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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Cumberland => Topic started by: alkari on Thursday 21 July 11 12:50 BST (UK)
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Can anyone tell me the correct address for what my grandfather lovingly called the Whitehaven "slums". As children we would walk down from the Town Mission, down a series of steps with spaces that would have been the outlines of houses built into them, down to the docks. I believe my grandfather may have actually lived there as a child. Is it possible this is the Preston Quarter (as this also rings bells in my memory)? All very vague but it is years since I was there.
Also does anyone know which denomination the Town Mission is associated with? The one up on the hill overlooking the docks (Hensingham side?).
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From Genuki http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/CUL/StBees/Gaz1868.html
"PRESTON-QUARTER, a township in the parish of St. Bees, ward of Allerdale-above-Derwent, county Cumberland. It is a large township, extending northward from St. Bees to Whitehaven, and contains the hamlet of Harris Moor. There are numerous large collieries belonging to the Earl of Lonsdale, who is lord of the manor. There is an endowed free school."
In the area you are talking about was possibly the inappropriately named Mount Pleasant, seen at the top of MandieP's delightful photo-
(http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=275480.0;id=73598;image)
I think the houses at the side of the steps were "McGarry's buildings". I imagine the houses lost under Quay St car park were not paticularly healthy places to live ... Bardy Lane, James Place etc.
Then there were the "Newhouses" - 266 houses sharing one tap :( and no privies >:(
Later on, privies were provided, 1 per 10 houses. It's hard to see where these once were, but you can just about make out their foundations here http://tinyurl.com/3uu38b4
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Thanks Geoff. The map references helped. The area I'm thinking of is probably a little nearer the docks on the steep slope between Rosemary Lane and West Strand, up above the Quay Street and Beacon car parks. I think I probably need to find an old map of the area and hopefully a census reference to my grandfather's family (Truett) but it's a long shot. The photo is amazing!
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If you are interested in around 1923, the Godfrey Edition reprint of the OS maps of that date will be useful:
http://www.alangodfreymaps.co.uk/cd6702.htm
I am not linked with the publishers except as a customer!
A
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Here is a larger map than the Godfrey version :)
Go to http://www.old-maps.co.uk/maps.html?coords=296990,518135
Select (on right) 1866 Town Plan 1:500
You can enlarge the "viewing window" by pressing Ctrl + a few times.
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Thanks everyone. Looking at the old maps the steps adjacent to MacGarry's Buildings are certainly the area I am recalling. Now all I have to do is tie it into some actual records.....
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One of my books calls them Mount Steps.
I think the 1881 and 1891 censuses call them Quay Steps. I'm sure you know them well enough http://tinyurl.com/3lxkj2o
The problem with the censuses is that numbering (if there was any) seems to change from one census to the next in that area. I was trying to decide where my folks lived by following the "Enumerator's Walk". It's just possible they lived in the old house by Bardy Steps http://tinyurl.com/3jluxvh
I think these could be the houses visible on the old photo of MandieP's that I posted above.
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The photograph below shows a modern view looking down to Whitehaven Harbour from where the Mount Pleasant houses were located. This was taken immediately above the Sewage Treatment Works / Old Electric Lighting Building.
The Mount Pleasant steps are on the left-hand side of the photograph (one of the viewing areas from the steps can be seen). This photograph can be compared with that of Geoff-E (posted 21 July 2011) which is also the same as Mandie P's avatar.
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I think I probably need to find an old map of the area and hopefully a census reference to my grandfather's family (Truett) but it's a long shot. The photo is amazing!
Good day Alkari,
Do you have a family connection to either the Mary Ann Truett who married (Jesse) David Deacon, Whitehaven Registration District (Sep 1878 Qtr) or the William Scott Truett (known as 'Biff' or Billy) who was lost at sea by enemy action (Nov. 1942) by any chance?
Mary Ann Truett was David Deacon's second wife. They seem to have have left West Cumberland for pastures new not long afterwards. Any chance you know what happened to them please?
'Biff' Truett was the son of William Beck Truett and Margaret Ellen Truett (nee Conery). By the 1940s that branch of the Truetts were living at Kells but I imagine they had started out somewhere in the harbour area. Perhaps if you are a relative to them you may know the details?
Thanks very much.
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Hi Jos
William Beck Truett was my grandfather's oldest brother, my great uncle Bill. My grandfather was Edward Diamond Turett, son of William Scott Truett (Billy's grandfather) and Agnes Beck. Billy was my mum's cousin and while she was too young to have remembered him, I recall stories of him having died during the war. My grandfather was also a merchant seaman during the war and earlier but I don't think he ever served with him.
