Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past Wirral History Ilchester Square - The Dock Cottages

wow they bring back memories i moved in 1970 to the nocturum would you know were i could get to see pics of 1970 nocturum

The ramaining River Streets have now ben refurbished but some properties were demolished in Solway Street.

Had an Uncle (wife and children) who lived in the Ilchester Square flats. Moved them to the Woodchurch Estate circa 1955/56

the photo of the archway--top right flat the copelands lived and top left flat was the morris,s next door to copelands lived billy sadler my uncle

joyce

i bought the book up are lobby,after reading about it on here,and enjoyed reading it.

top right hand balcony--the copelands
top left hand balcony --the morris,s
opposite the copelands billy sadler my uncle who worked in the tapestry.
think foremans lived in bottom right of right balcony.

joyce

hi folks
the top right side of the arch lived the copeland family and my uncle billy sadler lived opposite on the top floor.
on left hand side of arch jimmy morris and family lived, think foreman family lived on bottom right, in the 50,s i lived at the top end of the square nearer the church end.

joyce

my grandad was born in the dock cottages, he later went on to work in lees tapestry, he invented a loome which was exibited in the williamson gallery, my dad and mother also went on to work ther til 1960

my dad was brought up there - he has a twin brother and the old pics i have seen made them look like the kray twins....lol

some of the stories he has told me about his youth there

wasn't one of them a chutney ferret?

Off part pages
"Multi-storey living: The British working-class experience
By Anthony Sutcliffe" here

In approaching the question the Council had the experience of private ventures into this field, both in London and on Merseyside. The national associations dedicated to raising the standards of working-class housing had been in existence for twenty years. The Metropolitan Association for Improving the Dwellings of the Industrious Classes, for instance, had already erected eight blocks in London.33 Closer at hand the Corporation could turn to a number of examples of such dwellings on Merseyside itself.
The earliest of these, and probably the oldest such working-class tenement development in England, lay across the river in Birkenhead. As a 'new town', built essentially around Laird's iron and ship-making enterprises founded in the 1820s, Birkenhead seemed to contemporaries to embody the spirit, hopes and aspirations of the age. Dr Hunter Robertson, admittedly a local man, felt it had
... ready materials to mould and fashion towards a high destiny by providing for all the means of pursuing life with knowledge,principles. and Purposes calculated to identify humanity and advance

The Insanitary Housing Question 59
A return of 8 or 10 per cent was hoped for by The Builder's correspondent, though the local doctor feared 'the investment will turn out an unprofitable one' owing to the unnecessarily ornate finish,which The Times suggested was reminiscent of an inn of court or Chancery building." The structure was certainly imposing even to twentieth-century eyes. though conditions in the cramped three-room space must have become severely overcrowded when occupied by large families. The 'cottages', as they came to be called, were demolished in the 1930s; the tenements built to replace them achieved only half that life and were taken down in 1972.
At least four smaller developments were erected in Birkenhead during this period. Morpeth Buildings was built by the industrialist William Laird," whose incentives for engaging in tenement building were in all probability similar to those of the Dock Company, namely the need to provide housing for industrial workers where none existed previously. Laird, the son of a Greenock rope-maker, may have been especially disposed towards dwellings on the 'Scotch plan'. His four-storey block, built in brick, consisted of eight terraced 'houses', each containing eight dwellings. Each landing served two flats in an arrangement similar to the Dock Cottages. Room dimensions and interior arrangements also appear to have been almost identical and as Laird was a chief partner in the Dock Company it may be that the similarities were not accidental. Air bricks, a feature not noted in descriptions of the Dock Cottages, were a positive proof that sanitary ideas were to some extent in the mind of the architect. One was placed near the floor to admit fresh air and the other near the ceiling for the escape of `heated or vitiated air'. These sanitary draughts were the subject of complaint from all four tenants interviewed by Robertson, though one stated he had had no trouble since pasting paper over them!

What would the other 4 buildings have been as in the above post?

Found this thread before. I couldn't find it doing a search (need some tips on that because most turn up blank)
I would have added to this thread instead of starting a new one and posting pictures that are already on this thread
I have just read the whole thread and it seems common knowledge to most wiki members of this book "up our lobby" (I thought I stumbled on a rare find ) it is a gem of a book
There are couple of pics on that thread that are not on this so I will add them here
There is so much information in these history forums it is keeping me sane whilst I am out of work so you can understand how happy I was to find this one and 9 pages of posts to read.
Happy days

Now this picture on the back cover is fascinating
None of the streets exist to the right of the church only challis st, and none of the streets running through Buccleuch and Lincoln st exist but the most strangest one is Beaufort road, down here as new road.
Didn't that exist before the cottages where built?

Harding avenue