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National Trust Back to Back houses Inge Street & Hurst Street

As a little lad, my mum used to talk about back to back houses. I thought she just meant someone behind your garden without a jitty. Ha! I didn't realise they were literally back to back. My Nan's cousin lived in one, you came out of the back door, 2 paces and there was the outside (the only) WC. A little L shaped yard with high brick walls, and as deep as the WC in length and she had a tiny washing line there in the gloom. The shared washrooms were in a tin hut a good walk across a wide cinder path at the front between two rows of houses. She had a front garden for vegetables and flowers. At my in law's in France the houses next door are literally back to back, 'stuck' to each other, one has no front and one as no back. How lucky we are.
 
Yes indeed. I was bitten in a guest house two years ago. Very disturbing. That wasn't a back to back it was in the country. A A big detached. How were they got rid off years ago do you know?
 
Nico said:
Yes indeed. I was bitten in a guest house two years ago. Very disturbing. That wasn't a back to back it was in the country. A A big detached. How were they got rid off years ago do you know?
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i hated them things. being bitten and scratching all day at school.them and plaster beetles loved the old plaster and lath to hide in. dad used a flit, and ddt but it was banned.1589024698880.png
Why bed bugs have made a horrifying comeback - Vox
 
Astoness said:
hi eric i think journey66 could be referring to the properties on the front including the 3 houses you can pay to stay which of course would have to be made liveable hence a bit of renovation.. the actual back houses in the courtyard that the public can tour round i believe are more or less the same now as the day the last people moved out of them....minus the mice..rats dirty sewer water and bed bugs...i dont think any of us would like to see those back again :rolleyes: :D but you are quite right of course..life in a back to back was not easy and not very pleasant...i was born in one...

lyn
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Hi Guy's

Yes the house's (back to back) with the courtyard are the house that were restored by British heratage these are the ones my father helped to rebuild. They were very specific about who worked on the & they had to be rebuilt using the same hand tool processes. I will be visiting my father soon (hopefully) & will get some more historic photos of these & brum in general to share out.

Best to you all & stay safe!
 
I took my wife, who is Canadian, to the back to backs on Hurst St, just to give her some idea of what life was like for me growing up in one. She was gobsmacked! Although they were not a true representation of where I lived, they did give her some idea of the size of the rooms and steepness of the stairs going up to the bedrooms, or in my case, the bedroom and the attic. I don't recall having bed bugs, but the damp and freezing cold conditions, I will never forget. The back to backs do not have this added attraction, ha!ha! Life in our house on Paddington St was a story of wanting...we saw many changes for the better while there...black lead grate to a "modern grate" and the most important of all...getting electricity! I believe it was in the late 40's. Up until then, we just had gas lighting and a gas stove. We had no scullery or kitchen, everything was in one room. We had a table in the middle and a cabinet where the food was kept. The gaslight was centered over the table and the mantle would shed over everything when it was "going home"as our mom used to say. Our dad ran wires from the radio battery, all the way up the stairs to the attic where us kids slept, to a torch bulb attached to the wall with a switch. Our house backed on to someones garden in Geach st, so was totally exposed to the elements, resulting in walls that were continually wet and dripping, despite being lined with tar paper under the wallpaper. I could go on...
Dave A
 
rosie said:
Nico, my mother used a bar of wet soap to rub over the mattress to gather them up!!
rayard.
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Thank you. I know they hate tea tree oil. My step daughter is convinced she had some too when living in London in a rented flat. An old house converted.
 
adap2it said:
I took my wife, who is Canadian, to the back to backs on Hurst St, just to give her some idea of what life was like for me growing up in one. She was gobsmacked! Although they were not a true representation of where I lived, they did give her some idea of the size of the rooms and steepness of the stairs going up to the bedrooms, or in my case, the bedroom and the attic. I don't recall having bed bugs, but the damp and freezing cold conditions, I will never forget. The back to backs do not have this added attraction, ha!ha! Life in our house on Paddington St was a story of wanting...we saw many changes for the better while there...black lead grate to a "modern grate" and the most important of all...getting electricity! I believe it was in the late 40's. Up until then, we just had gas lighting and a gas stove. We had no scullery or kitchen, everything was in one room. We had a table in the middle and a cabinet where the food was kept. The gaslight was centered over the table and the mantle would shed over everything when it was "going home"as our mom used to say. Our dad ran wires from the radio battery, all the way up the stairs to the attic where us kids slept, to a torch bulb attached to the wall with a switch. Our house backed on to someones garden in Geach st, so was totally exposed to the elements, resulting in walls that were continually wet and dripping, despite being lined with tar paper under the wallpaper. I could go on...
Dave A
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Do go on! Just this minute we are saying how good most younger people have in this life that they have born in to. My partner's French cousin tells me people still live, in small isolated houses, with no hot water and have outside WC's only, whom she knows of. Which they accept as they are poor. Not in squalor but poor, down to hard times or choice of lifestyle. Their government accepts it as long as the tenant doesn't complain. How lucky we are. Thank you for a wonderful topic.
 
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This brings back memories, I was born in Porchester St. back to back in the 60s I remember going up the entry to the toilets where we all shared, there were plenty of spiders in there, squares of newspaper on a nail, for toilet roll. My sisters use to go to the bomb peck to collect wood for the open fire, when we ran out of coal. There were 5 children in the attic. I love hearing all your stories keep them coming.
 
Journey66 said:
Hi Guy's

Yes the house's (back to back) with the courtyard are the house that were restored by British heratage these are the ones my father helped to rebuild. They were very specific about who worked on the & they had to be rebuilt using the same hand tool processes. I will be visiting my father soon (hopefully) & will get some more historic photos of these & brum in general to share out.

