his photographic plates but this 'anecdote' can probably be discarded.
* although mentioned on the scrapbook page, this event is not recorded in his Blisworth 'war diary' unless the incident recorded April 9th, 1941 applies.

2.  This building was used for preparing waste fats prior to selling to soap manufacturers.

3.  The long north wall divided off the bacon factory from Mr. A. Westley's (Crieff House) paddock in which he tended a show garden.  The garden was heated by running steam pipes under the ground from the buildings.  Although the use of steam for flour milling probably ceased by 1883 when the new mill by the canal came into full production, there was steam generated to assist in the rendering down of meats that were unsuited for human consumption for products sold to other industries.  The buildings behind were used to accommodate pig holding pens.  Live pigs were carted or herded along Back Lane and placed in these pens. 

4.  This modern building built in 1946 was a kitchen where all 'boiled' meats were processed.

5.  The chimney, still in use in 1953, is built on the base that is dated 1871.  The original chimney, visible in just one photograph of the old buildings, was built during the production years of the flour mill - estimated to run from c.1850 to the time of the fire, 1879.  This old flour mill chimney was taken down at a date unknown (1923? when the site was sold to Mr. King to set up a bacon factory) and rebuilt with more parallel sides.  

6.  The poplar trees were planted by Mr. T. Thorpe in 1948.  The Thorpes succeeded the Westleys at Crieff House in 1934 as Mary Westley (widow) moved out to the house built at the "bottom of the Westleys' garden" - St. Michaels.

7.  These buildings, also quite modern, accommodated the slaughter chambers.  Buildings at (4) and (7), being modern, are thought to be where the original steam engine house and the main mill house was located.  By the evidence of newspaper reports, both these old buildings would have been demolished by the fire in 1879 as was the main steam engine.

8.  George said that the buildings here retained their form from the old milling days.  We can surmise that they were used for processing flour and baking and local lore has it that the ovens were always available at the weekends for villagers to bring their joints to roast them.  In 1953 they housed chill rooms for meat storage and a floor where meat products such as pork-pies were prepared.

9.  Pie baking was accommodated here.

10.  This narrow house was built by Joseph Westley in 1799 on partly his land and part on a strip bought from the church.  It was the Great Fire of 1798 that made it possible for these changes.  By setting the house on the far side of the plot (on the right looking from the Stoke Road) he could have a much better access to the remaining bakehouses.  The house was used in 1953 to provide two flats for bacon factory staff.

11.  The small building in the paddock was a wartime construction for the storage of Home Guard explosives, Mr. T. Thorpe was the head of the local Home Guard.

The Scrapbook has been photographed and will be available on CD to Blisworth Heritage Society members.