Thursday, 25 September 2014
Day 25, Market Street, Edenfield. circa 1820.
Market Street, Edenfield, This picture shows the main street in the Village. Most of the town was built for cotton manufacturing, here we see weavers houses( the white painted ones) where the handlooms were on the top floor, accessed by the steps(taking in steps) in the middle of the block of four houses, the second photograph shows the detail. The windows in the gable end are extra large to let in more light, you can just make out the thickness of the walls through these windows, about two feet thick. The top rooms would go the full length of the 2 houses. All these houses were built a different times, you can see the difference in the construction, windows at different levels, doors a different heights. They would not have been shops when built, being converted at a later date. The road would have been a dirt road, very muddy during wet weather. The cottages(Badger Row) in yesterdays posting are just at the other side of the trees in the main picture.
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After learning about how bad the conditions were for the workers, it tarnishes the company owner's reputations and how I thought they were so lovely to give their workers accomodations but I see that it was just them being very sly getting workers to work for nothing. These homes look big but I'm betting now that each had several families living in them. Argh, just makes me angy. :-P
ReplyDeleteYou are so correct, Maggie. I do family history and I have found houses in the 19th century with as many a six families living in them. One family in each room including grandparents and 'in laws'.
ReplyDeleteI must say not all mill owners were that hard, but many were. If you look at my post for Day 13 Whittaker Park, that house was owned by a mill owner who had several mills with his workers as young as 6 years of age starting at 6 in the morning and finishing at 10 in the evening, all for a little as £1 or £1.50 a week. When I was young, 65 years ago, I regularly saw elderly neighbours who were crippled or hunch backed through working in the mill at 6 years of age having to go under working machines to clean out the cotton waste before their bones were properly developed and set. The coal mine owners were no better.
There is a wealth of knowledge and history ion your blog that I hope I get a chance to read this weekend. It is a great idea showing the steps as an insert, they look very narrow. They are both very clear and detailed photos, we don't know how lucky we are living in these times ( well most of us)
ReplyDeleteHaving the cars out the front brings us back to the present day - I've been getting caught up in the posts with no obvious modern add-ons, and you could easily imagine them being taken years ago. When there's cars, not so much.
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