Can anyone tell me why there are bo back to back houses in Sheffield unlike Leeds where most of the inner city housing stock is still back to back? In Orwell's Road to Wigan Pier he mentioned there were thousands in Sheffield.

There were loads in the 50/60, but at the time the council were very progressive and undertook a programme of slum clearance.

This involved the building of Hyde Park Flats, Kelvin etc.

The Hyde Park Flats won many awards when they were first built and is now listed.
Kelvin Flats - sadly no longer with us, were a giant leap forward in terms of housing, I remember going to visit someone when I was a kid and thinking this is great. In its latter years it was full of undesirables.

Pitsmoor was also full of back to back housing and most of it was demolished in the 60s to make way for new maisonnetes and flats.
I watched them demolish the Verdon street area and build the flats that still stand in 1967.
The bottom of Rock St were the last to go around 1969.

Are there any back-to-back houses left in Sheffield?
Think there was one on Attercliffe Rd near that Door Warehouse
up to a few years ago.Also someone said there some on that street at the back of Pinders/Stokes Tiles on Moore St?

sheffield should be very proud of how progressive its council has been in its housing policy over the years...obviously when it started to get rid of its back to backs it meant business and got rid of (almost) everyone one something it now seems to be well on the way to doing with the disaster of 60s planning that were council tower blocks.
Unlike Leeds where the vast majority of all the housing is either STILL back to backs or tower blocks hardly any of which seem to have been demolished.

The high rise flats were a massive improvement to the back to back houses we lived in.
For the first time we had an inside loo, a proper bath,spacious rooms and clean living with great neighbours.
High rise flats were terrific in the 60s and the higher you lived the better.
They lost there appeal in the 80s when the original tenants either died off or moved and the council filled them with undisirables.

Before we moved to a house with a separate loo I used to yearn for an outside privvy (for my partner), especially after a night on the curry.

There were also back to back houses down near the moor. You can find some pictures of these on the picturesheffield.com site.
My mother lived in back to back housing on South Street which is now the Moor. They were part of the slum clearance when they were given a house on the Parson Cross estate.

dont forget when you talk about back to back there was 2 types of back to back houses in the slums of sheffield ,there was the posh back to back with a kitchen or 2 rooms down stairs or there was the straight up back to back with just one room downstairs which was the kitchen/front room/and bath room on fridays for a bath.I was born in the house we lived in on moor street which was the straight up back to back with one bedroom and a attic and you could use the attic if it had no leaks in the roof .

There are still back to back houses in Leeds, who says Sheffield is behind Leeds?:thumbsup:

Do those houses still use Cess pits as well? :D :P

Does any one know any web sites where i can get past info on my house ??

Depends what type of info you're actually looking for. A good place to start would be the City Library Archive section. The staff in there would pretty much be able to give you advice on how and where to look. Happy hunting.

The most important slum clearance was in the 20's , thats why estates such as the Manor, Woodthorpe and the Arbourthorne were created. My nan who is still living at the tender age of 96 grew up in Scotland street in houses that made back to back look positively desirable. All those houses were arranged around yards, and each yard had it's communal outside loo's. The cellars were inevitably full of rats, the house had mice and blackclocks would live in the wall filling and come out at night. By all accounts the best way to scupper them would be to mix plaster of paris with sugar and lay it down as bait, they'd eat it get half way up the wall and explode!

I lived in the old back to backs at bottom of newman road wincobank.
they were pulled down around 69 and it was a lot of years till they built on it.
i beleive prince naseem the boxer lives in the new buildings that they finally did replace them with.
the old days in the back to backs were the best years of my life.

tara,
naseem's family might still live round there, (not impossible, even with all the money he's earnt with his boxing) but, naseem himself doesn't.

AFAIK, he has a big, swish place in one of the "monied" suburbs, Whirlow, S11, and trains in gmn near Pymouth/ lynmouth rd ain abbeydale.

PT

Hi I lived in heeley for 20yrs on Foster Road which had back to back houses leading on to gleadless road opposite was the heeley church,we had an outside loo & a bath hung on the wall outside our back door oh those was the day's.lol

Originally posted by fuzbuz
Does any one know any web sites where i can get past info on my house ??

