Heeley

A Memory of Heeley.

I am trying to find Photographs, Drawings, or Paintings of the houses and if possible the Old Farm Cottages opposite the Heeley Parish Church on Gleadless Rd. Heeley. They consisted of a block of 4 bay windowed terraced houses, numbered from 166, to 172, and if my memory serves me correctly the postcode was S2 3AF. The Landlord was Mr Styring a solicitor. I said they were terraced houses and they were, but also they were attached to a house at either end. However; these were not part of the original build. So, now the four become six.

I am going to try and add some information, so let`s start with No. 164 not part of the block but connect to. This house belonged to Mr. George Cohen a Coal Merchant; it had a large yard at the side and some sort of work shop at the rear, and he kept two Lorries in the yard.

Moving up to 166, the occupants were Mr & Mrs. Longley: I think Mr. Longley was a joiner.

This brings me to No. 168 where I lived from 1945 the year of my birth, but my mother & father (Mr & Mrs. Young) had occupied this house from 1936, all through the war years.

One night an enemy plane dropped a bomb nearby, and it blew out all the windows in these four houses and demolished the toilet block which was at the bottom of the garden and they were not the flushing type, so you could imagine the stench. I think the Yorkshire dialect for this type of toilet is a Middin. My mother once told me that the only good thing Hitler ever did for them, was bombing the toilet block, because when they were rebuilt they had running water and a flushing mechanism. I forgot to mention; my father worked for the Admiralty on Janson St. down Attercliffe.
I never knew his job title, only to say that his job took him up and down the country visiting the R.O.F sites (Royal Ordnance Factories). So I didn`t see much of him, furthermore; I was only nine years old when he died of a Heart attack on December 12th 1954. His first name was Charlie; I mention this in case somebody can remember him, and my mother`s first name was Edna her maiden name was (Wright). She was the daughter of Mr. & Mrs Wright of 20 Kent Rd Heeley.

I continued to live there with my mother until I got married in 1972, and bought a house at Darnall. My mother remained at the old house until 1976 when these and many other houses in Heeley were subject to a Compulsory purchase order.

On to No. 170 here the occupants were Mr & Mrs. Fletcher; Mr. Fletcher worked on the railway, his job involved working the lines looking for loose connections etc.

On to No. 172 here the occupants were Mr. & Mrs. Earnshaw, I think Mr. Ernshaw died before I was born, although I was still quite young when Mrs Earnshaw died. Shortly after a Mr. & Mrs Hawksworth to up the occupancy, but I have no idea what Mr. Hawksworth did for a living.

Moving on to No. 174 attached to the block of houses but not part of the build. The occupants were Mr. & Mrs Bull, and I suspect this property was originally the farm house, I say this because I was friends with their son and I was often invited in. Once I asked what the hooks hanging from ceiling were for, and I was told they were for hanging meat on.

Now we come to a row of cottages which I think were for farm workers and their families. I only know the name of one family who lived there, and that was the Turton family, and I am in contact with Margaret Turton now called Margaret Otter. We went to the same school, Anns Rd junior school. Margaret tells me she would like to see a photograph of the cottages, but she has been unable to find anything.

So; if anybody has some photographs of old Heeley it could be possible that they may contain the information I require. I would also consider wedding photographs that may have been taken by a guest, but not a professional photographer because they would be concentrating on the newlyweds, and would not allow the houses and or cottages to be part of the image.