Garden Street area - Radford


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On 10/30/2018 at 12:28 PM, Jill Sparrow said:

I would love to see the original plans for Garden Street!

 

This is from the 1880s and may show things which changed before you knew the place. Number 4 is marked as 'PH' which is obviously the Cherry Tree as mentioned earlier.

n0WLpoY.jpg

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My last Christmas Eve visit to Garden Street was 54 years ago. Yet, every year on this day, my thoughts are irresistibly drawn to number 4.   By today's standards, the place was primitive in

A bit of a surprise for me on this topic.   My interest in Garden Street arises from the fact that two aunts lived there in the 1940s - 60s. They worked in one of the nearby clothing factori

Personally, I've never liked supermarkets. Much preferred the shops of my childhood like those on Denman Street and our local grocers where everything was weighed out and wrapped in paper. Loved the s

Fascinating, CT!  The outbuildings at the rear correspond to my memories exactly but, again, the main building poses questions. My relatives occupied the right hand side, as seen from this view...the part nearest what was Vann's Hosiery Factory in my day and Julius Goldberg on the plan. The left side was, by my time, a garage on the ground floor and storage on the upper floors, reached by external stairs at the rear.  Your plan appears to show the whole building as a pub.  I have often wondered whether the place was altered when Mr Smith of Smith's Bakeries bought it, possibly in the 20s.

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  • 7 months later...

I spent some time recently looking at the 1911 census for Garden Street. I've seen it previously but wanted to check that number 4 wasn't listed. Unfortunately, it wasn't. Must have been unoccupied at the time. The last even numbered house, prior to Ilkeston Road, is number 8.  On the odd numbered side, I found a Thomas H Watson, born 1881, living at number 17. He is, no doubt, a relative of Christopher64 who made a rather promising post on this thread and never returned. The census also mentions a Hollins Yard off the odd numbered side of Garden Street, with a couple of houses listed. Hollins Yard doesn't appear on any of CT's excellent street maps. Wonder where it was?

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Although it's not specifically marked on this map, this was Hollins Yard, entered through a passageway next to 19a. And there's also a Hollins Terrace at the top off Denman Street.

 

35n0rJi.jpg

 

Not all the house numbers are marked but you can fill in the gaps. My aunts lived at 27.

 

 

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Ah, all is made clear!  27 must have been one of the older cottages which had small gardens at the front, as opposed to the terraced properties on the even numbered side which opened straight onto the pavement.  I have never forgotten seeing an elderly lady doing some washing in a wooden tub in the front garden of one of those houses. I must have been very young at the time. The tub resembled a barrel cut in half. 

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It were a Dolly Tub Jill, all the best people used em. I can see my grans house on Henry st., the only one with no number. You can even make out the toilet block in the middle of the communal  yard. Happy days !

Ps. Think my old mate Joey Nelson lived about no.34.

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I'd seen lots of dolly tubs, Beekay, but they were metal. I think the fact that this one was wooden caught my attention. I've never forgotten it. It was almost like a scene from Victorian days. If you're referring to 34 Garden Street, Beekay, one Thomas Woolett resided there in 1911.

 

I noticed that CT referred to a communal toilet at the beginning of the thread, in the yard at the rear of his aunt's house. Sharing such a facility can't have been much fun. Originally, I suppose, these houses were visited by the ten o'clock horses my grandad often spoke of. Earth closets needed emptying!

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It were a Dolly tub Jill, our next door neighbour had one. As I  wasn't  born in 1911, so have no idea who lived there at 34, I  only guessed where my mate lived and that was in 1955ish. In Denton st., we had communal bogs. There were 4 houses per toilet. It was terrible in winter and especially  at night. Some folks used to keep a paraffin  lamp burning to help stave off freezing cisterns. No such thing as toilet tissues !

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The loo at number 4 was right at the bottom of the cobbled yard in what appeared to have been an earlier outbuilding.  Always difficult about toilets, I flatly refused to use it and my mother only used it if desperate. There was no electric light and, when nature called during the night hours, Emily and George had a chamber pot under their bed! However, they didn't have to share the lavvie with anyone else, unlike residents further up Garden Street.  I do remember that the area near the loo was paved not with cobbles but with those dark, patterned tiles which were...and still are...often found in covered passageways between Victorian terraced housing. There was also a channel running along the middle of them, as though there had once been a building there. I've sometimes wondered whether it was used as a slaughterhouse. That area was the only part of the yard or house where I felt distinctly uncomfortable and rarely went. My mother often commented on her own dislike of that area.

 

 

As I've said previously, I'm sure number 4 as I knew it had been altered significantly since its days as a beerhouse, starting around 1885. There must have been earth closets in the sizeable yard area at the rear but where they were, I don't know. Numerous outbuildings were ranged around that yard but they all had windows and didn't look like earth closets. Although storage space above the ground floor garage was rented out, I don't think the outbuildings in the yard were used.

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  • 3 months later...

Looking back at the NEP old  photos of Radford, I came across this again. The road diagonally in the foreground is Norton Street, and Garden Street is the one I've arrowed. Unfortunately it doesn't quite extend to the buildings Jill is interested in which would be just off to the right, but it definitely shows the back yards where my aunts lived, which is the area in the shadow of the chimney.

bVOjyxI.jpg

And for Beekay's benefit, it also shows Henry Street.

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Nice one CT., and thanks for remembering me. I can clearly  see my grandma's  house and back door. Funny how a picture whisks you back over the years. I'm  trying to recall what the factory was, on the left of the picture. There was Henry street, then a plot of wasteland  then the factory. At the end of Norton was the post office on one corner and I  think a funeral directors on the other corner. Across Denman street, Norton street continued down to Hartley road. Once again, Ta very much. Beekay.

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A bit of a surprise for me on this topic.

 

My interest in Garden Street arises from the fact that two aunts lived there in the 1940s - 60s. They worked in one of the nearby clothing factories. We visited the house when I was young but they moved from the area by the mid 1960s.

 

I mentioned the subject on a Facebook page recently and I've had a message from a lady who knew my aunts and worked with them. That's almost like meeting lost relatives who you never knew existed.

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I'd forgotten about Christopher64 and his connection with the area. If he's been lurking recently this might bring him back.

 

On 1/15/2017 at 12:06 PM, Christopher64 said:

 I have very few memories myself from Garden Street but I know I was born at number 43 because it's on my birth certificate. I am sure my mum will have many as She was born there as well.  Her Grandmother Mother Edith Mary Watson lived there. Her Daughters were Sadie (My mum's mum and again born there) and Joan who both sadly passed away recently. Joans funeral was Friday and she was 96. Edith's husband was George Watson but I know he passed away quite young and never went to war because he was too ill. 

 

I'v been looking at the 1939 Register on Ancestry and there's an entry for 43 Garden Street which mentions those names.

 

Edith Mary Watson, born 1890, Hosiery Machinist.

George William Watson, born 1888, Motor Engineer's Labourer

Joan Mary Watson, born 1920, Despatch Clerk.

 

 

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  • 1 year later...
On 10/7/2018 at 11:16 AM, Cliff Ton said:

The old Radford Mill is being converted to residential use, and clearly includes a new bit sticking out at the front. Once completed I guess it might blend in, but at the moment it doesn't look too promising.......

 

TJS8PZb.jpg

 

fuZjgZr.jpg

 

And the end result doesn't look too bad; the new is in a reasonably similar style to the old....even if it is full of students.

 

https://goo.gl/maps/RZsUTEPDV7tJxD9z9

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  • Cliff Ton changed the title to Garden Street area - Radford

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