Wardley Street Wandsworth

[r haworth]

Arthur Kent married Nancy Smith.
Henry Kent And Rose L Kent lived in Lydden Rd wandsworth are my cousins.
Ray.

[janet chambers]

my husband freddie chambers grew up in wardley street, his family were chambers/penfolds, he has some great memories of his childhood, although very hard working life in those days. his grandfather was john penfold, and he had the woodyard and they chop logs and sell them for kindling. old mr gardener had the anchor mission and he remembers the train set he had in the upstairs of the mission. once a year a lorry would come down the st and cart them off to kent to the hoppicking fields, which were his happiest memories. florries pub, angelo's sweet shop. thy were all totters and hawkers in his family, but he remembers a lot of the folk who lived there
 

[janet chambers]

more on wardley st. does anyone remember the townsends? jimmy morris? there was ruth and ted, and a man with a fantastic name, mannibal basset, he had a beautiful black horse and cart and he used to sell big plants to people who live in posh houses in london. freddie says him and his mates used to play by the wandle and throw stones over to the lemonade factory beyond. there was the pie and mash shop in garratt lane and his mum used to send him with a bowl to bring some back for tea. freddies mum used to make flowers and sell them, all hois family lived down wardley street, his grandfather and his uncle and aunts, penfolds, his great grandmother was called priscilla penfold, and she lived in a gipsy wagon at the turn of the 20th century, before he was born obviously but we have got paperwork from that era. it just fascinates me, i grew up in yorkshire, so i didnt ever see the original wardley st, only whats left of it now, but fred has told me stories of it all our married life. i love it.
   

[june hughes]

Hi Sasha Hughes I am June Hughes and married to Sammy Hughes, who father was Johnny Hughes brother of Owen Lilly Alice Albert Sam Hughes.
They have all passed away, Sam and I  live in Tooting I am writing this as Sam cannot use a computer. 

[june hughes]

Hi again from Sam and June Hughes sorry for miss spelling your name Sam does not know of any family in Gravesend as his dad did not tell him that he had relatives. 

[routeone]

Fascinating stuff! I have just started doing some family research and came across this thread.

My grandad, William Twyford (I believe his name was John William but the John part got ignored for some reason), lived at 27 Wardley Street and on 30/03/1902 he married my nan, Edith Flashman Long, who lived at 38 Wardley Street. On the same day my grandads sister, Caroline Twyford also from number 27, married James Slade who lived at 33 Lydden Road which is the next road along. Must have been some knees up with three families at the reception.

William and Edith Twyford then had children called Edith (Known as Edie), Helen (known as Nell), Thomas (my dad), Kathleen, Henry George, Arthur Frederick, Frederick, and Harry. Not all survived their childhood as was not uncommon in those days.

Sadly William was killed in 1914 at the Somme in France, and is buried in one of the well tended CWGC plots which I have visited. This left my nan to look after a load of kids in one of the poorest parts of London. No benefits then! You have to wonder how she managed. She was a lovely lady who lived until 1965.

I still have contact with some older cousins, and have fond memories of some of my dads siblings, my aunts and uncles. All were great people who looked after each other. Many ended up living on the other side of Garratt Lane in Atheldene Road.

I see from the other stories in this thread that the Long family would appear to have occupied several addresses down Wardley Street at the turn of the century, so guess we must be related by marriage. 

I would love to hear how Wardley Street progressed throughout the later part of the 1900's until it was pretty well all demolished in the 60's. Did its 1900 reputation continue until then? I think that it could be described as a street with a bit of 'character' about it!

With regards to the local pubs, my older brother who was born in 1936, remembers the adults saying the were off to 'The Jollys' for a pint, and thinks there was a pub called 'The Jolly Waggoner' or similar nearby.

I must get over to Wandsworth and have a look at what's left. Probably all worth half a mllion each now!       
 

[Dragoman]

I grew up in Inman Road, two up from Atheldene, in the 1950's and had a friend whose Nan lived in Wardley St. So I found myself going down there on many occasions. It was still a scary place and as a 10 -12 year old I was in constant fear of being chased and beaten up by boys of similar age who we called "Wardleyites". I can remember horses and carts, flower sellers, rag and bone men, adults swearing and playing a gambling game involving tossing coins against a wall to see which one got the nearest. The pub your brother recalls was probably The Jolly Gardeners, not Waggoner, which is at the end of Lydden Grove and is still there. The pub at the end of Wardley St. is The Grosvenor Arms and is still there. Virtually all of the houses in Wardley St. have been knocked down now and the area is part of a trading estate which links in to Lydden St. and Bendon Valley. Houses in Atheldene and surrounding streets probably sell at about £800,000 now. Houses nearer Wandsworth Common go for £1m plus.

[janet chambers]

i dont think there was ever any other street to compare with wardley st. yes it was a rag and bone and hawkers street, and did have a somewhat dodgy reputation, the family's kept horses, pigs and chickens in the back yards, but life was good, everybody knew everybody else and it was a good community, the hop picking came around every summer and they'd all decant to kent to go hop picking and fruit picking, my husband has so many stories to tell, i feel as if i grew up there, sadly the street was declared a slum area and demolished in the early 60's and the families were rehoused around south london, but the memories and stories have lived on, sadly there are hardly any of the people still alive who lived there, but maybe i'll write a book one of these days so the stories can be retold.

[Dragoman]

Facing Wardley Street, on the other side of Garratt Lane was a row of shops. On the corner was a carpet shop, next to it was Sutton's - newsagents and tobacconists, then there was Hearn's the greengrocer. I think the owner was Bob Hearn and he had a son and daughter - Mark and Diane. Then next to that was a grocery store called Pickford's, I think. This was in the 1950's/early 60's. Does anyone remember those shops?