Playing the name game in the avenues and alleyways

Mount Pleasant steps: A reminder of the town's darker days

SOME time ago Whitehaven Heritage Action Group embarked on a project to try and revive some of the town's old place-names and a trawl through old street plans and directories proved fertile ground.

A key difficulty however was that many of the old streets, courts and back alleys no longer existed, cleared away or swamped by other development, so it proved a challenge finding an appropriate place on which to hang a new name plaque.

Street names were frequently born of local association and usage, sometimes taken from those who resided in that place, perhaps the original inhabitant or builder. For example there once was a Torrentine's Place off Tangier Street, which had seven houses and in 1847 was home to a George Torrentine, a cart and gig owner.

Sometimes meanings and reasons for a certain naming are long-lost and forgotten.
These areas were far from idyllic places in which to live, often overcrowded, lacking in light and basic amenities. Towards the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries the burgeoning growth in the town's population led to back gardens being built over and saw small dark alleys of tiny houses springing up all over the place. These subsequently became slums and a breeding ground for disease, a legacy that lingered throughout the 19th century presenting a major social challenge in the 20th.

In 1901 there were 166 courts and alleys in Whitehaven, containing 733 houses or tenements - statistics logged when the town suffered an outbreak of typhoid fever.

A government inspector, who rejoiced in the name of Dr H Timbrell Bulstrode, was called in to report on the matter. Sanitary arrangements were found to be less than desirable. Dr Bulstrode's report looked at water supply, sewerage, house drainage, the removal and disposal of excrement and refuse and took in the housing of the poor, lodging houses, dairies, cowsheds, milkshops, and slaughter houses.

Whitehaven Borough Council heard that in 24 courts in Whitehaven each house was provided with an inside water tap, but in three courts there were three standpipes in each court (nine taps to 39 houses), in 23 courts there were two standpipes in each (46 taps to 154 houses) and in 116 courts there was one in each (one standpipe to three houses). In Steele's Passage, Rosemary Lane (two houses) there was no tap, the water being obtained from a tap in the lane about 20 yards away.

The council said the provision of proper and sufficient WC accommodation was a question which constantly engaged their attention and ashpits were emptied and cleansed daily.

Dr Bulstrode was disappointed to note that little had changed since an 1863 inspection whose graphic descriptions of courts and alleys was 'as applicable now as when it was written'. The doctor said: "I have no hesitation in asserting that there is no English town with which I am acquainted where the sanitary circumstances (with one or two exceptions) of the inhabitants and especially of the poor are in a more disgraceful and degrading condition."

He said the houses of the labouring population in the central part of town were crowded together 'in a way which is scarcely conceivable', the houses were dirty, dilapidated, badly ventilated, overcrowded without privies and where they were provided they were 'of the most objectionable kind', drainage scarcely existed. The council, which had been incorporated in 1894, wasn't happy and didn't want Dr Bulstrode's report to go uncontradicted. It said 'an elaborate and efficient system of sewerage' had been installed in 1866, after the previous damning report, at a cost of £36,000 which had brought 'great improvement' and that 102 insanitary houses had been closed and there was 'practically no overcrowding'.

Findings of the inspector's report were:

in 73 courts paving was found to be in bad repair

in 52 courts the ventilation of some of the rooms was insufficient (eight had been remedied and the Inspector of Nuisances to attend the remainder)

in 25 courts the WC accommodation was found insufficient

in 118 courts there was no means of artificial light.

Notices were served on the owners to close certain houses in the back courts, until they were rendered fit for human habitation. These were at Gibson's Court and Watson's Court (Charles Street); Bowe's Court (Senhouse Street); No 36 Court (Chapel Street; 102 Court (Queen Street) and the Court off Dixon's Square (Ginns).

Alterations, to improve ventilation, were ordered in homes at Fisher's Court and Thompson's Court (Irish Street); Richardson's Court (Scotch Street); Reay's Court and Ward's Court (Church Street); Senhouse Court (Senhouse Street); Winter's Place (George Street); College Lane (College Street) and No 20 Court (Plumblands Lane).

Other courts were closed all together. These included Shepherd's Court (Scotch Street), Court of Lamb's Lane (Duke Street), No 17 Court (Back Ginns) and Gale Court (Swingpump Lane).

As far as the fever outbreak was concerned the findings were inconclusive. Dr Bulstrode found that the outbreak was not caused by contamination of the water or milk supplies or by the consumption of shell fish or other foods, or linked to the occupation of those involved. He could not attribute it to defective house drainage, bad ventilation, overcrowding or sanitary arrangements.

The council felt that whatever the origin of the outbreak its spread was due to it not being readily diagnosed early on and they pointed our that 500 new houses had been built—at Kells, Bransty, Prospect, Sunnyhill, Solway View, Corkickle and Hensingham Road. There had been an increase in population of 450 in the 30-year period between 1871 and 1901, taking the total to 19,325.

Among the Whitehaven courts and back alleys inspected were Michael's Place, Selby's Place, Peel's Place and Key Place (Michael Street); Sanderson's Court, Cowan's Terrace, Watson's Court, Quin's Terrace (Charles Street); Mitchell's Court, Birkett's Court (Irish Street); Brigg's Court, Jefferson's Court, Harrison's Court, Reid's Court, Pearson's Court, Spencer's Court and Cook's Court (Scotch Street); Murray's Place, Longmire's Court, Commercial Court, Townsley's Court, Todhunter's Buildings , Smith's Terrace, Storey's Court, Whittle's Court, Brydon's Court, Kelley's Court, Cottage Row, Snodden's Court, Raglan's Court, Nail's Court (Queen Street).

In Tangier Street there was a Watson's Court, a Burnyeat's Court, a Torrentine's Place, a Robinson's Court and in Peter Street a Cowan's Court and a Union Terrace. Off Schoolhouse Lane was a McKelvie's Place and off Fox Lane a Moffat's Place.

There were eight houses in the Scots community of Little Scotland off Chapel Street, several Bacon Courts and even an Admiralty Court near the harbour.

Placenames revived by Whitehaven Heritage Action Group include Mount Pleasant (above The Beacon); Bardywell Lane (near the Pumping Station, West Strand); Wheelbarrow Brow (off Wellington Row); Bacon Court (off Tangier Street); Brackenthwaite (George Street); Schoolhouse Lane (off Queen Street); Newtown (Preston Street); Love Lane (in Castle Park); Kelsick Lane (behind cinema); and Harmless Hill.