I just had a look at the Unitarian Historical Society Website
Part of Aston University campus and still in use as baths I believe.
My Grandparents used to call the dustbin collectors ,The Miskin menI wondered about that and even Googled but did not get much. I've guessed that they are what I used to know as Dustbins but I might be wrong....
Happy days.
I remember going to Dymchurch in Kent early sixties to visit my moms oldest brother. One of the very few family holidays. My dad called the dustbin the miskin and my cousins hadn’t got a clue what he was talking about. Happy days.
I had never heard a drain referred to as a 'suff' but looking through the 'old evening mail' pics, I noticed the word 'suff' in the caption underneath the 1960's Ladywood picture below.
I can remember my dad saying to me "You`d better bring the dog into the house, the middin men are coming "
Wonderful picture old Mohawk. Can relate so much to it. I am back in my nans yard in Gopsal street. She lived further down than us and her yard was bigger. Two families shared the brewhouse in our yard and we had a communal toilet. I remember my mom lighting the fire under the the built in tub, in her wellies. A line of clean washing when we came home from school and leftovers from Sunday and hot rice pudding. I note that in a lot of old photographs yards are referred to as courts. I do not remember that at all. I have a couple of old photos of my nans yard somewhere,, cannot find them yet. I would love for you to see them. Kind regards,I suppose miskins could be positioned to hide suffs, another word maybe known to folk who knew what miskins were ...
I can assure you Michael, the word suff existed to us Brummies. We are neither fake or posh, just proper Brummies.
When I was a lad drains were drains and dustbins were dustbins ... never heard of suffs and miskins. I suppose we mainly put ash from the kitchen fire in our bin and maybe should have called it an ashbin. We used to call 'binmen' 'dustmen' ... I called them 'dustmen' in an old post from long ago
A dustman at work in Alexandra Rd, they carried the rubbish in tin baths on their heads. The dogs look a little excited but they stay on the footpath.
Our dog used to go berserk when dustmen came, he could hear them before they got near to our road.
My mum always told me & my brothers the clean the Suff outside, meaning the drain. Where the word comes from is a mystery. Maybe it is to do with the pipework. Never heard the word Miskins though. This is a new one.I suppose miskins could be positioned to hide suffs, another word maybe known to folk who knew what miskins were ...
I know my dear mum never called the waste bins Dustbins. She always called them "Ashbins", as it was where the ash from the fires were put.
Brilliant Michael.
birminghamhistory.co.uk
I just got informed that a miskin was a pit or covered area where daily rubbish was disposed of.
WOW!
