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Clifton Road Aston

  • Thread starter Thread starter Nelly
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Here you are judy, court 25 in blue, upper sutton St on far right

map_c_1889_clifton_rd_showing_court_25.jpg
 
Mike you are a star! Many thanks for the map showing Court 25 (Gothic Terrace) where my family lived for many years and where my Mom was born. It looks quite a good sized court from the map and it was lovely to be able to see where its position in the road was. By the time I found out about my connection with Clifton Road and went to visit, there was hardly any of the road left as Aston Expressway had been built. I shall print it off and keep it with my family history. Thank you so much.

Judy
 
My Dad (born 1904) lived at 254 Clifton Rd with his parents,later his 2 maiden aunts lived there until the 50's. The family name is Lewis.The house had a 'parlour' and a back room with a cooking range,no piped water or sink in the house, supply was in a washhouse outside. Don't remember upstairs,the WC outside was shared with the next house,as was the undivided garden space It was probably a palace compared to where their previous generations were, in New John St and various back to backs aroung Hockley !
 
My grandparents (Sam/Ellen Broadbent were from Clfton Rd. They had 5 kids. Irene,June (My Mom) Brian, known as Pete, Linda and Susan. Henry Broadbent was the Great Grandfather.
 
Hi Jayell,gothic terrace here .As you can guess from my name ,I lived at 4 gothic terrace between 1947-1957. I know the lay out of all the houses on the street plan and can remember just a few names.I myself have found memories of my childhood spent playing in the street
 
Lovely to hear from you Gothic Terrace! And what a coincidence! My family lived in the house next door to yours.

One 2 x gt.grandmother was living at No. 2 Gothic Terrace in 1881 and I guess was at that address till she died.

My grandparents (Hanson) were living at No.2 from about 1912 (maybe before) to at least 1920. They had moved out to Billesley by 1924. By the time I knew where my mother was born and grew up and went to visit, the street had mostly gone.

My other set of gt.grandparents (Martin) lived in the Terrace from at least 1881 at No.10 and later moving to No.7.

By 1940 my grandmother's sister, Minnie, was still living at No. 7 with her husband Ralph (Jones).

If you could give me a description of what the houses were like inside I would love it. And, do you by any chance have a photo of Gothic Terrace?

Judy
 
My Gt. Grandad and then my Grandad and Dad lived in the house adjacent to the houses in Gothic Terrace at No 159 Clifton Road so the right hand side of their house and garden wall would have formed the back of the houses on the right hand side of Gothic Terrace. My Aunt, Dad's Sister lived in one of the houses 'Back of 161' so her back wall would also have backed onto the far end of the same run of houses in Gothic Terrace.
I am guessing that when my Gt. Grandad moved in the houses would have been new, that would have been around 1840/50. Amazingly my current house is built exactly the same as 159 Clifton Road with the exception that it doesn't have a cellar, mine was built around 1900 so the design lasted well, good solid houses which should have been renovated instead of destroying a community.
 
Spot the deliberate mistake!!
My Gt. Grandad and then my Grandad and Dad lived in the house adjacent to the houses in Gothic Terrace at No 159 Clifton Road so the right hand side of their house and garden wall would have formed the back of the houses on the left hand side of Gothic Terrace. My Aunt, Dad's Sister lived in one of the houses 'Back of 161' so her back wall would also have backed onto the far end of the same run of houses in Gothic Terrace.
I am guessing that when my Gt. Grandad moved in the houses would have been new, that would have been around 1840/50. Amazingly my current house, in Bearwood, is built exactly the same as 159 Clifton Road with the exception that it doesn't have a cellar, mine was built around 1900 so the design lasted well, good solid houses which should have been renovated around Aston instead of destroying a community.​
 
Hi Bilboc - my other set of gt.grandparents lived at back 163 Clifton Road - at least this is where my gt.granddad, Samuel Hanson, died in 1895. Do you this this might have been Court 27?

Judy
 
Judy,
It was Court 27, left hand side back of 163 and right hand side back of 161 my Dad, Henry John Chinn, was born in 1914 at '3 back of 161' from memory, certainly one of the 'back' houses. I'll have to check his birth certificate again, he was a twin and sadly his brother William Percy died before reaching his 1st birthday. Bill.
 
