8 York Street Peterhead

[hazelstephen]

 ???I was born at no8 in 1941. Would like to know who lived there before my family. They were called Charles Murray/Isabella Murray. Cant find any records of it and as no 8 no longer exists,it has been pulled down, would just like to know when my g.parents moved in .    Hazel many thanks

[margmasson]

Hello Hazelstephen,
       I am interested to see you were born at  8 York St Peterhead. My late husband was born there in 1934. His father was born there 1905 and his grandmother in 1880's My late father in law grew up there as it was his grandmothers home. Do you know when the building was demolished?
                         Marg.

[supernova]

Hello Marg,

York Street was named after the York Buildings Company who owned Peterhead 1720-26

The corner of York Street as we knew it ceased to exist when it was pulled down in the 70's. It was merged into St Peter Street and 58 flats were erected on the site that looked like souless cement buildings, a terrible eyesore to the people of the town. They were fraught with problems and were finally emptied in 2003 and are now in the process of being pulled down. I don't think any decision has been made about the future but it's bound to be a commercial site as it's been proved that it wasn't ideal for residential living.

I was born at number 8 too (Hazel's sister) and even though I left when young I can still envisage the flat about Neish's shop and the smell of bleach in the outside washhouse. Renovation isn't always progress, they should have kept the character of that corner.

[margmasson]

  Hello Supernova,
      Thank  you for info re 8 York St. Do you know when it was built? I presume it was a block of flats? I thougut my father in laws mother was born there, but in the 1891 census they were living at 39 Queen St. They must have moved to York St soon after, as my F I L was born and grew up there. I don't know how long my husband lived there but think he spent most of his childhood in Aberdeen. He migrated to Australia 1958. His parents followed about a year later. His sister,
  brother and their families followed. In 1971 he and his parents had a trip home. I guess they visited Peterhead #8 was still there then. It would have been very nostalgic for them. Does York St still exist? Or has the name been changed.
             Marg.

[supernova]

Hi Marg,

I haven't found out when it was built but it was a Draper, Haberdasher's shop with flats above. I believe the shopkeeper may have owned the whole block.

http://travel.yahoo.com/p-map-490452-map_of_peterhead-i

If you visit the above link you'll find a street plan of Peterhead, keep double clicking to zoom in closer.

Follow the pink line that is West Road, leading to Kirk Street you will come to the yellow line and the first grey triangle was the site of 8 York Sreet. The little triangle is no more as it integrated with St Peter Street and number 8 has been reassigned across the road to the the house on the corner to the left, York Sreet stretches all the way up to Peterhead Academy.

Here is an old photo I found on the web, you can see the shops underneath and the flat upstairs is the one to the right of no.8

York Street was always a very busy place for the view your husband would have had was harbour traffic, town centre traffic and laterly Crosse and Blackwells canning factory directly opposite although I don't know when that was build, certainly before my time pre 50's.

I just found a site with a lot of old photo's of Peterhead
http://comments.fotki.com/Bluetoonser/ which are taken round about that corner.

Another strange fact was that my grandparents lived at 31 Queen Street before they moved to York Street - or maybe not strange at all! Happy searching.

[margmasson]

Hello Supernova!
          This is so exciting. Thanks for the pic of #8. Is the church still there? My father in law may have attended there when he was a boy. I love the old pics.(I am very interested in history) I guess many of these places would have been familiar to my f.i.l. Was able to pinpoint the site on the map. Interesting the building contained a drapers shop. My father in law did some kind of apprenticeship in Drapery.(At the insistence of his granny) I wonder if he worked at that shop. On his marriage certificate he stated  he was a "drapers assistant".They must have gone back to Peterhead soon after marriage. I believe he was out of work and that was probably when he started with  Cross and Blackwell (Ihad forgotten about that until you mentioned the factory) Interesting your family lived in Queen St! I wonder if the knew any of the Masson family.Thank you for taking the time and effort to send me all this information. Ireally do appreciate it.(can't wait to show this to my son)
                         Many thanks
                                    Marg
 

[flst]

Just to let you know that you can go on to Google maps & see a satellite view of Peterhead. It's worth checking out!
flst

[margmasson]

 Thanks flst.
                        I will do that.
                                   Marg.

[ev]

hi all 

had a look at the 1881 census

2 york street peterhead - being built

4 york street - wood , mcritchie , and dalgarno surnames

6 york street - uninhabited

and that's it - so no. 8 was possibly built after this date

here is a town map of peterhead 1868
click on box xx111 . 7 . 11 for york street

http://www.nls.uk/maps/townplans/peterhead.html

ev

PS - HAVE FOUND MORE HOUSES IN YORK STREET
       PLEASE SEE MY NEXT POST