3 House 26 Ct Hatchett St

[jdknole]

I'm looking for a map that shows 3 House 26 Court Hatchett Street where my Gt Gt Grandfather lived in the 1850's. He worked as a gun finisher for a time. Anyone know if there were any gun manufacturers close by or would he have worked from home?

I've seen Mikegee's useful map of 1/46 Hatchett St but difficult to work out how the street numbering went.

I went back to Brum a few weeks ago and walked around this area and the gun quarter. Surprised that there were still some old buildings left, but most of the original buildings now replaced by ugly and often empty industrial units.

 

[Morturn]

It is possible that he may have worked from home, a lot of people in the gun trade did work out of very small premises. I met a stock maker about twenty years ago in the gun quarter who just had one room about the size of my study. In the gun trade, quite often one person did not make a complete gun, hence Lock, Stock and barrel (makers). The parts would be passed around the small workshops, some in out houses, to end up with the completed article.

I once met a Jewish tailor who told me a similar story. In Newtown, Birmingham cloth would pass from house to house on its journey to become a suite. He said that there were some folks who would only cut out the cloth. They were so good at it that they could save half a yard of material.

 

[Astoness]

i would also like to see a map showing house 3 court 26 as am quite surprised that there was at least 26 courts in hatchett st...it was and still is only a very small street

lyn

 

[oldMohawk]

There is this image of houses 1 and 2 in Court 27, Hatchett Street ... unfortunately none of Court 26.

from the Shoothill Collection
The following link shows the layout of the street and courts in 1914 but not the court numbers.
https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/sid...=52.4926&lon=-1.8973&layers=168&right=BingHyb

 

[Astoness]

thats great phil...it just seemed a lot of courts for one small st...maybe mike can help us out with a map

lyn

 

[pjmburns]

Mike will get it better than I can as I think he has a subscription to the site and so will get the map larger than I can. He will also be able to say how the numbering worked. So here we go for now:

 

[mikejee]

Not sure that my map gives any more detail than Janice's, but here it is., with court 26 in red. I am pretty certain that, in this case, there apparently not being back to backs at front, then no 3 would be the house in blue

 

[jdknole]

Thanks for everyone's replies, really useful, especially the maps mikejee and janice. Morturn, I'm amazed that there was lone stock maker working in the gun quarter as recent as 20 years ago!

I'm trying to built a picture of my Gt Gt grandfather's life. I get a sense that he had quite an itinerant lifestyle; not only did he move around quite a lot - Princip St, Hatchett St, Pritchett St and finally Gt Lister St, but his occupation changed quite a lot - Screw Maker, Journeyman Saw Cutter, Gun Finisher, Steel Filer, Gun Maker.

 

[Morturn]

Thanks for everyone's replies, really useful, especially the maps mikejee and janice. Morturn, I'm amazed that there was lone stock maker working in the gun quarter as recent as 20 years ago!

I'm trying to built a picture of my Gt Gt grandfather's life. I get a sense that he had quite an itinerant lifestyle; not only did he move around quite a lot - Princip St, Hatchett St, Pritchett St and finally Gt Lister St, but his occupation changed quite a lot - Screw Maker, Journeyman Saw Cutter, Gun Finisher, Steel Filer, Gun Maker.

He may be still there. There are a small number of the small workshop around by The Bull and Gun Makers Arms. There is still a market for custom made gun stocks on shotguns.

 

[Lady Penelope]

Morturn, tailors are often pictured sitting cross legged and sewing on the table. I recently read a book that explained that they do this because the floor was invariable dusty and would have spoiled the expensive cloth. Anyone know if this is fact or fiction?

 

[Lady Penelope]

Sorry, technology has once again beaten me! I thought I was quoting the second paragraph of Morturn's post #2. I've actually quoted my own message. Oh Dear!

 

[pjmburns]

You typed inside the brackets Pen. It is easily done.

 

[Lady Penelope]

Thanks Janice, I don't usually use the quote option, just mention the post. Must try harder - as my teachers used to say.

 

[Morturn]

Hi Pen, yes they did and I have an archive film of them doing so. You explanation maybe correct, most certainly most tradespeople learned to work clean.