The Rushden Boys' School, Tennyson Road, was built on land formerly owned by the Rushden Allotment Association. It was bounded by Tennyson Road, the Windmill Club and an unadopted road now known as Wilson Road. For many generations this unmade road was better known as 'The Donkey'.
One man who claimed to know the origins of 'The Donkey' was Mr. Perkins who for many years worked at the Rushden Gasworks and tended an allotment on this site. He told me about a man named Bradshaw who traded as a rag and bone merchant and who also rented part of the allotment grounds. He had large barns on the site where he salt-dressed rabbit and goat skins, and also stabled his donkey. In the better months he tethered his donkey on the grass verges where it became a familiar sight, and soon people began to refer to the road as 'The Donkey'.
Wilson Road takes its name from the fact that the site was originally 'The Wilson Stone Pits', and in 1972 when the new technical block was built at the school, some very good building stone was found on this site.
The greenhouses that were situated on The Donkey belonged to Mr. Desborough a well known florist for many years in Church Street. [Hubert Leonard Desborough - florist - was at 21 Church St in 1940 until at least 1973]
