Dan Cruickshank on Liverpool Housing

[Blue70]

Dan Cruickshank: At Home with the British

2. The Terrace

Dan Cruickshank explores our love affair with the terrace - the home that more Britons live in than any other. We love it because it has proved brilliantly adaptable, encompassing the Victorian parlour and modern open-plan living with equal ease.

Dan is in Toxteth, Liverpool 8. Famous for the riots that ripped it apart in the 1980s, Toxteth has a far richer and more varied history than that one tragic episode. Liverpool was the ultimate Victorian boom town, turned by trade and industry from provincial powerhouse into the second city of empire. 100,000 terraced houses were built to accommodate its vast workforce, with huge numbers in Toxteth. From a high of Victorian industry and immigration to a low of postwar decline, Toxteth's terraces have seen it all - even the 2015 Turner Prize, awarded for their remarkable 21st-century regeneration

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... he-terrace


Blue

[MaryA]

Thanks for the link, just came home and found I'd missed the beginning, so I'd rather catch up the whole prog.

[barley28]

Anyone know where that last court was? It seemed to be behind a gate, so perhaps not easy to find.
Barbara

[Blue70]

There are three surviving court houses. The two houses located to the rear of 35 and 37 Pembroke Place were probably Houses 1 and 2 they were in Court 1 also known as Watkinson’s Terrace, and the one house behind 39 Pembroke Place was probably House 1 in Court 3 also known as Watkinson’s Buildings. Galkoff's shop is nearby at 29 Pembroke Place.

The court houses are behind these buildings shown on this link:-

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.40877 ... 312!8i6656


Blue

[barley28]

Thanks Blue. I recognise the tailor's shop from the programme, and that's also where he went down into the cellar.

[Blue70]

There's a map showing Galkoff's shop at 29 Pembroke Place on this link just count across to the right to find 35-39 Pembroke Place. The frontages of 35-41 on the map adjoin the courts behind. Unfortunately number 41 and the court house that was immediately behind it has not survived:-

https://www.flickr.com/photos/54861518@N04/5202906194/


Blue

[barley28]

Whenever I go past Galkoff's shop on the bus I admire the old frontage and sign. Is it and the old court under any kind of preservation order? Or will they disappear in due course? It all looks pretty decrepit at the moment.

[Blue70]

Plans for Galkoff's shop:-

http://blog.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/201 ... oke-place/

Plans for the Court Houses:-

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liv ... g-11288244


Blue

[BarbaraW]

I'd love to see that court dwelling done up as it really was. The one at the museum is good but this would be more atmospheric I'm sure.

Do we know who lived there?

[Blue70]

I haven't seen any names mentioned but if you consider how often people moved house years ago hundreds of families will have lived in the surviving court houses. We can identify families from census records and people may discover a link via births, baptisms, marriages and deaths but most names will slip through the net.


Blue

[BarbaraW]

Very true Blue but I'm going to do a street search now out of sheer nosiness.

I will keep an eye out for this exhibit, it should prove interesting.

[Blue70]

There's no mention of the house numbers but usually courts were numbered with the odd numbers on the left and the even numbers on the right when you enter the court.


Blue

[Blue70]

There's people living in those courts in 1911 but none of the court addresses are listed on the 1939 Register. A 1927 map shows that most of the houses had been demolished by that time. I doubt there's anyone out there who can contribute any memories of these two courts.


Blue

[MaryA]

Went past on the bus today, no sign from the road of the courts, can you actually go through to them?

[Karen]

Thank you for the link. I've just finished watching - a fascinating watch.

[Blue70]

Went past on the bus today, no sign from the road of the courts, can you actually go through to them?

They probably won't be open to the public for some time they'll need work doing on them.


Blue

[MaryA]

They probably won't be open to the public for some time they'll need work doing on them.

Thanks, at least it will be good to have them preserved, show the future how it was in the past

[daggers]

I too enjoyed the programme but expected them to say that the last of the court houses was to be found near the top of Duke Street, and was surprised when they didn't! I am sure I must have read that somewhere, but the marbles may be shrinking [almost certainly]. Any ideas?

D

[MaryA]

I will ask Joyce if she knows anything about it.

She reminded me on Tuesday that last year we received an enquiry, via the website enquiry form, from the BBC, asking for some help. I can't remember all the details now but apart from passing it on to Joyce I recommend that they come on the forum to ask - they obviously didn't.

Joyce received thanks at the time for information she had passed on, but personally I was surprised that they didn't advise her when this programme came on that it was the result.

[MaryA]

Memories from Joyce, yes she did expect Duke Street to be mentioned, there were apparently a couple of courts a number of years ago that were being discussed for demolition and there was a bit of a public outcry so they decided to preserve one of them.

You were right R!