Author Topic: Fish Street, Whittlesey location?  (Read 2692 times)

Offline Carolynxyz

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Fish Street, Whittlesey location?
« on: Thursday 31 May 18 22:20 BST (UK) »
Hello,
My ancestor, Robert Giddings, whose obituary says he was a "well-known navigator," died in December 1831, residence said to be Fish Street, Whittlesey. I can't find this street, even on the 1841 tithe map.  Can anyone advise where it was situated, please?
Thanks, Carolyn

Offline WhiskyMac

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Re: Fish Street, Whittlesey location?
« Reply #1 on: Monday 04 June 18 19:35 BST (UK) »
Hi Carolyn,

How old was Robert when he passed away.

WhiskyMac

Offline Carolynxyz

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Re: Fish Street, Whittlesey location?
« Reply #2 on: Monday 04 June 18 19:55 BST (UK) »
Thanks for your interest, whiskeymac. He was 75, putting his birthdate at around 1756, though that is currently elusive. His son, John, was also an excavator, and he is said to be on Fish Street when he died in 1826. I am sure I have the correct Robert, although there are several born around this time. I did some research in my Whittlesey transcripts, looking for others names who are associated with Fish Street, and a strange pattern began to emerge. Many of the entries suggest that Fish Street and Baunce were used interchangeably.

Offline maddys52

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Re: Fish Street, Whittlesey location?
« Reply #3 on: Tuesday 05 June 18 11:32 BST (UK) »
I can't see any references to Fish St Whittlesea, though there is this advertisement for an Inn at Baunce Lane in 1834

"Lot 4. All that Public-house or Inn, situate, standing, and being in or near Baunce-lane, in the town of Whittlesey afforesaid, and called or known by the name or sign of the "Wind Mill", together with the Brewhouse, Cellars, Barn, Stables, Out-houses and other Buildings, Yards, Garden, Right of Common, and Appurtenances thereunto belonging, now in the occupation of Mr. Thomas Merrill."

Stamford Mercury, Friday, January 10, 1834, p.1


Offline WhiskyMac

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Re: Fish Street, Whittlesey location?
« Reply #4 on: Tuesday 05 June 18 19:41 BST (UK) »
I cannot find Baunce Lane. Do we have any idea where that is.

I have found burial details:

Name GIDDINGS Robert
Age: 72
Year: 1831
Place: Whittlesey, St. Mary
Address: Briggate

Briggate is a road running East (south of) and West (north of) alongside Kings Dyke.

WhiskyMac

Offline Carolynxyz

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Re: Fish Street, Whittlesey location?
« Reply #5 on: Tuesday 05 June 18 21:31 BST (UK) »
Thanks Maddy and Whiskeymac.  Maddy, I've started to check the transcripts for the Merrill name in that advertisement, and so far I have found Alice Merrill who died 1833. She is described as being of Baunce, not Fish Street, so maybe my theory is wrong!  Whiskeymac, Baunce is in the northern part of the town, running north from Whitmore Street.  Gracious Street runs off it to the right, at right angles. The Robert Giddings on Briggate is another Robert.  Confusingly, two Robert Giddings of similar ages died within a few months of each other, but mine is definitely the one on Fish Street.

Offline Carolynxyz

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Re: Fish Street, Whittlesey location?
« Reply #6 on: Tuesday 05 June 18 22:03 BST (UK) »
Whiskeymac, I think Baunce is now Windmill Street

Offline Ruskie

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Re: Fish Street, Whittlesey location?
« Reply #7 on: Wednesday 06 June 18 00:31 BST (UK) »
Perhaps someone with a subscription to FindMyPast could do an address search of the 1841 census for Fish Street? If that street can be found, you could then check the enumerator's walk to try to locate it on a map using nearby streets as reference points.

Something else I wondered is that although the obituary said Fish Street was in Whittlesey, perhaps they got that wrong, or perhaps boundaries changed? Is there a Fish Street elsewhere? A neighbouring village perhaps?

Offline Carolynxyz

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Re: Fish Street, Whittlesey location?
« Reply #8 on: Wednesday 06 June 18 02:32 BST (UK) »
Excellent suggestions, Ruskie.  I do have a subscription to FindMyPast and an address search on "Whittlesey, Fish" yields no hits.  Nor does "Whittlesey, Baunce." However, "Whittlesey, Windmill" yields 133 hits, including names such as Charles Campion, the blacksmith, whose name appears in the parish registers associated with Fish St and Baunce Lane!  Windmill St also yields Robert and Mary Bedford, Mary Bedford nee Giddings being my ancestor's older sister.  Yet on the 1841 tithe map for Whittlesey, Robert Bedford is shown on Baunce Lane, occupying property owned by an Ann Giddings, who I suspect is the second wife of my Robert Giddings. The tithe map does not show a Fish Street or Windmill Street.  Modern maps clearly show that Baunce Lane is now Windmill St.  But where does Fish St tie in?  My gut feeling is telling me that Fish St is the original name for the road leading off Whitmore St, that it changed its name to Baunce Lane, with some people continuing to call it Fish St, and that this then became Windmill St. I suspect further research in the parish registers will perhaps indicate when the names Fish and Baunce died out. 

Fish Street came from the parish registers and is associated with quite a few names, eg Campion, Farr, Merrill, so I think it was in Whittlesey and not an adjoining town or village.