Park Road Hockley

[Radiorails]

Years ago, when my children were very small and before North Sea gas closed local gas producing plants, I used to buy coke. It was much lighter in weight - you got a 'big bang for the buck' as they say. It was also cleaner than coal with less residue and gave off a greater heat than coal particularly once it was lit as it had a wonderful bright red glow.

 

[terryb18]

Hi Peg,, in answer to your questions....1. We had 2 bedrooms, mom and dads on the first floor, and mine in the attic. 2. There were 6 houses in our yard, 4 at the bottom and 2 at the top, with the brewhouse and a toilet halfway up the yard on the right hand wall. (I can only remember 1 toilet) Houses were numbered 1-6. 3.The Cellar grating was underneath the living room window. 4. I am not sure if I can answer that except to say that the pantry did'nt intrude and I cannot remember a chimey breast, just the hearth against next doors wall. I have attached a couple of pics, one showing my father holding me which looks like outside next door. The brickwork behind him covered the cellar grating. They must all have been knocked down as I cannot remember them. The other picture is of me on Coronation day standing by the living room window and just next to the cellar grating.

 

[Peg Monkey]

Hi Peg,, in answer to your questions....1. We had 2 bedrooms, mom and dads on the first floor, and mine in the attic. 2. There were 6 houses in our yard, 4 at the bottom and 2 at the top, with the brewhouse and a toilet halfway up the yard on the right hand wall. (I can only remember 1 toilet) Houses were numbered 1-6. 3.The Cellar grating was underneath the living room window. 4. I am not sure if I can answer that except to say that the pantry did'nt intrude and I cannot remember a chimey breast, just the hearth against next doors wall. I have attached a couple of pics, one showing my father holding me which looks like outside next door. The brickwork behind him covered the cellar grating. They must all have been knocked down as I cannot remember them. The other picture is of me on Coronation day standing by the living room window and just next to the cellar grating.
View attachment 114236 View attachment 114237

Thanks terryb18 for the invaluable info', I was inspired to extend the plan from a single dwelling to a courtyard of dwellings.
this is my best effort attached, and is the result of bits of info from a number of sources. I'm still not happy that the scullery is right, but it's the only way I can join the houses without a void, it will have to do for now until someone comes forward with a suggestion or I get some more info' from somewhere.
You might recognise the courtyard it's quite distinctive - like an arrowhead, it's the last courtyard before the junction of Park Road with All Saints' Road. If you haven't used Lyn's map she posted on the Harry Lucas School Thread page 5 it's worth checking out (https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=18&lat=52.4959&lon=-1.9081&layers=176&b=6) The map opens at Burbury/HLS School but just navigate left and you'll some come to the arrowhead courtyard. Have I got the house numbers correct?

Regards,
Peg.

 

[terryb18]

Peg, not quite, I am not very good at this, but I have tried to do a diagram the best I could. Hopefully it will show you as it was. The map image shows the yard I lived in, coloured green.
Terry

 

[Peg Monkey]

Peg, not quite, I am not very good at this, but I have tried to do a diagram the best I could. Hopefully it will show you as it was. The map image shows the yard I lived in, coloured green.
Terry

Thanks Terry, you lived on a different part of Park Rd than I imagined.
Peg.

 

[Astoness]

hi peg what number park road did your rellies live at...maybe mike could post a map highlighting it for you..if you are not sure of the number if you give us their names i could do an e roll look up for you..

lyn

 

[Peg Monkey]

hi peg what number park road did your rellies live at...maybe mike could post a map highlighting it for you..if you are not sure of the number if you give us their names i could do an e roll look up for you..

lyn

Hi lyn, I don't have the number, I do remember the entry being somewhere along the section of Park Road between the junction with Lodge Road and the junction with All Saints' Road, the only other bits of info' I can be sure of include: as you entered their court yard there were two houses in front of you and their house was the first on the right. It appears the courtyard on my plan #137 fits the criteria pretty closely, but again, as is usual, it doesn't quite fit, because your map does not show the toilet/brewhouse where I know it was.

