mis 8 Garden Street Penkhull – An early Spode housing development.
£2.00In May 1810 Spode proceeded to develop further workers’ dwellings in the village of Penkhull. He acquired two sites with existing properties owned by Thomas Chapman, a resident of Penkhull, The first site contained five old cottages described as being the inheritance of Joseph Bourne and afterwards his sister Margery Chapman. These five cottages stood in what was Farm Lane and were either demolished or converted into six cottages by Josiah Spode.
The new or converted cottages were built in a similar layout to others built by Spode, two up and two down. At the rear was a communal yard with shared privies, ash pit and one shared water pump. Even with the lack of facilities compared with other houses built by Spode, the occupants were charged the same rent at 8s 9d, per week subsequently creating a high turnover of tenants as it was a large sum to find.
Originally called Farm Lane as Penkhull Farm was almost opposite, but like many streets in the 50’s the name was changed to Garden Street as opposite were allotments.
The last cottage was converted into a Beer House, converting the front room to accommodate as many as possible. Again, a good read for anyone at college and taking Humanities. A great read of life then two pages with photographs.
