Recommended Posts

Yes Col many of the 'Standard of England' clients were Bestwood folk,,  there used to be what we called the 'Jitty'' a cut thru from Hucknall/Paton rd,,over the railway bridge then the 'Jitty' wendled between allotments finally passing some old terraced cottagers and emerging onto Park Lane..

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites
  • Replies 83
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Posts

Reading benjamin1945's post (#1), it reminded me of a post I put on a couple of years ago regarding days out. We were always out during the summer months. As a kid living in the Meadows almost everyo

Let’s get this ‘Day Trip’ topic back on track as I’m old enough to remember when half the back page of the E.Post listed all the different rail trips available that weekend. (full page at Bank holiday

Standard Of England pub, Park Lane,Basford,     Three generations of David's family in the old 2nd left is David's great grandmother Hannah Oldham, 3rd left David's grandmother Mary Lane (always

6 hours ago, benjamin1945 said:

there used to be what we called the 'Jitty''

Gitty, or Jitty, Twitchell, Gennell or Ginnell 

Whichever one of these you use will probably define where you come from in Notts

Twitchell was originally peculiar to the city of Nottingham, Gitty or Jitty was commonly used in the mining areas of Notts and Gennell or Ginnell was used in the far north of the county and South Yorkshire

What do you use?

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

It was twitchell for us Bulwellians, although the path alongside the railway between Northern Bridge and Brooklyn Road was known as 'Station Pad'. The 'jitty' Benjamin refers to went over Ha'penny Bridge.

  • Like 1
  • Upvote 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Twitchell was a new word for me when I left Hucknall, it seemed to be an exclusively south Nottingham word (Bramcote, Beeston area). 'Pad' was the usual term for alleyways around Hucknall, Linby and Papplewick and there were a number of 'black pads' associated with the pits at Hucknall and Linby. The 'black' in black pad was due to them being formed from crushed coal and shale from the pits.

 

Never heard of Jitty, Gitty, Gennel or Gunnel in this context.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I knew a twitchell in Gedling, a ginny in Woodthorpe and my mum always referred to these kind of paths as snickets.  I use the word snicket for a cut-through near where I live now, but no-one else here seems to have heard of that term 

Link to post
Share on other sites

We used to call alleyways snickets, also any short cut. I thought gennels were dead end alleys but might be wrong. Or it could have been the other way round:huh:

Link to post
Share on other sites

We were Posh on Bestwood estate,, we had ''Cul-de- sacs''..............it was growing up that we used that term  ie, i lived up the ''Cul-de-sac''..........obviously French,, but hardly ever heard it apart from childhood.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

If we were discussing a gap between rows of terraced housing, we referred to it as an entry. Something more substantial was an alley.

However, if it was a more salubrious area, or more rural, it was a twitchell.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Cul de sac reminds me of the woman, learning French was ordering coal. On the phone, she said Blah, blah - - "a ton of coal (and in order keep up with her French, she added) s'il vous plaît."

The coal merchant said "what?"

A ton of coal, s'il vous plaît."

What's with this s'il vous plaît?

"I'm learning French. It's French for please"

"Ah, I see. In that case, do you want it a la carte or cul de sac?"

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

In my logic and I was born and bred Radford an entry led to the back of houses and a twitchell was a route to get through to another road. Side of the vicarage on Hartley Road which goes through to Longsdale Road was a twitchell. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

In my world 'entry' was the way to the back of houses, and anything else was an alley.

 

The word 'twitchell' was too upmarket for anyone on Clifton and I never heard it until years later.

 

Cul-de-sac was an entire road which was a dead end, even though you could perhaps walk out of it through a path at the 'dead' end.

  • Upvote 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

The path at the end would be called a twitchell I presume, if in a reasonable area.

Ben would know roads such as Raymede Drive, which had short off shoots, then a large loop of houses at the end. These would also be known as cul de sacs, even though they made up part of longer roads.

Link to post
Share on other sites
19 hours ago, benjamin1945 said:

Yes Col many of the 'Standard of England' clients were Bestwood folk,,  there used to be what we called the 'Jitty'' a cut thru from Hucknall/Paton rd,,over the railway bridge then the 'Jitty' wendled between allotments finally passing some old terraced cottagers and emerging onto Park Lane..

 

Yep, remember it well Ben.  We used to often go that way to get to Osborne's Barber's shop just by the junction of Park Lane with Brooklyn Road.  Looking at this map, the old area of allotments is now all housing and what remains of the path from Paton Road now emerges as Gayhurst Road.  I'm fairly sure the last house along the row in Park Lane is what was Osborne's.  Looking at that whole area now you'd hardly guess it used to be a mass of railways, but if you zoom out a bit it's easier to make out how there are 'corridors' of new build where the old railways used to be.

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@52.9915418,-1.1787114,243m/data=!3m1!1e3

  • Like 1
  • Upvote 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Yes, Osbornes was the last but one house on the left, before the bridge, going south. As well as cutting hair, he also sold fishing tackle. You could walk up the side of the house onto the railway embankment alongside the rat hole, then across the main GC line onto the opposite embankment and come out at the top of Arnold Road. It was my regular journey to school. There were large concrete obstructions on either side of the Park Lane Bridge, which we kids believed were to hinder the approach of German tanks!!

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Remember Osbornes barber shop very well...............Dad and Grandad went there and had my first cut there,,funny thing is i have a cousin who now lives there,,     also to Jim) do you remember the little hut just on Wallis street that was a fish and chip shop ?

Edit

I also recall the concrete obstructions Jim

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Jim,

Can't say I recall the obstructions, but there was definitely a Pill Box at the bottom of the station path by Northern Bridge.

Yes, I recall Osborne's selling fishing tackle.  I also recall reading back issues of all sorts of comics such as Lion, Tiger etc., whilst waiting to be scalped.  Also Mr Osborne (don't recall his first name), took up painting and used to display his paintings in the front window of the shop, alongside bits of fishing stuff and bags of 'hemp seed'.  I also sometimes discussed music with him. We shared an interest in Django Reinhardt and he once asked his Mrs to take me into their room behind the shop to find a Django LP, which he lent me between cuts.  I think he was a decent sort.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, FLY2 said:

The path at the end would be called a twitchell I presume, if in a reasonable area.

Ben would know roads such as Raymede Drive, which had short off shoots, then a large loop of houses at the end. These would also be known as cul de sacs, even though they made up part of longer roads.

 

Funny thing is Fly none of the roads ie closes were ever called 'Cul-de-sacs' probably were,, but the only places on Old Bestwood that were actually called cul-de-sacs were on Andover,,known as first and second,,

  • Upvote 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

That's right Ben, because strictly speaking, the weren't actually a cul de sac.

It was good when I was doing Mr Softee in that area during 1968. Had some great laughs, especially when I rammed Superman, and all the kids were jumping up and down and cheering madly.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Ben / Col, have either of you recently seen the old house near Park Lane bridge. I don't know whether it was an old railway house, but it's in a real dilapidated state now. The chimney stacks are on the verge of collapsing.

Link to post
Share on other sites
6 minutes ago, DJ360 said:

 

  Also Mr Osborne (don't recall his first name), 

 

It was Ted...............

Link to post
Share on other sites
50 minutes ago, FLY2 said:

That's right Ben, because strictly speaking, the weren't actually a cul de sac.

It was good when I was doing Mr Softee in that area during 1968. Had some great laughs, especially when I rammed Superman, and all the kids were jumping up and down and cheering madly.

 

Hope you didn't suffer from Whippy lash.

  • Upvote 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...