We used to visit Uncle Bill and he would hide 50 pence each (a lot in those days!) down the side of the settee for us to find. His old side table has found its way to me over the years and now sits in a bedroom in Australia!
My research doesn't go back as far as Mary Ann but there was a sister to William Beck and Edward called Mary Jane.
Not sure if this helps
Take care Al
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I have previously researched William Scott ('Biff') Truett who lost his life in November 1942. If it is of interest, this is a link to the article I wrote:
http://2ndww.blogspot.com/2011/12/able-seaman-william-s-truett-mn.html
The attached photographs are recent ones taken of the Whitehaven Town Mission building at the top of Rosemary Lane, above where dwellings on Mount Pleasant were located.
(Photographs of Mount Pleasant to follow)
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Attached are modern photographs of the Mount Pleasant area:
(1) The 'Mount Steps' looking downwards adjacent to the Sewage Treatment Works / Electric Lighting Building (seen on the right of the photograph). The 'Bardy Steps', which are different to these 'Mount Steps', are still there but have not been restored to the same standard.
(2) View from the top of Mount Pleasant looking northwards towards The Beacon and Lowca further up the coast.
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Alkari:
Would I be correct in guessing your Granddad was known as Eddie Truett and possibly lived on 'The Valley' at one time? I think the Eddie Truett I have in mind had been in the Merchant Navy at one time. He was a good pal of John ('Jack') Acton, also a Merchant Seaman. Jack Acton lost two brothers (George and Billy Acton) on the same vessel that claimed the life of 'Biff' Truett. Another Whitehaven seaman from a well-known Whitehaven sea-faring family also died on this ship. He was called Tom Cradduck.
I think at one time or another these Whitehaven sea-faring families had all lived in the harbourside area (Quay Street / Hamilton Lane/ West Strand / Mount Pleasant). Some of my maternal forebears also lived in this part of Whitehaven (Mount Pleasant, Bardy Lane, Quay Street) with relatives living at the Newhouses a little further inland.
In June 2009 Dr Alan Crosby, one of Britain's best known researchers on local and family history, had an open day at Whitehavn on the topic of 'Filth, squalor and early death: Public health and housing in Victorian West Cumbria'. Many of the examples Dr Crosby used were from the harbourside area of Whitehaven (Quay Street, Mount Pleasant, Bardy Lane etc.).
Life in the so-called 'Good Old Days' was tough at times.
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This attachment is a modern-day view of the Mount Steps looking upwards towards the Mount Pleasant area. The Sewage Treament Works / Electric Lighting Building can be seen on the left-hand side of the photograph.
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I remember the town mission from when I was a child. My grandmother Nellie (Ellen Truett nee Jeffrey) was the organist there for many years. I believe that the steps we used to walk down are the Bardy steps (I think the small dwellings are still visible at each step) but I may be wrong. I'm sure grandad talked about having lived there but it doesn't fit with the whereabouts of the family according to birth records (see below). I'll have to go and check out the area when I'm back in England. There is a beautiful picture of the organ on Flicker - I will look up the link.
Grandad was Eddie Truett. Nana and grandad lived at 2 Bleng Avenue, Corkickle for as long as I knew them but prior to that lived up on Basket Road where my mum Sally was born. Grandad was at sea for several years and then worked at the coal mine that went under Whitehaven Harbour. We would go to the coastguard house/s with grandad and probably met Jack and Tom then but I have no recollection of either (I think the coastguard hut moved from the pier to the old carpet warehouse when the docks were renovated and then again later to their current location at which point grandad was "retired" even from his role as the body to be rescued!).
Father was William Scott Truett (born Kelswick Lane) whose family lived variously at the following addresses (bmd records):
1881 lived at 15 Windmill Brow, Whitehaven where William Beck Truett was born (4 months after parents marriage record)
1981 lived at 3 Townsley Court, Queen Street, Whitehaven
1899 lived at 4 Bacons Court, Charles Street, Whitehaven
1901 lived at 3 Couson’s(?) Court, Peter Street, Whitehaven
1902 lived at 22 Albion Street, Whitehaven
1904, 1907 and 1910 lived at 1 Bacon Court, Charles Street, Whitehaven
1914 lived at 17 Foundry Road, Parton
1916 and 1918 lived at 127 Queen Street, Whitehaven
William Scott Truett is recorded as a coalminer by the birth of his second child (1901 - John Joseph) while his father John Truett was a mariner so it seems there was a history of switching between the two professions.
I will be starting to look at this again next year when my son goes to school and I have more time as there are lots of gaps in my research. Would love to keep in touch.
