General Chat

When I was little my nan (who was a bit of a snob round the edges) used to talk about her childhood home in Sevenoaks. They had a pony and trap, her father was practically landed gentry, blah blah. I didn't believe much of this at the time and since doing the tree have disproved any claim to money etc.

BUT, the family did live in a large "cottage" in 1891. Her father was a "coachman" so presume the family used the pony and trap that he used for work. I found an old map of the time showing the cottage as a sizeable site. Even on my own old OS map it shows as an individual blob.

I Google Earthed it today and although the cottage itself no longer exists, where it used to sit are three quite large detached houses.

Room for a pony indeed!

Go, grandma! I take a bit of my disbelief back now!

Jill

ik love googling old maps of where our ancestors lived, my nan always went on about the big house , me thinking mansions, it was a big 4 bedroomed house on a hosing estate lol, i know i have lady somewhere in my ancestor just hard to find her x

Pusser,
That probably was a big house compared to where she'd lived before!!
My g g grandad bought a 2 up 2 down in Southampton, loo in a shed in the back yard, shared water supply etc.
When my mum lived there in the 1930's, gran, grandad, mum and her sister lived downstairs, a family of 7 lived upstairs!!
Grandad's dad (who owned the place before him) used to look down on gran's family - mainly because there were 9 children in gran's family and only 2 in grandad's - but gran was brought up in a huge (by comparison to grandad's) Edwardian house in a street of Edwardian houses that were owned by the council, and the children were spaced so that there were rarely more than 4 in 'residence' at any one time!

Take all stories with a pinch of salt but remember there could be truth there!

My Gran never really talked about her side of the family and there was a lot of them only 2 sisters but a whole lot of children there just in the next villages. She did tell a lot about grandads family (he died before I was born) and I knew 3 of my great aunts well, as they only lived around the corner. They lived in the house that my great grandad built so I used to play there.
Looking back thro' the census they all lived near where I lived so I sort of remember the area.

Sadly my Nan never told many stories as there was too many secrets being kept. My Mum was her 2nd cousin who she 'adopted'

I do love looking for the addresses of where they lived on google earth and wondering how much it has changed

The 1911 census tells you how many rooms there were in the house not counting the scullery/kitchen or bathroom, if there was one. It always amazes me how many people squeezed into the property often including a lodger or two. I find myself looking at the ages and sex of the occupants and trying to imagine their sleeping arrangements!

I love Google Street View as a lot of my family came from central London where the buildings are often still much the same as they were then

Wendy x

lololo never thought of that and yes she would have had that with only 3 children xx

My OH's mother lived with her parents and siblings in a two up / two down. There were a total of 12 children - although by the time the youngest few came along the eldest few had moved out, but even so ...

And I've seen the house and it's titchy!

Jill