Last bits of information: surname Horton, Floss & George, rehoused to Kingstanding c1960.

Regards,
Peg.

 

[mikejee]

In 1955 George & Fanny Horton lived at 2 back 52 Park road, and George & Florence Horton lived at 1 back 50 Park Road

 

[Astoness]

hi peg 1955 e rolls show at

2/52 park road...george and fanny horton and at

1/50 park road.. george and florence horton...

if mike sees this post he may post a map showing those numbers for you

lyn

 

[Astoness]

snap mike we posted together...could peg have a map please highlighting those numbers...looks like a poss 2 sets of his rellies living near to each other...

lyn

 

[Peg Monkey]

In 1955 George & Fanny Horton lived at 2 back 52 Park road, and George & Florence Horton lived at 1 back 50 Park Road

Thanks mikejee, you've nailed it, didn't realise Floss was short for Florence, obvious really (always is when you know).
I'm intrigued how George Horton comes up twice in very near addresses (with a different(?) wife). Fanny, I believe, is short for Francis. It's also possible use of middle name instead of official first name can be confusing or could simply be just a case of Fanny-Florence-Floss all same lady, I guess that's the obvious explanation, although I don't remember them moving house.
Anyone got a 50s map of Park Road with house numbers on?

Thanks everyone for your help.

Regards,
Peg.

 

[Astoness]

peg see my posts 143 and 144 suggesting that you had 2 george hortons in the family living in park road at the same time...

lyn

 

[Astoness]

1950 e rolls shows

2/52 george and fanny horton

no george and florence at 1/50

 

[mikejee]

If anyone saw my last post, now withdrawn. Sorry. Wrong Park road !!
Anyway below is 1 back 50 in red and 2 back 52 in blue.

 

[terryb18]

So the houses your rellies lived in are shown is this picture about where the lampost is. By the 2 cars.

 

[Peg Monkey]

If anyone saw my last post, now withdrawn. Sorry. Wrong Park road !!
Anyway below is 1 back 50 in red and 2 back 52 in blue.

View attachment 114299

Fantastic mikejee! Answered lots of questions - I got the courtyard correct but my plan on #137 needs major correction, no matter - accuracy all important, great I can now put house numbers on the plan.

Thanks again lyn and mikejee.

Regards,
Peg.
PS I only know of one George Horton in the family.

 

[Astoness]

nice photo terry i was not sure what pub pegs rellies lived near to...oh and peg..they lived very close to my gt aunt who was at 2/22 piddock st at the same time...

lyn

 

[Astonian]

hi wonder whether or not the hortons which incidently lived local to our school ickneild street boys
whom was in our class there and i was in the same class
was a george and a raymond horton two different family i would say they was not brothers i know that
because the gorge was slow the other ray was smart and clever
george was the friend of barry hills and stanley burrows whom was also in my class
could this be one of old fanny horton as you call her
do you recall any of the fisher familys of park road

 

[Peg Monkey]

Hi Folks, RESULT!
I set out to produce a basic plan of a close relatives' back to back and with the help of members of the Forum I was able to extend that to a plan of the house and their court yard - and I was able to identify a close relative who, until now, was just a number, let's start at the beginning.....

Keeping it brief: I knew Residents of Park Road, my relatives, George and Floss (Florence) had 6 children, I knew 5 of them but had no details of the 6th, it seems he was the eldest child George (yes, George! - normal practice to name first born male after father) this explains why there were 2 George Hortons side by side in Park Road, the parents' house being 1/50 and George Jnr in 2/52 with wife Fanny. George Jnr attended Icknield Street School with younger brother Ray, all around 1955.

The Plan - I'm pretty confident I've got close to accurate, here it is - don't be afraid to flag up any errors, I'm only to happy to correct again, as needed.

Thanks again for all your help.

Regards,
Peg.

