Back to back houses..birmingham..

I have visited the back to back houses which have been renovated and turned into a museum of how we used to live..Well their is no garden ! and the houses are built in a square with everyone sharing the wash house and toilets..Its been done lovely with all the old furniture,,the stairs are a bit steep and its very small in each house with 3 beds in some little rooms and the odd stuffed mouse on a windowledge to be as realistic as possible..Well i am glad i didnt live in those days as it was very claustraphobic..but it is well worth a visit..

 

Wildfower, I never knew they had back to back houses in those days.climate has changed since those light years, we are now growing hardy tropicals and living in posh houses. I am glad I WASNT AROUND IN THOSE YEARS. :D :D

 

Back to back houses, aged 18 I lived in Portsmouth for 3 years in claustraphobic housing. Certainly can't afford to be at odds with your neighbours.

BM

View from our backdoor looking over nextdoors to the backs of houses on the next road...



My first fuschia/flower bed, defiled by builders wash off. Got started on fuschias becasue they were easy to take cuttings of and thus FREE! Smashed a wedge off the path and filled it with compost and made myself a piece of home in a grotty part of the city...to sit on the step and have coffee...

 

That's just like where we used to live in Liverpool - could even be the same cat!! :D
We had to demolish the outside loo when we first arrived - and this was in 1981...

 

Their are still houses like the one bm lived in wolverhampton has loads like that..The ones i visited in bham have been renovated by the national trust..Inside is really grim no luxurys at all..the kids only had a wooden spinning top to play with..and doing the washing looked like a nightmare with the old boilers and mangles..they were so small inside they couldnt have had any space at all..I was glad to get out to tell the truth as i couldnt breathe ..especially when the tour guide takes you upstairs to see the bedrooms with all the beds piled in one room then they start talking about fleas..and its amazing how far we have come since then..it must have been dreadfull looking out on a courtyard with no plants just bricks and filth..as dont forget this museum is in the middle of bham which is industrial..so filth would be the order of the day..No computers !! They must have spent each evening staring into space..!!

 

I must visit these houses wildflower, I am so interested in the way things used to be.

 

I do enjoy visiting these places but there is always a hint of sadness that these people had to live such hard lives. Another good place to visit if you like a bit of social history is St Fagans National History Museum. :D

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/stfagans/

 

Banana Man ..Thanks that also looks very interesting..I suppose they accepted their lot in life as their wasnt much choice..and fortunately we have all the mod cons..including toilet paper which we take for granted !! we didnt have to cut old newspaper up in squares.."They probably got dye on their bums from the newspaper "They had the luxury of a bath once a week..How dreadfull it seems to us..life must have been really hard then and they didnt live to a great age ..I am not surprised..
Stingo ..if you see this then if you go their its next to the theatre..and you get your ticket in one of those little shops. in the picture.. which is the national trust..and dont wear heels as the stairs are lethal ..they are safe just steeper than what we are used to and narrow also..and you go in one door and up and round the houses without coming out again..

 

The different ages of houses are great wildflower really interesting. Im sure I remember some of the bed areas being constructed as part of the chimneys to keep warm !

 

another place to go to see this sort of social history is New Lanark, which was an "ideal" mill set up by a philanthropist.
http://www.newlanark.org/

 

Their is another good place to visit up snowdon at the national park centre they have a workhouse their..which has been turned into a museum..And also their is the black country museum at dudley..which is great fun as you can go for a boat ride under the tunnels..

 

This is the washing line in the courtyard of the back to back houses..

 

My Nan and Grandad used to cut newspaper into squares for toilet paper when I was little, they lived in Lozells which did have back to back houses. I can remember them talking of the awful conditions of the people living in them, fleas and the like.

Black country museum is very good too, also Blists Hill in Ironbridge.

 

Dont fancy the fleas !! I am allways inspecting the dog for things like that..I suppose if we lived in those days we would be used to them..as we would have no choice..I have been to the museum at ironbridge a long time ago as i lived over that way before i was married..I love looking at old things..they are interesting..

 

The houses look great WildFlower albeit in the inside not a nice life at all. I would guess that back then the brickwork would look pretty black with chimney smoke.

One of my gardening clients houses has an entirely separate kitchen from the main house as I understand back in the 1800's it was common-place that the smell of cooking was not acceptable in the main household. The servants outdoor toilet is around 150 feet walk from the sleeping quarters.

New Lanark in Scotland is fascinating too Dendrobium. Lovely place for a day out with the family!

Kind regards
Roy