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Courts & back to back history

M

Mary Jane Tape

Brummie babby
Hi, no doubt the answer will be the same regarding all courts in B'ham, but I'm particularly interested in No2 Court, 1 Aston Street, Tipton, where my great grandfather lived.
Having seen photos of some courts I wonder why they were constructed, what was the benefit of building a court instead of a street? How did they relate to the 'main' thoroughfar?.

What level of society lived in them? Were court-dwellers poorer than street-dwellers?

Any information or photos would be great.
maryjanetape
 
Hi Maryjane courts were built as the cheapest form of houseing to cater for a rapidly expanding population dureing the industrial revolution .They were high density houseing and were built back to back , front doors only some were built on the street with another attached to it behind it . ones at the rear were accessed by an entry or opening where more houses were built usually in a rectangle they also had only front doors because they were bacck to back with courts either side. There were no indoor toilets or bathrooms and no hot water ,in fact the early ones had one outside tap per court cold water . In the courtyard would be toilets , often shared , and a place for the women to do the laundry with a boiler or copper to heat the water with wood or coal . Most people had tin baths which had to be filled with hot water from some sort of boiler so bath night was usually the same night for the entire family to save heating more water people bathed one after another in the same water maybe filled with warmer water now and then .There were no gardens only the courtyard so as you might have guessed by now courts were inhabited by the poor , they were also badly overcrowded with 3 or 4 kids in one bed heres the thread with the most pictures of courts on it you will see what it was like
https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=40378&highlight=back
 
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