Cocks Cottages in Aylesford, Kent

[Bartonin NZ]

I have a birth in 1873 that records an address as Cocks Cottages, Aylesford.  In the 1871 census the family were living in Back Street, West Malling but obviously moved and I can't locate the above cottages anywhere.  Has anybody heard of these cottages or maybe suggest a website to look please.
Will appreciate any advice.

[Hunkydory]

Can you give the family's name, I live in aylesford, but don't know of cocks cottages, they were probley  demolished. I've looked through my local history books but can only find ' coys ' cottages.

[Bartonin NZ]

Thank you for your reply Hunkydory.  The Miller family lived in West Malling and Aylesford only for a short time before immigrating to New Zealand.   Mrs Harriett Miller (nee Langridge) was born in Barming.  John Miller was originally from Hastings, Sussex.  John's occupation was a brickmaker and I notice by the 1870 map of West Malling there was a brickfield a short distance from Back Street.

[Hunkydory]

Yes there was a brickworks and the village of Eccles (next village to aylesford) was built to house the workers around 1880. They were paid very well. And got drunk a lot, so much,  that there was a small chapel built to try and get them off the booze. There are still remnants of the brick works around. But that land is now earmarked for new housing so it will be lost forever in a few years.

[shaun]

Hi,

I stumbled across similar questions when I was looking at Census forms for my family in Wouldham, Kent. And what I found is that rather than the households being split up per road. Each individual group of Terraced houses would have been given their own name. If you look at my first attachment. What is now called 'High Street' wouldn't have been recorded with the normal house number system we use now. Instead each little group of houses you see would have their own name, for example Portland Terrace, Heartfield Terrace, etc.

Then I believe that each house that is in that terrace would have been referred to as a cottage.

So for example, My family were listed as having the address, 'Langford Cottages'. The Census form showed 8 different families living in 'Langford Cottages'. Today there still exists a group of 8 Terraced houses in Wouldham Highstreet with an old plaque on the building facade that says 'Langford Terrace 1807'. So these will most definitely be the 8 Langford cottages that the 8 different families lived in.

Please see my second attachment which shows this. If you go onto google street view you may be lucky enough to find some plaques that still exisit on the fronts of some of the houses.

hope this helps.

Thanks, Shaun

[Bartonin NZ]

Thank you Shaun for your reply.   I thought as much, but your explanation confirmed it.  Now I just have to find where these cottages were in Aylesford.  Tracing the family just brings one mystery after another.   
Regards, Barbara

[Ruskie]

Shaun is right with his very clear explanation.

You can sometimes be lucky to find houses, terraces etc named on old maps, so it is worth checking some more old maps.