Things are going to be a little slow on the blog front for a little while longer, so here’s a follow up to the previous post to keep things moving.
York Buildings could be found in small alley off Grubb Street – the entrance can be seen under the lamp in the centre of the photo in the previous post. Although Booth’s analysis found the area populated by the poor (no kidding!), his assessment was that their need wasn’t chronic. However, just seventeen years later, in 1906, it was decided that these buildings were no longer considered fit for human habitation, and were used instead to store costermongers’ barrows.
Looking at the claustrophobic courtyard one can only begin to imagine just how unbearable life must have been for the one-time residents in both the heat of summer and the cold of winter, the filth and the stench must have been horrendous.
The walls of the building at the end had been painted with distemper by the previous inhabitants in an effort to reflect a little more light into the dingy alleyway.
Basilica Fields 
July 1, 2010 at 5:13 pm
What can one say to such an image? Yuk, shudder, even “NIMBY”!
So what is the reason for writing on the inside of what I take to be shutters? (to the right hand front). The (facing) building at the far end of the alley seems to have a (brick?) ellipse under the ridge and such alcoves would often contain a date or inscription or coat of arms… what will you do with yours?
regards, Graham
If Grubb Street is to be part of the Artillery Lane model then does that mean that you will include York Buildings?
July 1, 2010 at 9:00 pm
Yuk, shudder and NIMBY are all appropriate responses 🙂
Goodness knows the reason for the writing, in what I presume to be paint or whitewash. An aspiring Edwardian Banksey…perhaps not.
I can’t see any evidence for an inscription the ellipse on the original – but that’s not to say there isn’t one under the distemper, so I’ll probably model as is.
How could I resist modelling Grubb Street without incorporating York Buildings (that’s a yes!)?
I wonder if the shutters were in situ when the buildings were used as housing, or if they were a later addition?