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1901 lived at 3 Couson’s(?) Court, Peter Street, Whitehaven
That's Cowan's Court. :)
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Thanks Geoff. The writing was pretty bad and I hadn't had a chance to check it further yet. Am planning a full scale attack on my Whitehaven ancestors in the new year...... I seem to have lots of bits of paper without having made sense of them.
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Thanks for the update. While I was not sure, I felt some of the Truetts may have been linked to the Whitehaven Town Mission, which you have just confirmed. When I was trying to put together the story of William Scott ('Biff') Truett one or two of my relatives mentioned Eddie Truett was probably related, which you have also confirmed.
The Whitehaven Town Mission follows an evangelical tradition and has done since its foundation in the mid-19th century. There are some details about the Town Mission in the Whitehaven Archives Centre but not as much as the Church of England parishes, for example.
Best wishes to all and good luck for future research in 2012 and beyond.
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Hi Jos
Not sure about the extent of the Truett family's involvement in the Town Mission. Grandda (Eddie Truett) didn't attend services - His wife Ellen "Nellie" Truett (nee Jeffery) was the organist and would attend the Sunday evening services to play for as long as I can remember (although she was also involved with St Nicholas where I was baptised and I think was part of the sunday school staff there at one point as my cousins and I were there on the sunday my brother was born!). Nana was raised (I think) by Jonathan and Sarah Haile whom she spoke of as being strong church goers after the death of her father, Richard, when she was a child. The Jeffery/Gardiner family were Wesleyan (ex Egremont) based on marriage certificates.
Take care
Al
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This may assist a little for the original enquiry.
Attached are a couple of modern-day photographs of what I seem to remember some people referred to as Bardy Steps. Would these be the ones also referred to at times as the 'Quay Steps' Geoff-E mentions?
The top of these steps is just below the Whitehaven Town Mission. They lead down to Bardy Lane at the bottom (which now seems to have been officially re-named as Bardywell Lane as it was many years ago).
These photographs were taken in January 2012. The steps can still be distinctly made out, as can some of the "slums". Unlike the 'Mount Steps', photographs of which can be seen earlier, at present it would be unsafe to walk up and down the 'Bardy Steps'.
I had relatives living on Bardy Lane (No 9) until they were re-housed to council housing at Woodhouse in 1934. Apparently,Gt Grandmother Sarah Jane Savage (nee Kinsella) used to have a pet cockatoo in a cage while at Bardy Lane, and it moved to the new house with the family. It is believed this had originally been brought in by one of the boats coming in to Whitehaven harbour. The family also had cats which presumably would have been useful in the harbourside area where there would have been mice and rats to contend with!
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Hello Jos :)
Attached is a map c1870 showing two main flights of steps and several smaller flights here and there. I'm afraid I can't name any of them, ancient or modern, but I would imagine those opposite the end of Littledale Lane would be Bardy Steps.
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Is it OK to post old copies of OS maps to this site? I thought they would be queried or excluded by the moderator?
Anyhow, there is another set of steps immediately adjacent to the pumping station / electric lighting station which are still there (at the time of writing at least). This led up to some dwellings from the Bardy Lane level. I am not sure if these steps gave access all the way to the top of 'The Mount'. It is difficult to tell from the present day 'reality' view on the ground and it would probably need looked at on old photographs / maps to check it out.
A photograph of these steps are attached (immediately to the left of the newer brick of the pumping station).
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Is it OK to post old copies of OS maps to this site?
Probably not Jos, although apparently copyright on OS maps lasts no more than 50 years http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Out-of-copyright_maps
I have a similar pic to yours, taken in September, the dead trampoline was there then, but there were more leaves on the trees. :)
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There's an interesting old photo of West Strand showing several rows of houses on the hillside. The entrance to Bardy Lane is on the right, White's Lane in the centre and Quay St towards the left.
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Thanks for posting a very interesting photograph, particularly as it shows "Tansy" Teer's grocery store on the West Strand. This store was still on the go in the 1960s, when I think it was being run by two of the Teer daughters.
It seemed to be a bit like Arkwright's "Open All Hours" and would sell anything. If I remember rightly the property was declared unsafe and the two ladies moved out to retirement on or near Foxhouses Road. Possibly someone has more definite details on what happened?
There were also quite a number of public hostelries around the harbourside where one could get a 'dandelion & burdock' or a 'Vimto'! There may not have been running tap water in each house but other flavoured beverages were available in plenty around this part of town!
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Thanks for posting a very interesting photograph, particularly as it shows "Tansy" Teer's grocery store on the West Strand. This store was still on the go in the 1960s, when I think it was being run by two of the Teer daughters.