Hi Judy,I will try my best to describe gothic terrace.it was known as a blind back to back ,meaning it had no court yard.Imagine a wide path running down the centre and 7 houses each side with small front gardens.The houses were known has two up ,two down.You walk straight into the kitchen area you had a door in the corner leading to the cellar .You turn right into the living room where there's a door leading to the two bedrooms.No bathroom ,you shared a toilet with two other family's ,which was located at the top of the yard.There was some houses with electric and some only had gas,the toilets had nothing ( only the candle you took with you ) I know that my mom was born at no 13 and my uncles at no 16 .Our neighbours were Restalls,Stuart,Lewis,Bullocks and many more.My grandfather rented lived in gothic terrace for many years his surname was Watton and my moms maiden name was Bayliss .Sorry that I've got no photos only happy memories I spent there growing up Doris
 
Thanks Doris for that lovely description of the houses in Gothic Terrace. It gives me something to focus on when I think of my family living there. And just two bedrooms - must have been a squash for them. My gt.grandparents (James and Ellen Martin) had 9 children. My grandparents had 6 children. I always thought the houses had a courtyard in the middle as my cousin told me that our grandmother used to sit there peeling her potatoes, Maybe she just meant outside the front door! Have you seen the photo that was put on the forum that might have been all the ladies of Gothic Terrace? It is worth looking at.

Judy
 
Hi Judy ,the map Mike gave you is the also the same as the one I put in the forum a few moths back .You are looking at 25 court and each little square represents a house and front garden .So you can count the squares to find the house you're family lived.There were also two houses at the top next to the toilets.i will try and find my copy and down load it again ,that if I can remember how to do it. You mentioned a photo .were can I view it ? Doris
 
Hi Doris. I did save the map that Mike put on. I noticed that one side the little blue boxes (houses) were smaller than the other side. Does that mean that some houses were larger than others? I don't remember your map but I guess I must have seen it. The photo of the ladies of (probably) Gothic Terrace was put on the "Gothic Terrace, Clifton Road" thread by Aston Lad - post#5

Judy
 
Although I have no connection to Gothic Terrace or Clifton road I have found this whole thread compelling reading. Looking forward to further posts. Jean.
 
Hi Doris. I did save the map that Mike put on. I noticed that one side the little blue boxes (houses) were smaller than the other side. Does that mean that some houses were larger than others? I don't remember your map but I guess I must have seen it. The photo of the ladies of (probably) Gothic Terrace was put on the "Gothic Terrace, Clifton Road" thread by Aston Lad - post#5

Judy

Hi Judy ,you're right ,the houses on the left of the terrace had small kitchens .the staircase was in the main and only living room ,tucked up the corner.This meant you had one very small and one normal size bedroom .As you can imagine the landing was just a small square space.It was most of the houses on that side that still used gas lights.Thanks for the info on the picture I will try and find it Doris.
 
i lived at 36 cliffton road in the 60s when they started to pull it all down and went to upper thomas street school.my best mate was roger steven jones,i now live in rugeley where we moved to from aston in 1968.my name is malcolm smith 60 years old.
 
Hi, My paternal Grandparents lived in Clifton Road (190). Horace and Lilian Brown with my Dad, Albert (Topper) Brown. My Grandad had been in the Royal Marines and served in the far east including China and became postman on his return to civvy street. My Grandmother was a cleaner/housekeeper. The shop opposite was Robins and was owned by my Grans family but she never had any part in it. I believe the factory over the road was Accuratus or similar. I belive there was a Mrs Greaves who was a piano teacher, Baileys Coal Merchants and I'm told a Mr Evans who played for the Villa! Other names that my parents recall from Clifton Road are Roy Passey, Ethel Russell, Peggy Princip and Eileen Tatum. Dave Wesbury I belive also lived in Clifton Road and went on to become MD of GKN!
My Parents are Albert and Jean Brown. My Dad was known as Bert or Topper and my Mom lived at 126 Upper Sutton Street and was previously a Reynolds. Both attended Sixways Church Youth Club. They are both still alive and if anyone would like to contact them via me I'm sure they would be receptive. Dad played for both Villa and West Brom youth teams and was offered professional forms but my Grandad didn't view it as a 'proper' job and as Dad was under 21 wouldn't sign the forms.
 