As someone else has pointed out if you visit the central library in town and visit the local studies section upstairs you find all the electoral listings for sheffield from about 2002 going back to late 1800's so you should be able to indentify past tennants and maybe get an idea of when your house was built if you dont already know. If your house is over 100 years old, you could try looking for it online on either the 1901 or 1891 census.

I remember the old back to backs on Bradfield Road/Owlerton Green when I was a young kid. We had friends who lived there and we lived in the flats opposite. The houses were really small and pokey. We loved it when they pulled them down as we then had a huge are of land to play on! We had our den for many years amongst the rubble!!

My grandmother lived in a back to back on Denmark Road, just off Heeley Green. It was a one up and one down and to go to the loo she had to come out of the house, walk up the road a little, then turn left up a gennel to the back yard where the toilets were located. Certainly wouldn't want to be taken short during the night or after a heavy night on the town. Can you imagine the bucket brigade each morning ? :D

I loved living in a back to back house, we were friends with everyone who lived there, and on a friday or saturday evening we'd all congregate at the front of the building with our fish and chips wrapped in newspaper...those were the daysOriginally posted by tara
I lived in the old back to backs at bottom of newman road wincobank.
they were pulled down around 69 and it was a lot of years till they built on it.
i beleive prince naseem the boxer lives in the new buildings that they finally did replace them with.
the old days in the back to backs were the best years of my life.

My granddad used to live in Carnarvon Street, Kelvin. i seem to recall that was a B to B, which was a great place to play as a kid, i do recall his bedroom full of gasmasks, tin helmets and his bed didn't have any blankets but had about half a dozen trench coats to cover him, and also what i think were called shelter suits, which were all in one bed suits for the kids if there was an air raid in the night you didn't have to get dressed to go to the shelter, i was born in the early 50s so you could say i was fortunate to have missed all the bombing, but we had all the bombed out building to play in, which was very dangerous but loads of fun

There are some back to back houses near the mosborough police station. These are not old houses but relitivly new well in the last 15 to 20 years. I was surprised at how compact they are and they do seem quite nice for a single person to live in.

My father lived in the back to backs down behind Stokes before they knocked them down. They were cleared out of the slums and were given a newly built house on Gleadless.

My Mother in Law was just telling me about her Grandma's back to back on St Phillips Road (I think that's the road name) next to the brook hill roundabout opposite Jessops Hospital. Told me it had a bottomless well in the cellar, which was covered up. She said there had been a murder in the house before her Grandma moved in and it was said the murder weapon had been thrown in the well.

My grandparents lived all their married life in the back to back row on Hollinsend Rd at Intake. They were just up on the right hand side next to the Chapel. I believe the Chapel is still there, but the old houses have been demolished and replaced by some other sort of row housing. They raised seven kids and untold numbers of lurchers,whippets and greyhounds there.

Originally posted by mikelee1spain
dont forget when you talk about back to back there was 2 types of back to back houses in the slums of sheffield ,there was the posh back to back with a kitchen or 2 rooms down stairs or there was the straight up back to back with just one room downstairs which was the kitchen/front room/and bath room on fridays for a bath.I was born in the house we lived in on moor street which was the straight up back to back with one bedroom and a attic and you could use the attic if it had no leaks in the roof .

Mike is quite right. The true back to backs were houses which were literally one house at the front and one house at the back i.e. one up one down. I learned this on a history course at Sheffield uni. The term back to back is often today used to describe houses which have a back yard with a privy then a gennel or back lane, across which there is another back yard of another terraced house. However, the term originates from the older one up one down slums.

There are some of the houses with yards back to back in Doncaster, not far from the town centre. These I think are council, and they were going to be demolished but many of the residents protested, because they like them!

We moved out of backtoback housing when I was quite small from Princess St Attercliffe. In '52 when I was an office junior I had to fetch the lunches from a place on Princess St which was probably backtoback even then. We were all rehoused on the Shirecliffe or Southey Green.

My Grandma lived in Bedford St facing the street itself and she had a front room as well as a kitchen, her backdoor opened into a yard and Aunt Mary lived at the back of the yard ( called a court ) in a true back to back house called this because at the back of the house was a house in another street,
The house at the back of the yard had one room entered from the yard where evrybody lived. In one corner was the cellar door and in the other corner was a staircase up to the next floor which had 1 bedroom and above was the attic. So 4 floors all with 1 room. Toilets were grouped together in the yard.