In fact, the 1911 census has two HEAD nieces (Jane and May) assisting in the grocery business.
The "Old West Cumbria" FaceBook group has a more recent, closer, clearer photo of the shop when it was named FM GAIR - she was daughter of a David GAIR
EDIT: The maiden name of Mrs TEER - who had the shop in 1911 - was GAIR. Rachel GAIR was a sister of David GAIR's. They were both children of the Harbour master, William GAIR http://tinyurl.com/7po64gz
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Hi Jos and Geoff
The Bardy steps look very familiar and I recall us having to be careful going down, hanging onto the handrail, even as children. This would have been in the mid-late 70's and I imagine they have deteriorated since then. We would have been going from the Town Mission to the docks with nana and grandda (Nellie and Eddie Truett) with grandda pointing out the homes on the way. I always had the impression that someone in his family had lived there at some stage but have nothing yet to confirm this. Nana was taken in as a child by a childless aunt and uncle connected with the church after her father died in a mining accident at Ullcoats Mine in Egremont.
The Mount steps are also familiar but more from looking up from the docks and feel too big to be the steps in memory. I think these may have been renovated as part of the dockland redevelopment?
Even now I find it hard to believe that whole families lived in such small places.
Thanks again
Al
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Hi Geoff and Jos, I actually saw this thread a while ago and thought I recognised the name Gair. Have just spoken to my friend and we think that Rachel Gair b approx 1866 is probably her grandma. Her father who grew up on Mount Pleasant used to speak of Tansy Gair being a cousin and also of a relation being harbourmaster. We know that his mother was Rachel and the age is right,her married name would have been Leathers. Unfortunately her dad died 4 years ago (2 weeks off his 100th birthday and very alert) as I'm sure he could have answered all your questions
Good luck with all your research Julie :D
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There's an interesting old photo of West Strand showing several rows of houses on the hillside. The entrance to Bardy Lane is on the right, White's Lane in the centre and Quay St towards the left.
Geoff, attached is a modern photograph (January 2012) showing approximately the part of the Whitehaven harbour area, Mount Pleasant & Town Mission area seen in your old photograph. You can just about make the route of the path and the steps leading down from that area (below the Duke Pit fan house) to Bardy Lane.
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jubed- Rachel Gair born 1866 was a cousin to Tansy Gairs father David Rachel married Joseph Leathers .Rachel was a sister to my grandmother Ruth Gilhooley nee Gair( who lived in Bardy Lane ) their parents were John Gair and Mary nee Hawkins .John was a brother of william Gair deputy harbour master.
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Hi KDH and welcome to Rootschat. My friend's dad was Joseph Leathers who was the son of Rachel and Joseph Leathers, so you are quite closely related, think your parent and Joe Leathers jnr would be cousins. If you wish I can send you a private message once you have done a couple more posts. If you answer this it will be one less.
Best wishes Julie :D :D
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My mother Eliza was Joseph cousin Rachel lived in Rosemary lane when first married and when I was young she had a shop on prospect and her daughter Rachel lived next door
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Yes that's right, my friend can remember her grandma (Rachel )having a shop. She used to visit with her dad. I think Rachel died when my friend was about 8(she's in her 60s now.) Her dad Joe was 2 weeks off his 100th birthday when he died 6 years ago. Rachel jnr was only in her 50s when she died. I met her once with my friend in Whitehaven.We have been friends since we were children when we were neighbours in Distington. Her sister still lives in the house which their dad built in the 1950s.
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your friend I will not say her name used to come and stay with us and her auntie Frances at Bardy Lane she was born the day before me on the 26th may
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Hi again, you've got the right person, she was born on the 25th. I should be able to PM you now , will try later as I have to go out.
Best wishes Julie ;D
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Hi I've sent you a personal message Julie :)
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Geoff-E mentions Mount Pleasant and McGarrys Buidings. Here a some pics/articles that may be of interest:
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/546694842241914131/ and https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/mount-steps-c-1900--493566440421323959/ are same photo with slightly different discriptions "Sea Port - Newhouses, Mount Pleasant Steps, Whitehaven" and "Mount Steps, circa 1900 - Whitehaven Harbour McGarry’s Buildings - West Strand"
https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/783213 "Mount Pleasant - Steps" 2008/2009
http://www.whitehavenandwesternlakeland.co.uk/development/mount-pleasant.htm "Refurbishment of Mount Steps - August 2010 - Whitehaven's West Strand"
http://www.cultrans.com/whitehaven.html General article on the slum conditions "Living Conditions in 19th Century Whitehaven"