[FONT=&quot]Memories Of Early Life [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Iwas born in Aston Road 1936.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Mymother and father were Albert and Winifred Allsopp.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Ihad a sister named June who was 2 years older than me.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Asa youngster I have visual pictures of what life was like then.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Iremember going to a market one day and seeing all the stalls.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Mothergave me a picture book to read and at that time the book had photos of ShirleyTemple.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Onenight we were hurled into an air raid shelter. the next thing that I rememberis being put into dad’s car from where I could see that a section of theterraces block had been demolished .Later I was told that the next shelter tous had had a direct hit from a bomb. It must have been that moment that fatherhad decided that was enough and he decided to pack up all our thing and move.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Soof we went towards Tamworth and finally settled in a small village called MileOak.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Motherdied in 1940 and father married Mother’s sister Elsie Yardley [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Fatherworked at the Nuffields factory at Castle Bromwich as a maintenance fitter. Hewas killed in an accident at Sutton Coldfield in 1945.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]SoI was brought up in Mile Oak and during that time my Step mother took me towhere she was brought up in Clifton Road .where Granddad Yardley lived withBessie Lowe who was my stepmom’s best friend .Bessie did not have a happy family life so she stayed at thehouse as granddad’s house keeper[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Iremember specially the Christmases we had there. It was full of fun we all satround a piano and sang songs and danced round it .Bessie (Aunty I called her)would be seated at the piano.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Grandfatherwas a very ardent support of Aston Villa and would go and watch them play everytime there was a match on.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Ido remember the smell you could wet from the HP sauce factory down the road.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Anotherincident that I remember well is my Uncle Frank taking my sister and me to the [/FONT]
C:\Users\roy\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image002.jpg
[FONT=&quot]Cinema on Aston Cross tosee George Formby.[/FONT]
Clifton Rd ,Aston.jpgView attachment 83996 View attachment 83996[FONT=&quot][/FONT]
 
Roy it's so nice to read your story of your childhood thank you so much for sharing it with us. These memories must never be forgotten.
 
A bit late but a great thread.

My great great grandmother lived in Clifford Road in 1920 at 106, she was on her 3rd husband by then, Elizabeth and Frank Carwardine. Not sure how long they lived there for, Frank died in 1928 & Elizabeth in 1947. They were living in Trafalgar Road in 1911.

And my great grandfather lived at 6 court 9 Clifford Road from 1922 to at least 1939 I think. He was Thomas William Brownhill who married Rose Watts. I'm guessing my nan was born there she was Doris Rose Brownhill.
 
Hello Ray,

Which suggests that my great great grandmother moved out some time before then, possibly when her husband had died.

Thanks.
 
Do you have any info on your relatives... my husband also had relatives who lived at 12 clifton road and 100 clifton rod. His great grandfather was John Harper, he had a daughet elizabeth who married David Mellon but i have no more info. John was described as an ironmonger (retail) when one of his sons married in 1935. Was there a hardware shop anywhere? Any help you could offer would be much appreciated. Marion Harper
 
My mothers family the Vales lived at 142 Clifton road. If my memory serves me right ( it was 50 years ago ) the entry shown on the map was to the left of the house, This would make the house marked in the plan 142. With 140 being to the right of it the other side of the entry. The couple living at 144 were the Johnsons.
 
Hello all,

My name is kathy. I have just found this site and was quite intrigued to find my nan and grandad's names were up. My nan and grandad lived at 2/99 Clifton Road and there names were Lily and Tommy Preston. I also lived in Aston in High Street and my parents are Lily and Sammy McCann. Does any one remember them
 
Hello Kathy,
Go back to post No.121 your mom Lily is on that photo.,also her mom and cousin Ina.I lived across the road from the Prestons They all lived up the same yard.My pal lived next door to your mom Lily.
 
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