Author Topic: Park Road, Hockley  (Read 1362 times)

Peg Monkey

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Park Road, Hockley
« on: October 14, 2018, 05:50:31 PM »
I had relatives who lived at the southern end of Park Rd in the 50s, near the junction with All Saints Rd. They lived in a back-to-back courtyard house known as a 2up2down, but that was a misdescription, the house had only 1 room downstairs and a scullery, barely big enough for a sink and a cooker, they reared 6 children there, so there was 8 occupants - how on earth they survived in such conditions I will never know, there was 1 outside toilet for 6 houses and a communal washroom, which people called the brewhouse. I've produced a plan from memory but a word of caution - this is based on the memory of a 10 year old - me, 59 years ago, I'm also attaching a link which will take you to a map of the general area, you should have no problem identifying the courtyard - shaped like an arrow head in the middle of the map. https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=18&lat=52.4919&lon=-1.9173&layers=168&b=6
Peg.
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.

Edmund Fifield

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Re: Park Road, Hockley
« Reply #1 on: October 14, 2018, 07:00:18 PM »
PEG.that was almost the same lay out as 43-45 Whitmore St Hockley.
Make every day a day to remember
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And you ain't coming back

Peg Monkey

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Re: Park Road, Hockley
« Reply #2 on: October 14, 2018, 11:37:43 PM »
PEG.that was almost the same lay out as 43-45 Whitmore St Hockley.


What I can't understand is, why people living in such dreadful conditions still had large families - I know few had TV and little birth control but was it really that simple? :-\
Peg.
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.

Phil

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Re: Park Road, Hockley
« Reply #3 on: October 15, 2018, 10:11:35 AM »

What I can't understand is, why people living in such dreadful conditions still had large families - I know few had TV and little birth control but was it really that simple? :-\
Peg.


Quite simple, I lived in one of those one down two up back to back houses in Nechells. The reason why families lived in such conditions was because they had no choice. They were forced to live there because the rents were cheaper and they were mostly in very poorly paid employment.


Because of this poor pay, early nights were the order of the day during the cold winter. In most working class houses you would find that except for the odd few that could afford to visit the local pub that they were in bed by 10.p.m. most nights, simply because it was the most efficient way to keep warm,  as coal or coke was too expensive for everyday use and was only used for cooking when houses had the old black open ranges. We all know what happens when a man and a woman have an early night and they are not tired. The lack of birth control,  and some religions have a lot to answer for, ours was a Roman Catholic House


There were eight of us living in our little hovel, before I had to move back in with my grandparents when the ninth was on it's way. The Council finally gave us a three bedroom property half a mile away, but only because they were demolishing the street.
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

roy one

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Re: Park Road, Hockley
« Reply #4 on: October 15, 2018, 10:48:52 AM »

hi phil
           we lived in a two up and two down and you say there was 8 in your family and to keep warm mom and dad went to bed early and we know what happens then     so more kids less money for coal no money more kids  catch 22  yes our house was full until mom got her own house
each day is a blessing and I bless each day when it comes

astoness

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Re: Park Road, Hockley
« Reply #5 on: October 15, 2018, 10:54:57 AM »
were you an only child peg?? as phil said the reasons for large families was simple really....of course by the late 60s birth control and sex education was a little better but before that it was nothing to have 15 children in one family and that would not include a few infant deaths or still borns...how they coped i will never know...quite rare to only have a couple of kids in our day possible reasons being the wife could not have anymore or they just stopped doing the thing that caused them  O0


lyn

Peg Monkey

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Re: Park Road, Hockley
« Reply #6 on: October 15, 2018, 02:02:36 PM »
were you an only child peg?? as phil said the reasons for large families was simple really....of course by the late 60s birth control and sex education was a little better but before that it was nothing to have 15 children in one family and that would not include a few infant deaths or still borns...how they coped i will never know...quite rare to only have a couple of kids in our day possible reasons being the wife could not have anymore or they just stopped doing the thing that caused them  O0


lyn


Yes, I am Lyn - probably somewhat surprising given my mother was the youngest of 11 children - all born and raised in our 3 bed terrace in Heaton St - I've been number crunching: my grandmother had the first child at 24 and the last (my mum) at 45 so for 21 years my gran was either pregnant or rearing an infant.  So there was 21 years between the oldest and the youngest and I imagine you were kicked out the nest as soon as you could stand on your own 2 feet.
But here's the thing (you might remember this from my posts on the Heaton St Thread) my grandfather had a badly deformed leg, (made worse by botched surgery), permanently set at a right angle backwards (he used a wooden peg leg) but it clearly didn't cramp his style - lord knows how many children he would have sired if he had not been disabled!
Make love no war? He could have been the author.
Peg.
P.S. And he still had time for fishing - won many contests when he was in The Bull (The Flat) Fishing Club.
P.P.S. Have I inherited his labido? Some questions will never be answered. ::)
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.


 

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