Aunt Mary's living room was jammed full, 4 adults, table and chairs, sofa, sink in the corner where everything was done.

My Aunt used to strip down to her cami knickers to wash while I as a child watched. Under the snk was a copper boiler where clothes were washed or boiled and water heated up as there was only a cold tap.
Grandma had a zinc bath which hung on a nail outside her back door and put in the front room for everyone to have a bath,
water heated in the "copper . "
I have many happy memorries of cricket played in the yard with uncles home on leave from the war.

hazel

Our old Back to Back only had one downstairs room for everything.
one bedroom and an attic which was called a garrett in those days. There was also a large coal cellar and a pantry at the top of it. talk was, that a woman had been murdered in our cellar
so you can imagine, as a child i wouldnt go near it.
every few houses had an entry and a back yard , which were called courts. The back yard toilets were shared by five or six families, two from the front and three or four from the back.
The shop next but one to our house was ran by a man called George Moveley (excuse spelling) I have fond memories of George, he was great with all the kids that went in his shop, hed freeze special homemade penny lollies and some that were called freeze ups, these were little tiny milk bottles with frozen orange juice in them.
there were jubblies too. I remember going in one night to buy a penny arrow bar , the door was open so i naturally went in, to my horror George said he was closed and he had forgot to lock the shop door, so i was then greatly rewarded with loads of sweets , because he said if it wasn't for me he would have been burgled.
I remember his wife Maud use to sometimes ask us kids to post a letter for her and she'd always give us sweets, but the trick was to go straight back in the shop and tell her it was done, or she might forget if you left it to another time and you'd get no sweets. George use to allow people to have credit but didn't take kindly to the odd ones that never paid him so he'd put their name in his window. Every thursday night there were queue's of people all paying their weekly bills from their wages. I can never foret the gorgeous smell as you went in his shop it was a kind of pink fizz and soap powder smell, a tantalising aroma of the mixture of different things he sold.
Living in Back to Backs meant there was always someone to play with if no one was playing on the front then you'd go in the yard and find someone there.
There were green fields to play in, old houses to explore, one large very fine house i suppose in its day, was on merton lane and was left derelict, we were always in it.
And an old chapel that was closed down next door to the wincobank hotel.
There were lots of characters in those days of the back to backs i suppose being poor bred them.

Bon fire nights were great you could go to about six in one night.

Originally posted by alysonpeach
Mike is quite right. The true back to backs were houses which were literally one house at the front and one house at the back i.e. one up one down. I learned this on a history course at Sheffield uni. The term back to back is often today used to describe houses which have a back yard with a privy then a gennel or back lane, across which there is another back yard of another terraced house. However, the term originates from the older one up one down slums.

There are some of the houses with yards back to back in Doncaster, not far from the town centre. These I think are council, and they were going to be demolished but many of the residents protested, because they like them!

Colloquially known as the five streets. I used to live there and some of the houses are deceptively large. There is going to be a lot of activity there I understand. Some streets are going to be knocked down, whilst some houses on the remaining streets are going to be demolished.

Originally posted by tara
Our old Back to Back only had one downstairs room for everything.
one bedroom and an attic which was called a garrett in those days. There was also a large coal cellar and a pantry at the top of it. talk was, that a woman had been murdered in our cellar
so you can imagine, as a child i wouldnt go near it.
every few houses had an entry and a back yard , which were called courts. The back yard toilets were shared by five or six families, two from the front and three or four from the back.
.

Hi Tara,
This is a true back to back, one family living in the front, one in the back. Ive never come across anyone who has lived in one. Where was it located? When was it pulled down?

Anyone have pictures of the back to back houses ?

