IN THE SHADOW OF THE ROSSE - Shipley

More documents

Recommendations

Info

the outstanding debt was bought. from his executors, by a Major John Speak Elwiss of the Royal Horse Artillery. In 1929 Major Elwiss was forced to sue, the by then widowed Mrs Rhodes, for repayment of the outstanding loan of £758 7s 2d, which she failed to do. The High Court ordered the loan to be repaid by a given date. When this was not done the court ruled that Mrs Rhodes had forfeited her rights to the properties and they were ordered to be handed over to Major Elwiss. In fact, the houses in question had already been sold to their occupiers by this time. In 1906 a small group of four houses was built at the top of Ashley Road [29]. They were quite unique, in that the shape of the houses had to fit into a rather unusual angular plot. The houses were of the through type, but, due to the shape of the plot, the front and back rooms were not in line with each other, but slightly off side. The angular shapes of these houses, and many of the other gable-end houses on the site, was due to them being on the edge of the Barden Conduit, which ran diagonally across the site, and over which building was not allowed. The opening of St Peter’s church in 1909 [see above], marked the end of the development stage of this site, a process that had begun back in 1869. All the available plots had been built on, and, no more could be done. 1906 This mini-village with its shops, pub and church, small industrial premises, and a mixture of house types had taken 40 years to complete and it was to survive more or less intact for the next 60 years. All of the houses in Oastler Road, and most of the houses in the other roads within this site, were back-to-backs, though they were a mixture of types and sizes. In all, there were a total of 112 back-to-back houses constructed within the four roads, and 32 through houses. The houses were a mixture of one, two and even three bedroom types. There was also a large attic, used either for storage or as an extra bedroom for those families with several children. Most of the back-to-backs faced out onto the street, and had their own small walled-yards. The majority of these houses had their own lavatories and a coalhouse in the yard. The house door led straight into the main room of the house. The 18
main feature of this room was a range style fireplace, i.e. a coal fire, with an oven built into the side for cooking. The limited space within the oven, meant that, in many cases, vegetables had to be cooked in a pan balanced on the edge of the fire-grate. It also meant that the fire had to be lit even on hot days so that the occupants could cook. Those houses that were in the middle of the blocks had their ‘kitchen sinks’ built into a cupboard at the side of the fireplace nearest to the window, to allow for the drainage outlet. Those houses with gable ends, or with side outlet to a passage had their sinks at the top of the cellar steps, or ‘cellar head’ - a small landing which usually also included a gas ring or gas cooker. The cellars consisted of a large main room, with a sink and a small brick-boiler for the laundry; a small pantry and, in certain houses, a ‘coil oil’. In these houses the coal was delivered through a grate either built into the wall side or into the top step just outside the house door. The cellars were also used as a, ‘bathroom’, though the bath would have been a portable zinc one. The hot water would be fed into the bath from a pipe leading from the fire-boiler, though after finishing the bath would have to be ‘ladled’ out by hand. In post-war years, gas water heaters were used for the purpose of heating the water. Lighting was by gas, at least until the late 1940’s, but this was only available in the main living room and the main cellar. There was no lighting of any kind upstairs, and, on dark nights, people went to bed by candlelight. The main bedroom had a fireplace in it, though the smaller ones did not. . Rents for the one bedroom houses in these streets in 1910 averaged around 4s 11d per week, while the two bedroom houses were around 5s 8d a week. The larger, through houses, in Glenview Terrace had a theoretical rent of 6s 6d per week, but seven out of the nine houses in this row were owner-occupied. All the houses in Victoria Avenue, on the other hand, were rented, and they brought in between 6s 11d and 7s 11d per week for their owners. As an example of an individual sale, a house in Ferrand Road in 1902 fetched £162. 25 A survey of wages within the textile industry, compiled in 1906, shows that the average weekly wage for a man was 28s. 1d., and for women 15s. 5d. So the rents for these houses would be well within the limits of such people. 26 Census returns, and rate books for the late 19th and the early 20th century, show that most of the wage earners who lived in these houses, were, for the most part, skilled craftsmen and textile workers as well as an assortment of shopkeepers, clerks, and a few self-employed. Even as late as 1901 there were quite a few quarry workers in these houses, showing that stone quarrying was still a common occupation in <strong>Shipley</strong> at this time. With the exception of the quarry workers, there was a similar class of person still occupying these houses in the 1960s n.b.The block of shops to the east of Robinson Street were also built by the Rhodes firm. They were then sold to Bradford businessman, Michael John Barry in 1900. But as they are outside the boundary of the, ‘three fields’, they are not part of this study. 25 National Archives : The Valuation Office Survey-Finance (1909/10) Act : IR 58 & IR 134 26 Askwith, G.R. (1906) Earnings and hours of labour of workpeople of the United Kingdom: I: textile trades in 1906: Board of Trade. Earnings and Hours Enquiry 1906 19
Page 1 and 2: IN THE SHADOW OF THE ROSSE by Ian W
Page 3 and 4: Main sections of the whole site as
Page 5 and 6: CHAPTER ONE In terms of land usage,
Page 7 and 8: the name of the Over Hall Farm. Wit
Page 9 and 10: Kirkstall, who had settled in Shipl
Page 11 and 12: CHAPTER THREE Prior to fairly recen
Page 13 and 14: 35 Ferrand Road and 18 Queen’s Ro
Page 15 and 16: other-in-law, who in turn, sold it
Page 17 and 18: CHAPTER FOUR In early 1882 the firm
Page 19 and 20: Following her purchase, Mrs Rhodes
Page 21: CHAPTER FIVE In 1893, Elizabeth Ann
Page 25 and 26: agreed to take on the task of clear
Page 27 and 28: The middle years of the Second Worl
Page 29 and 30: water and indoor plumbing. Quite a
Page 31 and 32: such houses were erected during the
Page 33 and 34: Aerial photograph of the site by C.
Page 35 and 36: Photographs of houses in the inner

IN THE SHADOW OF THE ROSSE - Shipley

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?