Best to you all & stay safe!
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that would be great if you could share some of those photos with us when the time permits...thanks and stay safe

lyn
 
JackiePritchatt said:
This brings back memories, I was born in Porchester St. back to back in the 60s I remember going up the entry to the toilets where we all shared, there were plenty of spiders in there, squares of newspaper on a nail, for toilet roll. My sisters use to go to the bomb peck to collect wood for the open fire, when we ran out of coal. There were 5 children in the attic. I love hearing all your stories keep them coming.
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Jackie what is a bomb peck?
 
I had an outside WC in my last place, which I liked. My Nan's house originally. She had put some hardboard or cardboard to stop the draught under the door but it still came under. I had an upstairs one as well, an addition but I liked the outside one. Which was originally the only one. Not a back to back as these have small gardens. I was in a pub in my youth and it shared the toilets with another pub across the yard. I was told this was common place. Another one which the council have restored shared the WC and the well with every body in a big communal yard.
 
JackiePritchatt said:
Hi Nico, it’s where the bombs had hit it. It’s deserted piece of ground that was full of rubble and small craters, a bomb sites ( later demolition sites). Children use to play on them.
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I see, I have seen them in old news reels and films. Didn't know they had a name. Thank you. One of my cousins was in an old paper, in Malvern I think, he found a UXB in one of those. Probably in the 50's.
 
I am old enough to remember the bombings but I too had never heard the word peck, we just called them bomb sites. It must be a local word ? Eric
 
I visited one of my Nan's sisters in the 60s and her house was propped up from the outside by two large wooden struts that appeared to be stopping it from falling forwards. I was told that I couldn't go upstairs as it was too dangerous - apparently it was due to bomb damage in the war. Some of the surrounding houses had also been flattened leaving large expanses of waste ground so this would have been my first encounter with a bomb site. A few years later she was relocated to a new flat.

Not knowing which sister it was I can only take a guess from the 1939 register that it could have been either 8 Cavendish Terrace Birmingham or 2 Court 10, Upper Ryland Road. I can't find either address so it would suggest that both areas were redeveloped. Does anyone know where these places were and would there be any old pictures - even a map location would help refresh my memory.
 
mbenne
Below are two maps. One is of upper spring St c1950, which shows cavendish Terrace in red, with no 8 in blue. you can see a big hole in the terrace next to no 8. Also a map c1889 of upper ryland rd, showing court 10. Do not have access to 1950 map of area, and on 1955 map court 10 has gone, as has a large part of the rest of the street.

map c1889 showing court 10 Upper ryland road.jpgmap c1950 new spring st showing 8 Cavendish terrace.jpg
 
Pecks was most probably a derisory word, i.e. is that the best you can do, Mr Hitler? Though I am only too aware that some caused a massive amount of damage and loss of life.

Maurice :cool:
 
As I never was on a bomb peck but I presume it was some sort of play area. I also wonder if the origin of the name stems from kids digging small holes with knives. forks, sharp sticks or any suitable object that came to hand in the hope of finding something useful or worthwhile. After all that is how birds, by pecking, find seeds and worms.
 
Ye gods, you were spoiled, having Dinky cars. I guess by the time Dinky toys were made, after WW2, all the 'good things' had been found. :laughing:
My first Dinky car (that I ever had) was in about 1947. It was a green Alvis (a friend owns a real one). I had a boil on my neck and the doctor had to lance it. For being a 'good boy' and not making a fuss or noise, I got it as a reward. :)
 
Regarding bomb pecks...it was my understanding that before becoming a peck, it was a bombed building. It was called a peck after the site was cleared. I have no idea where the word peck came from...however, pecks became our place to play. We had 2 pecks on Paddington St, 1 right in front of our yard, the other one at the top of the street at Guildford St. The best and biggest peck was on Summer Lane at Ormond St. It was large and had many mounds, ideal for playing cowboys and indians.
Dave A
 
Radiorails said:
Ye gods, you were spoiled, having Dinky cars. I guess by the time Dinky toys were made, after WW2, all the 'good things' had been found. :laughing:
My first Dinky car (that I ever had) was in about 1947. It was a green Alvis (a friend owns a real one). I had a boil on my neck and the doctor had to lance it. For being a 'good boy' and not making a fuss or noise, I got it as a reward. :)
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I was born in the late 50's and out playing early sixties but not on the bomb sites which still existed then. Mum said it was dangerous. My first Dinkys had no glass in the windows , and then they did. Or it might have been a forerunner for plastic. But it would have as been as you say for being good or an occasion. I also remember houses with big wooden frames propping them up, one was rubble on one side, the complete house side was the witch's house. The garden fence had gone and the'witch' used to hang her washing out street side, she had a bad leg and a dog tied up that barked. We all used to run past scared. Except with Nan who crossed over, because she said it was a bad bend. No path in to the oncoming traffic. Several accidents happened there, we said it was the witch.
 
Many buildings were propped up especially around the Bull Ring and central area of the city. There are some photos on BHF.
There was an lady who was regarded as a witch in my area. Principally because she had a cycle with a basket fixed to the handlebars. In this basket was to be seen her black cat! Say No more!
Actually I got to know here a little by doing the occasional garden job for her. She was nothing like I had imagined and a very nice lady, a former nurse. I believe her health was not good as once or twice I noticed her faint when stood in queues for food.
Queuing for food is not a 21st. century phenomena! It's all been done before as older people will recall. ;)
 
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