Just read Tara"s thread about when she lived on Newman Rd, in the back to backs and the bit about George & Maud Moverly"s shop. I was only speaking to Brian, Maud"s son, this morning on the phone. I also lived on Newman Rd, 5 doors above Moverly"s shop at no 77, born and bred in Wincobank, when Wincobank was classed as a village, great place to live then, we had nothing, but would"nt have missed it for the world. But then got married and moved down to Attercliffe and lived on Beall St, for a couple years or so (another great place to live,!!), before moving to Rotherham, Great memorys of the place and the people.:thumbsup:

Hi there Gethro, what a great suprise is it to hear from someone who actualy lived in the Back to backs on Newman Road.
These are some families i remember,starting from the bottom and including the courts.
Luxons,Redfearns,Makins, Fearnleys 1, Nellie Nelson, sinkaviches, Aggie wayne,mrs kelly,
Worthingtons 1, Whittingtons, The sadlers had number 59, (The Jacksons had number 61 and then Mr Smith who had a limp.) Worthingtons 2, Ada Mills, the Robinsons, Fearnleys 2, Bonsals, Ginger John,? the knights,Websters 1 Websters 2,Ainsworths, Mrs cheeseman.
Georges back shop door was next door to the young Fearnleys, Johns family. moira,kevin.or kevan as his mum use to shout.
There was another young lad higher up who had to have an eye operation. to straighten his eyes Cant remember the family name.
Do you remember the chip shop just above challoners that closed down in the early 60s.
Wincobank Hotel pie and pea suppers, my parents went to.
I had a good pal in that cottage/house just side of garages named jill Brown,she had a golden Lab.
My dad use to play for the wincobank football team in his 30s, he'd get the younger ones calling for him to play. So he couldnt have been that bad a player.
His sister got knocked down by a train while she was trying to stop someone from commiting suicide when she was 15. Thats why the bridge was put there near royal oak.

Unfortunately not even picture sheffield website have any pics of the actual back to backs
on Newman, only Robinhood rd.
Anyone find any please let me know, ive waited years.

My paper round was mostly to back to back house's and I would deliver around 18 stars to each yard 150 papers took about 15 miniutes this was for Brandwoods on St.Phillips Road the second part of the round was Watery Street and the bottom part of St. Phillips Road which were not back to back this was in the late 1950s I think they were demolished around that time as well.

Hi Tara, Great to here from somebody from Newman Rd. Maud Moverly is now in a nursing home, somewhere up Longly, Brian & Brenda, (his sister,) visit her every week, she is quite frail now. Still trying to remember some of the names near us. I lived at no 77, with my mom & dad, (he played in goal for Wincobank,!!) brother Barry,& sister Gloria. At 75 was the Liversidge"s, no 73 was my grandparents, the Chapmans, the Darby"s at no 71, the Bonsall"s at no 69, Moverly"s shop at no 67, below them, bottom side of the entry, was an old lady called Mrs Tricket (she died in the early 50"s.) then the Sadlers, Mrs Nelson, the Worthingtons. (the memory"s failing a bit now,!) The chipshop above Challoner"s ,was run by Mrs Hughes, that was no 52, & next door to them was the Lindly"s, we lived bang across from them. I have a photo of the chipshop somewhere, i"ll try and dig it out.

What happened to Karen Moverley.
We were in number 63 , other side of entry from George. i was born in that house in 1957.
Did you witness those large Geese walking down Newman Road and taking flight at the bottom,it was a talking point at that time.

I was born at Low Road, Woodland View, in a "sort of" back to back house. That is - it had three rooms (one down, one up and one further up) but there was nothing backed on to it..:?. The toilet was a 30-yard stroll across the yard and was shared with next door (they were posh - they also had a cellar...). The houses, together with an adjacent row of 12 larger ones (affectionately known as the "mucky dozen") were demolished in 1964 and most of the occupants rehoused by the council in the Roscoe Bank development.

Hi Tara, Last time i spoke to Karen, she was with Maud in Parkgate Retail World, at that time she was living somewhere out Worksop way. The Geese you mentioned were ours, we had a load of Geese, Ducks, Hens, Chickens & Rabbits, on the big allotment opposite the Wincobank Hotel. It took my mother, grandmother & a few neighbours ages to get them back on the allotment.!!!. Haven"t found the photo of the chipshop yet, but have found several photos showing Flo Webster, her daughter Elain, my sister Gloria with her friend Mary Smith,( Mary lived in the yard above ours in the bottom house.) plus several more, all showing Challoner"s farm & the Gas Tank in the backgrond. I found these old photos, with a lot more,in an old tin box after my mother passed away. Going to spend a few happy hours going through them, when i can find time.!!!!!.

Hi there Gethro, Elaine Webster was one of my friends, is it possible for you to email any pics .? Or somehow use photo bucket.

