White Street Topsham

[AsH62]

Thank you IJDisney

I wondered if it's place so near to the docks would have made it a tougher sort of place.

My dad was born in Glasgow and it wasn't until he was in his fifties that his mum told us that he was born in the Gorbals ie slums. When we looked shocked (not because it was the Gorbals, just because he had failed to mention that interesting fact) she said - '... it was the good bit of the Gorbals...'. As dad said 'there were no good bits of the Gorbals back then'

All towns have interesting stories and I am having fun finding out about Topsham.

Alison

[sugarbakers]

Some of the houses in White Street are listed.

The Historic England website dates 9 of them ...
https://historicengland.org.uk/sitesearch?searchType=Site&search=Topsham%20white%20street&page=&filterOption=filterValue&facetValues=&pageId=38601&searchResultsPerPage=20

[IJDisney]

Thank you IJDisney

I wondered if it's place so near to the docks would have made it a tougher sort of place.

It wasn't just White Street. According to a newspaper report of September 1851, the Magistrates at Exeter commented that Topsham was a place "where riotous conduct, drunkenness, and squabbles frequently took place,"

[StintonLomas]

Hi
The 1890 oldmap shows some interesting features. A Gas Works a couple of doors up from that cottage with the courtyard which i mentioned earlier, a number of Pumps (this seems to be most likely of the different uses of "P" which OS list.
A railway siding down to the Wharf, this was still  being worked 3 days a week up until 1957.

https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/296618/87922/12/100687

[AsH62]

... riotous conduct..' and a gas works - this will be so much fun to research. Thank you for the info on the listed buildings as well, this street seems to contain a bit of everything. Topsham is a lovely and successful town now but I remember it from my student days when is wasn't a great place to be, it's amazing what a few decades can do to a town.

[stanmapstone]

This side by side shows the old map with the present aerial view
https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=18&lat=50.6824&lon=-3.4636&layers=168&right=BingHyb

Stan

[stanmapstone]

British Listed Buildigs has 27-29, White Street as a Grade II Listed Building in Topsham,probably late C17.
https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101224303-27-29-white-street-exeter#.XSHRbuj0nIU

Google Street View https://goo.gl/maps/TdCwNWnGoBGqMHdy9

Stan

[AsH62]

That side by side map thing is brilliant!

Thanks again for all of this
Alison

[AsH62]

Hi IJ Disney. It's been a while since I posted my question about White Street but in those months I have now moved to White Street and am now very happily living in Topsham.

I have recently been asked to help a researcher who is doing some work about White Street including looking for any information either hard copy or oral history about the street. Your messages on this forum came to mind and I wondered if you had any information about your grandmother's life here. The plan is to create a complete history of the street and as many of it's inhabitants as possible in conjunction with the museum.

It's always worth asking!

Alison