SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

Martyn wrote: Mmmmm. A toughie this. We're looking due north because the satellite dishes are facing us and they always face due south. Holbeck somewhere? No, but not a million miles away!

Interesting thread. I spent the first 10yrs of my life in a back-to-back on the Vespers in Kirkstall, no idea how old they are though. Toilet in a yard halfway down the street, no running hot water- bathtime was all the pans on the stove, Mum and Dad used a tin bath whereas us kids had to make do with sitting on the draining board with our feet in the sink! My job as a 5yr old was to clean out and re-make the coal fire every morning- I'd guess that would be illegal these days, and I had to share the same bed as my sister until I was 9!Just in case you're wondering, I'm not 183yrs old- I'm 50 and all this was as recent as the '60's. At the time, I thought everybody lived like this!

My youngest daughter was born in a Leeds back-to-back!!!! if that's not a claim to fame I don't know what is!    

drapesy wrote: My youngest daughter was born in a Leeds back-to-back!!!! if that's not a claim to fame I don't know what is!     Well as I said earlier I was brought up in a back to back but I wasn't born in it - I was born in Morley Hall - a local maternity unit - there's another subject perhaps?

My grandparents lived here,12 Fink Hill the second door up, from 1936-47, it's a one up one down B2B at the back of Armley town street. My mum was born here in '37 and my uncle in 47. They then moved to a 2 up 2 down B2B at 12 Hope Grove,Armley.My mum moved out in '57 when she got wed, my uncle stayed there till he got wed in '70. My gran and grandad lived there till 1976, still using the outside dunnie and coming to ours for a bath every week.    

Trojan wrote: drapesy wrote: My youngest daughter was born in a Leeds back-to-back!!!! if that's not a claim to fame I don't know what is!     Well as I said earlier I was brought up in a back to back but I wasn't born in it - I was born in Morley Hall - a local maternity unit - there's another subject perhaps? Perhaps another subject - a former colleague of mine was born in a place called Mount Tabor at Bramley and then adopted. I helped her find the record at the Central Library and we were able to trace her family. Anyone heard of that? But re back to backs [yep, me too and ours was shared by four houses] - a friend of mine who is 40 years old lived until the early seventies in a street of back to backs with shared facilities.

I spent 11 years in back to backs and it was all I knew then.As regards the area I lived in - The St Hilda's area - I remember two types of back to back.1. Had a minute front garden with an outside toilet shared by two houses, steps led down to it. ( My mother made me go and collect the droppings from the milkman's horse to put on her two roses!!)2. The other ones nearby had a front door that opened onto the street. They, I think shared a toilet with next door. I remember as a child seeing men in work clothes and reading newspapers, leaning against the wall in the street as they waited to go in for their morning ablutions.I may be wrong, but it was the quality of the people that I grew up with that I remember most. There was little crime that I can remember and a community spirit. I remember my mother in the early morning scraping out the coal fire ashes, doing breakfast and then washing using a posser etc. Hanging the washing in the street. Like all mothers at that time she worked so hard. Houses with no back windows or doors! Two up - two down, shared lavatories. Nothing to write home about these days perhaps, but the smiles, the trust, the 'get on with life' and 'I must get to work' are lost in some areas todayI suppose it fair to say it was a hard life for some, if not most - I was lucky as I was in one of the better back to backs.To those who lived in one, would you go back? I most certainly would not. But it would be interesting to hear your views.And I also wonder if there is a long term future in back to backs today in Leeds??Even with a whiff of reality I can still remember the community bonfires on the cobbled streets in the mid fifties and the women bringing out Bonfire toffee and Parkin and everyone getting on. The milkman and the veg and fruit man with their horse and carts I think it is the people I remember with the most affection, rather than the housing.

drapesy wrote: "blind-back backs" if you know what I mean. (starter for 10 - location please!) Hi drapesy no one come up with the location yet? Looking at the seats at the back there must be a bit of spare land at the rear.Its not a place i know but i thought i would bring it back to the top of the thread. Picture of site on page three of this thread.    

sundowner wrote: drapesy wrote: "blind-back backs" if you know what I mean. (starter for 10 - location please!) Hi drapesy no one come up with the location yet? Looking at the seats at the back there must be a bit of spare land at the rear.Its not a place i know but i thought i would bring it back to the top of the thread. Picture of site on page three of this thread.     thanks for that When Martyn said 'Holbeck' he was close - but no cigar    

drapesy wrote: "blind-back backs" if you know what I mean. (starter for 10 - location please!) Is it the view that you would have seen from a railway, either now or in the past?