Regarding back to back houses,i was born in a back to back house and we only had one room down stairs,a bedroom upstairs and a attic above the bedroom and a Celler The houses was in blocks of 6 at the front and 6 at the back with a big yard that housed the toilets which you had to share,as regards are they any left standing well they are about 6 standing on milton street which are the true back to back.also i got a photo of a real back to back housing and if you want a pic then message me with your e-mail address and ill send it you so you know what back to back hoses was in years gone bye.

could you put it on photo bucket so we could all see?

The Local Studies Library has put many photos of back-to-back houses on its website picturesheffield.co.uk - this one shows the three-storey, one room deep arrangement: http://www.picturesheffield.com/cgi-bin/picturesheffield.pl?_cgifunction=form&_layout=picturesheffield&keyval=sheff.refno=u02572

The Local Studies Library has put many photos of back-to-back houses on its website picturesheffield.co.uk - this one shows the three-storey, one room deep arrangement: http://www.picturesheffield.com/cgi-bin/picturesheffield.pl?_cgifunction=form&_layout=picturesheffield&keyval=sheff.refno=u02572

I remember many happy times at my friends house 8Ct8 Barrow Road Wincobank, There was one room downstairs and two upstairs on the first and second floor. The family were the Revills, a typical family. Pats dad used to say 'too many of us in 'ere, we'll 'ave to go int front room' I lived in a semi, and couldn't understand why we didn't!!!! This was in the early 60's. I love going down memeory lane!

I lived in the old back to backs at bottom of newman road wincobank.
they were pulled down around 69 and it was a lot of years till they built on it.
i beleive prince naseem the boxer lives in the new buildings that they finally did replace them with.
the old days in the back to backs were the best years of my life.

He lives at Castle Dyke on Ringinglow Road.

I remember many happy times at my friends house 8Ct8 Barrow Road Wincobank, There was one room downstairs and two upstairs on the first and second floor. The family were the Revills, a typical family. Pats dad used to say 'too many of us in 'ere, we'll 'ave to go int front room' I lived in a semi, and couldn't understand why we didn't!!!! This was in the early 60's. I love going down memeory lane!

This sounds very familiar to me, Hetty - though at 7Ct2 Low Road our three rooms were piled on on top of the other.

The 1960s was the decade that put paid to back-to-back houses in Sheffield. Some would say it was very much a change for the better. But the fact is that houses aren't important - it's people who matter, and nobody can take away our memories.

Look what happened on the Kelvin. In 1960-61, in the name of "progress", they demolished Robert Street, Edith Street etc. and built the Kelvin flats. Then 20+ years later the flats became such a decrepit warren that nobody would live in them and so they were ... demolished.

there are back to back houses up for rent in S21 at the moment.

I remember many happy times at my friends house 8Ct8 Barrow Road Wincobank, There was one room downstairs and two upstairs on the first and second floor. The family were the Revills, a typical family. Pats dad used to say 'too many of us in 'ere, we'll 'ave to go int front room' I lived in a semi, and couldn't understand why we didn't!!!! This was in the early 60's. I love going down memeory lane!

Hetty i also remember folks from Barrow rd. Ernie Reville.
Do you remember the Kerrs. Judy was my aunt Dora's sister.
Also Paul ,Peter, Julie, Robert and Vincent.

I only knew the Revill family, I didn't live there, only visited, usually on night
Pat had a brother Tommy and a sister Evelyn, I haven't seen Pat for years, but I hear from her at Christmas, time marches on!!

these house's sound like a palace 1st house was a lone standing one up & one down but it was 1959 & glad to get that i think there was a5year waiting for city house

my friend lived in back to back on newman rd in early 60s......

I was born in Hammond Strret in a back to back house in 1954. We moved in 1958 as they were due for demolition. Hammond Street is still there but has flats or maisonettes there now.

hi,not know you i was born 1952.moved to wincobank when i was about 7.lived on fife st

I was born in Hammond Strret in a back to back house in 1954. We moved in 1958 as they were due for demolition. Hammond Street is still there but has flats or maisonettes there now.

I also grew up in Hammond Street,before moving back to Hillsborough but still spent a lot of time at my grandmothers and aunts in Watery Lane and Hammond Street.I loved it I don't know how all those large families fitted into those small houses.

I also grew up in Hammond Street,before moving back to Hillsborough but still spent a lot of time at my grandmothers and aunts in Watery Lane and Hammond Street.I loved it I don't know how all those large families fitted into those small houses.

