Mary Jane Tape
Brummie babby
Hi jennyann, thank you for your interest in Sutton Road and the properties along there. I think we moved there in 1953. We moved from new housing at Shard End. The whole area had been farm land but it was gradually being eaten up by 'slum clearance' I think they called the movement.
We had the top floor of Rockville which consisted of four huge rooms which served as our sitting room, kitchen/diner and two bedrooms, although my parents had a bedroom that had a dressing room and that was where I slept leaving one vast empty bedroom.
All the rooms had marble fireplaces and ornate plaster ceilings and our kitchen, which consisted mainly of a sink and cooker held a table that would seat 12/14 people. We also had a bathroom with a bath big enough for a small child to slide down the sloping back into the bath water and a toilet with a cistern so high it looked tiny. The approach to our area of the house, which had no officially separate access, was up a flight of polished granite and probably 4' wide stairs which turned backed on itself after a half landing above which was an arched window. The bannister rail was great for sliding down being substantial and it ended in a newel post with a carved wood lion's claw at the base. The landing at the top was large enough for dances to be held. There was also a door leading to stairs to the servants quarters above us. I did go up once and found an abandoned gas mask.
Downstairs was the other flat occupied by Mr & Mrs Sleigh and their three children. Their accommodation mirrored our own except that where bedrooms became living rooms upstairs, downstairs living rooms became bedrooms, the two older children shared the room at the back of the house which had french doors leading out into the garden while the parents and baby shared the room beneath my parents. I shall stop here because I am not certain how this thread is being saved/posted and I've already tried to add to the threads and lost a considerable amount of work!
We had the top floor of Rockville which consisted of four huge rooms which served as our sitting room, kitchen/diner and two bedrooms, although my parents had a bedroom that had a dressing room and that was where I slept leaving one vast empty bedroom.
All the rooms had marble fireplaces and ornate plaster ceilings and our kitchen, which consisted mainly of a sink and cooker held a table that would seat 12/14 people. We also had a bathroom with a bath big enough for a small child to slide down the sloping back into the bath water and a toilet with a cistern so high it looked tiny. The approach to our area of the house, which had no officially separate access, was up a flight of polished granite and probably 4' wide stairs which turned backed on itself after a half landing above which was an arched window. The bannister rail was great for sliding down being substantial and it ended in a newel post with a carved wood lion's claw at the base. The landing at the top was large enough for dances to be held. There was also a door leading to stairs to the servants quarters above us. I did go up once and found an abandoned gas mask.
Downstairs was the other flat occupied by Mr & Mrs Sleigh and their three children. Their accommodation mirrored our own except that where bedrooms became living rooms upstairs, downstairs living rooms became bedrooms, the two older children shared the room at the back of the house which had french doors leading out into the garden while the parents and baby shared the room beneath my parents. I shall stop here because I am not certain how this thread is being saved/posted and I've already tried to add to the threads and lost a considerable amount of work!
