Hi Alan. Sometimes it says cellar in small letters under the street name as in the census picture I’ve included in the story. You can only just see it. But sometimes the census taker didn’t write it in. In the older censuses you can sometimes make a guess that the cellar was being used by seeing how many family groups were in the house. If there is a lot it usually means the cellar was being used, but you can’t often tell which of those families was underground. The rate books are often clearer and show H for house and C for cellar. Courts - I’ve always thought that court stood for courtyard. The original houses around Angel Meadow had a little plot of land attached to them called a burgage. After the front streets were developed, the builders started building houses along the borders of the burgages and spaces in between then formed into courts which were left open at one end to allow access to the front street. The entrances to the courts were often only a narrow passageway that was covered. Until the courts were paved, the ground would have been covered in muddy puddles, rubbish and waste from the houses.
The stories about Angel Meadow know no bounds Dean. Each one more awful than the one before. We are a soft lot now in the main. I'll take a listen to the interview you've done . Thanks
A story passed down about my 2x great grandma was that no one could believe she married my 2x great grandad because she was so put together and ‘glamourous’ where he was a bit of a scruff 😆
Anyway, when researching family history it turns out she lived in cellars in Angel meadow / ‘Irish town’ most of her life! Wonder if the glamourous life was an act or a rebound / fairytale story 🤔
Thanks Alicia. I love this story. At least she didn’t marry my g-g-grandfather who was known as Monkey Mick because he was always staggering around drunk. His wife used to tip chamber pots over his head to sober him up. Cellars did have one advantage in that you could shut the door on the outside world. Although they were underground they were safer than the lodging houses, where a lot of people became long term residents, sleeping in a new bed every night.
Hiya Dean,
How can you tell from the census return if someone was living in a cellar ? Is it clearly marked ?
I looked through some of my relatives census returns from 1851-1871 and all I can see is the house numbers no mention of cellars ?
I also wondered about courts, (I have family who lived in Thompsons court 1851.)
Why were they called courts ? Was it because it was a dead end street or they were not on a road/street ?
Hi Alan. Sometimes it says cellar in small letters under the street name as in the census picture I’ve included in the story. You can only just see it. But sometimes the census taker didn’t write it in. In the older censuses you can sometimes make a guess that the cellar was being used by seeing how many family groups were in the house. If there is a lot it usually means the cellar was being used, but you can’t often tell which of those families was underground. The rate books are often clearer and show H for house and C for cellar. Courts - I’ve always thought that court stood for courtyard. The original houses around Angel Meadow had a little plot of land attached to them called a burgage. After the front streets were developed, the builders started building houses along the borders of the burgages and spaces in between then formed into courts which were left open at one end to allow access to the front street. The entrances to the courts were often only a narrow passageway that was covered. Until the courts were paved, the ground would have been covered in muddy puddles, rubbish and waste from the houses.
Thanks Dean,
I will have another look.
I have one family with sixteen people living in the house so it's probable some were living in the cellar especially as they were not all related.
Just looked it's a written interview, I'll sit down with a cuppa later.
The stories about Angel Meadow know no bounds Dean. Each one more awful than the one before. We are a soft lot now in the main. I'll take a listen to the interview you've done . Thanks
A story passed down about my 2x great grandma was that no one could believe she married my 2x great grandad because she was so put together and ‘glamourous’ where he was a bit of a scruff 😆
Anyway, when researching family history it turns out she lived in cellars in Angel meadow / ‘Irish town’ most of her life! Wonder if the glamourous life was an act or a rebound / fairytale story 🤔
Thanks Alicia. I love this story. At least she didn’t marry my g-g-grandfather who was known as Monkey Mick because he was always staggering around drunk. His wife used to tip chamber pots over his head to sober him up. Cellars did have one advantage in that you could shut the door on the outside world. Although they were underground they were safer than the lodging houses, where a lot of people became long term residents, sleeping in a new bed every night.