 

[Astoness]

morning peg im a tad confused..nothing unusual...if george junior was living at 2/52 park road in 1955 with wife fanny he would have had to have been at least 21 years of age but you say he was at school in 1955.in fact he was older than that because hes also on the 1950 e rolls with wife fanny..you had to be 21 to be listed on the e rolls peg

lyn

 

[Peg Monkey]

morning peg im a tad confused..nothing unusual...if george junior was living at 2/52 park road in 1955 with wife fanny he would have had to have been at least 21 years of age but you say he was at school in 1955.in fact he was older than that because hes also on the 1950 e rolls with wife fanny..you had to be 21 to be listed on the e rolls peg

lyn

Hi Lyn, quite right, I'll have to crunch the numbers again. Useful benchmark voting age of 21, George Jnr could not have gone to same school at same time as sibling Ray; in 1955 Ray (second oldest of 6 children) was only about 9. I suppose I can't rule out there was no connection between the two Horton familys, but if there isn't there's a remarkable set of coincidences.

Peg.

 

[Astoness]

morning peg...i dont think its a case of number crunching so much as if it was me (and i am a bit of a stickler for getting our family ancestry right) you need to go on ancestry or find my past and trace the hortons from the records available as something just does not fit at the min...i get enormous pleasure tracing my family back but if you do need any help start a new thread under the appropriate section of the forum..theres always someone happy to help..i reckon there must be a connection with the 2 george hortons (could be cousins) but you need to find out what it is..

lyn

 

[Peg Monkey]

So the houses your rellies lived in are shown is this picture about where the lampost is. By the 2 cars.

Thanks terryb18, that's the entry, didn't realise it was so close to the pub, I always used to approach from The Flat.

Peg.

 

[Badwal Motors]

Hi

Sorry if im restarting an old thread but I am the current owner of the old garretts garage (500 Park Road) now Badwal Motors. We are currently working on a website and planning on refurbishing the customer waiting area. I thought it would be nice to get some pictures of what the place used to look like and have some sort of timeline of how it evolved over the years. I was going to put these on our website and have some framed in the waiting area for the customers to see.

Apart from the ones in the thread, if anyone has any pictures they are willing to share I would be grateful

 

[Astoness]

hi badwal motors and welcome to the forum...happy to help if we can....are you after inside or outside shots of the garage...inside ones may prove difficult but you never know

lyn

 

[Badwal Motors]

Thanks for the welcome I was mainly after outdoor shota. I didnt think people would have inside shots but if they do that will be great too!

 

[Astoness]

ok will have a search around and post on here should i find anything of use to you

lyn

 

[popstar62]

Hi everyone.

It looks like it's been a while since the last Park Road post but I'm hoping somebody can answer a question.

I am a current resident of Park Road and whilst it now looks remarkably different to how it was, I'm very interested in the history of it.
The two photos below show Wilke's shop from different periods. The first one is tagged as 1953 but I'm not sure about the year of the second, possibly mid to late 40's?

My question is: you'll see a telephone box in the earlier shot which has disappeared from the 1953 shot. Does anybody know when/why the GPO removed it? It seems strange that in an era when most households didn't possess a telephone that this telephone box would have been vital to such a heavily populated street like Park Road.

I thank you in advance for any input.

 

[Radiorails]

Looking at the photos in this thread I believe it could well be that the telephone box partly obstructed the pavement and might also have made vision for vehicles entering from Wharf Road difficult particularly as road vehicles were now far more in evidence than earlier times. The wall, where the box once stood does not seem to suggest any alteration.
Purely a guess, but if that is correct then maybe someone remembers where the box was re-sited especially as popstar mentioned the need by a large number of people for public telephones.

 

[Roger Moody]

Even the Archives in Central Library cant help - they have an index record of drawings for "a shop and 8 Houses" dated 1867 but the drawings could not be found - it looks like the area was cleared without any record photos.
I will keep trying but thanks anyway

Hi. My name is Roger Moody and I lived at 253 Park Road from1948 until 1962. The car Bill Jefforson had was a 1938 Austin 18 which he sold to me in 1961 for£20. I used to help him in the mornings getting his fruit and veg outside and of a Christmas help him dress his turkeys. We backed onto Soho Pool Wharf and of a night we were rocked to sleep by the sound of the trains shunting. if I can be of any help in what you are looking for please get in touch. Roger.