Hi, my aunt and uncle lived in Watery lane with their children. Their name was Brindley.

I had an aunt who lived in a back-to-back house somewhere along Infirmary Road. The houses surrounded a courtyard, in which there were the privies and the cold water tap. The houses on the inside of the square faced onto the courtyard, and the houses on the outside faced onto the road. To make a cup of tea, aunt used to have to take the kettle, and walk round the outside to the entry, and go into the courtyard to fill the kettle at the tap, then walk back with the kettle full of water.

Although some people tried to "personalise" the privies, I'm not sure that there was one for every house, certainly if you needed one you went to the first that was empty.

When aunt was taken ill a neighbour used to take her book to the Post Office to get her pension for her. When she died, the neighbour cleared out her bank account, so the relatives got nowt.

John

Hi, my aunt and uncle lived in Watery lane with their children. Their name was Brindley.

Hi Harvey I can't recall the the name but it was quite a long lane I think it ran from what they called The holler near The TIP right down past the Infirmary.

Hi Harvey I can't recall the the name but it was quite a long lane I think it ran from what they called The holler near The TIP right down past the Infirmary.

They lived in 9 court.
In 1920 my grandparents9Brindley) had a shop at the corner of Wentworth and Burlington street and later lived at the bottom of Martin street before moving onto the Sutton estate.

Hi Harvey I can't recall the the name but it was quite a long lane I think it ran from what they called The holler near The TIP right down past the Infirmary.

They lived in 9 court.
In 1920 my grandparents(Brindley) had a shop at the corner of Wentworth and Burlington street and later lived at the bottom of Martin street before moving onto the Sutton estate.

They lived in 9 court.
In 1920 my grandparents(Brindley) had a shop at the corner of Wentworth and Burlington street and later lived at the bottom of Martin street before moving onto the Sutton estate.

I remember the shop if I remember correctly on the other corner opposite the shop was The Burlington Pub,and opposite diagnally was Gambles Chip Shop.But that is all I recall.

Watery lane did run a long way down, the bottom part of it is still there, near Infirmary Road/ Shalesmoor. It has the coroners' offices on there, these days.

Anyone have pictures of the back to back houses ?

check out sheffield library old photos (on line)

I'm sure I posted on a thread like this before--anyway, for about three months in early 1972 I lived in one of a set of ten back to backs on Stewart Road, off Sharrow Vale road (near Hunters Bar). There were two rooms, the upper connected to the lower by a dog-leg stair. They were stone-built, very substantial, and there was a small coal-cellar underneath. They were due for demolition (and went not long after) but I was able to stay there because they belonged to a colleague of mine and his house was the last tenanted while compulsory purchase was going on. The detached loo was some distance away! It was quite a historical experience...I was a bit sad to see them go, wondering if the houses could have been knocked through and modernised; but conservation wasn't in the vocabulary of most councils in those days (I know this because I used to do case work on listed buildings and was shocked at how many applications to demolish there were, for "redevelopment"--including a number owned by councils in Sheffield, Rotherham and Leeds)

Watery lane did run a long way down, the bottom part of it is still there, near Infirmary Road/ Shalesmoor. It has the coroners' offices on there, these days.

That is Watery Street which ran down from the junction with St,Phillips Road and Upperthorpe Road Watery Lane ran diagonally opposite it up towards Hammond Street area there used to be a old tardiss type police box opposite Tuft's the bakers in the 50s

I lived in a back to back house on marshall st. just off fowler st pitsmoor
my aunt and family lived 3doors away and the stringfellows 4 doors away
(yes pete and jeff) of MOJO fame.

My Gran lived on Hodgson Street. She had just the one room downstairs and rooms above. Toilets in a block across the yard. I always felt pity for the people who lived facing the road who had to walk down the ginnel to get to the their toilet. Smashing people who lived around there. I lived on Hurst Road - we weren't back-to-back but we too had toilets across the yard. We were a hardy generation back then. (We had to be)

That is Watery Street which ran down from the junction with St Phillips Road and Upperthorpe Road Watery Lane ran diagonally opposite it up towards Hammond Street area there used to be a old tardiss type police box opposite Tuft's the bakers in the 50s

Whoops sorry, getting the two roads mixed up.