Little London Road, Heeley in 30's & 40's

[grinder 10]

I lived in Heeley when I started work at Laycocks in 1957. I used to walk home down little London road,and unless they were at the Chesterfield road end where Gresham's now stands, I can't remember passing any houses at all..

[bakewell1 10]

Grinder,

 

The houses were in the form of courts and largely back to back's - three stories high but very narrow. They stood where Gresham's is, according to a friend who knows the area well (my friend's father had a barbers shop on Gleadless Road in the 1940s and 1950s).

 

My friend was involved in the demolition of these houses in the 1960s/70s and said that the house fire probably only took 10 minutes to destroy everything, as they were so narrow, that the fire would have burned quickly upwards, whilst not destroying the houses on either side.

[grinder 10]

Grinder,

 

The houses were in the form of courts and largely back to back's - three stories high but very narrow. They stood where Gresham's is, according to a friend who knows the area well (my friend's father had a barbers shop on Gleadless Road in the 1940s and 1950s).

 

My friend was involved in the demolition of these houses in the 1960s/70s and said that the house fire probably only took 10 minutes to destroy everything, as they were so narrow, that the fire would have burned quickly upwards, whilst not destroying the houses on either side.

 

Thanks bakewell, I thought I was losing it .

The only other place I can think of where houses could possibly have been was along side the Snowwhite laundry.

But I just couldn't picture having seen anything but spare ground there...

[DUFFEMS 56]

Thanks bakewell, I thought I was losing it .

The only other place I can think of where houses could possibly have been was along side the Snowwhite laundry.

But I just couldn't picture having seen anything but spare ground there...

 

I remember the houses in the 60's when we were kids at Carfield School, we used to walk past them on our way to Heeley Baths going through the works at the end. The houses, as you say were back to back and very dark due to the height and the fact of the works around them, they were very gloomy places.

Incidentally, there are a couple of photos on Picture Sheffield showing courts 1,3,5, & 7.

 

Regards,

Duffems

Edited May 30, 2012 by DUFFEMS

[fatrajah 10]

I remember a Terry Garbutt who lived on Little London Rd from my time at Meersbrook Bank Infants. This would be about 1953/4. I think he had a younger brother called Jimmy.

[Tony01 10]

Hi everyone im new on here, I lived at 3/1 little london road i know Steven garbutt & Martin, it was 1963 when we moved to Lowedges estate, is this Steven ?, im tony my father was from Poland do you remember me ?, hope to hear from you.

your's Tony

[bakewell1 10]

Hi - thanks Duffems, I got your message and have made contact.

 

Thanks also for the information on Picture Sheffield - unfortunately, it doesn't let me zoom in on the photos on Little London Road but gives me an idea of what they looked like - not at all like I imagined - for some reason I thought they were small cottage type houses.

 

Amazing how Sheffield has changed over the years.

[andingmen 12]

Hi everybody, I'm new to the forum but born and raised in Sheff.

 

I had a school mate whose family lived in the old row of three(?) cottages just over the red wooden footbridge which connected Heeley Baths with Little London Rd.

I've been searching for a pic of these old cottages for ages. I knew them as "Primrose cottages" but an old map of the area shows otherwise.

[DUFFEMS 56]

Hi everybody, I'm new to the forum but born and raised in Sheff.

 

I had a school mate whose family lived in the old row of three(?) cottages just over the red wooden footbridge which connected Heeley Baths with Little London Rd.

I've been searching for a pic of these old cottages for ages. I knew them as "Primrose cottages" but an old map of the area shows otherwise.

 

I think the lane was known as Primrose View, there's one picture of Broadfield Road/Primrose View on Picture Sheffield.

[tiny tina 10]

Hi I was born at no. 9 little london place in 1950 I had 3 older brothers and we lived opp the back to back houses. To get to Primrose cottages you had to go down little london rd and walk down a walkway that ran through tyzacks the cottages were at the far end just before you got to the river and the bridge. But you couldn't see much of them because they were behind a stone wall that had a wooden gate to enter. I played for hours down there by the river. The railway sidings were seperated from the streets by a brick wall and between that and the train tracks were wood cabins where the coal merchants worked from. getting there coal straight off the rail wagons. one of my jobs was to go round on a friday teatime and pay for the coal we had.

[andingmen 12]

Tiny Tina, thanks for the above note confirming the existence of "Primrose Cottages". We may well have met each other then, playing down by the river at that spot many years ago.

Coincidentally, I was browsing through some local books in Waterstones book shop in town only last week and I finally came across an amazing old aerial picture of that area actually showing those three cottages. The book was called " Abbeydale Road" I think, but unfortunately I forgot to get the author's name.

Yes, happy memories and never an illness paddling in all that filth!

[tiny tina 10]

Tiny Tina, thanks for the above note confirming the existence of "Primrose Cottages". We may well have met each other then, playing down by the river at that spot many years ago.

Coincidentally, I was browsing through some local books in Waterstones book shop in town only last week and I finally came across an amazing old aerial picture of that area actually showing those three cottages. The book was called " Abbeydale Road" I think, but unfortunately I forgot to get the author's name.

Yes, happy memories and never an illness paddling in all that filth!

hi andingmen, thanks for the info will go looking. yes you'r right never did us any harm. Hope you weren't one of those that left me struggling to climb back up the wall, hence name tiny....ha ha ha