"Burglar Bill" and other old tales of Radford

Hi Freeman, did Barbara Edgar have a brother, I used to know a couple of lads who lived on that stretch of Engleton Rd and I'm sure one of them was called Edgar. Thanks Artful.

Hi Anne, you lived on Poole Rd, was it near 126 by any chance ? Thanks Artful.

No number 13 down the bottom end. Yes, Barbara had a brother, can't remember his name but I think he had something to do with the 32nd scouts. I think he was older than Barbara.

126, that is in the top part of Poole Road, in the close towards the top right hand side, wasn't it Artful

Hi Morgana, Yes and it had a family called Maish living there. I think the younger daughter Mary still lives there.

Artful, I used to live a bit further up on the opposite side, I think I know who you're on about but didn't know them really well as I didn't mix with a lot of people around there, I used to do the Avon, that's how I know. Have moved a few times since then and don't venture over that way anymore.

Barbara's brother is called Brian. I have a family connection with the 32nd Scouts.

Going back to earlier references to the cottages that stood opposite the Radford Common, half way along the lower section, there was a coal merchant named Glover's. I cannot remember if he operated from the yard behind the row, which would have been were Mr Wilkinson lived in his bus, or if he had other premises with a yard. I know he supplied a lot of houses thereabouts. Going down the row towards Beake Avenue, at the end you turned up a passageway which led you into Nell Leather's shop. I was sent there on many occasions for the week's groceries, which to some extent remained the same week after week, as rationing set what you could have. Dad would send me down for five Woodbines in a little packet, and have them put them on the slate. Nell was very good that way. Pocket money did not exist in those days, so the general mode at the time was collect pop bottles, which when you took them back to the shop, such as Nell Leather's, you got tuppence a bottle. This enabled you to buy a pennyworth of sweets (also rationed), some kali in a pointed bag, or a liquorice wood stick. Going back up the block, one came to an entry, and the first or second house past the entry was a family whose name I can't remember, but I will never forget that family because of the tragedy, that happened to them. The house had no electricity and was lit by gas. They had a son and daughter both very young, and while the parents were out at the time, the young boy climbed up onto the table to either get a light or to light the light. The outcome was he set him self on fire. Sadly he perished, such a young life lost. Reading this site sets off all sorts of memories. Remember Radford Common in the winter, and the sledge runs down the slope, a great meeting place for loads of people. Also the HI'ITS or High Mounts, what a sledge run they had there, if you missed a tree on you way down, you could end up in the road. What simple pleasures we had in those days but what a way to grow up.

Hi Freeman, I am very familiar with the Radford cottages, not living near there but passing them every day on the bus to the other end of Beake Avenue. I always used to think they looked very bleak and Dickensian. There must be loads of stories to tell from those cottages, and I wonder when they were built.

Hi Dreamtime, I cannot put a date on the cottages, but I think they were very old. I have some photos taken long before even Beake Avenue was there, and the only life to be seen is a horse and cart. I have one also showing the cottages that stood on the bank opposite to Radford pub. I have tried to post these but as yet I have not managed it. The cottages were very basic inside, back to back with ones on front had no water supply, so the inhabitants had to carry water from a stand pipe, fixed to the toilet block wall.. Only four of the cottages had front and back doors, and the one we went into, towards the end of the war, was one of those. They all had old black lead iron fireplaces with ovens for cooking. The one we had also had an attic, which I was terrified of as a kid, but I remember my Dad went up there and found some old pop bottles, of the type that were stoppered with glass marbles, which were still inside the bottle. The idea was that the gas in the pop kept the marble tight up against the neck. I hope you may find this of interest.

Yes, thank you Freeman, I would say even prisoners locked up today lived better than that. As a matter of interest, did your dad keep the pop bottles, they would be considered antiques today, and perhaps they were put up in the attic for that purpose especially for a bottle collector. The Guinness cans here have the ball inside so it would serve the same purpose I expect.

Hi Dreamtime, Its interesting that you like to look back to those times. But no my Dad did not keep them unfortunately. It was at that time when toys and things were not available in the shops to buy, so kids had to make do with the best they could. So those marbles became toys for me (we called them allies then) and we played a game with them. I was one of the local cowboy outfit, and for several years I wore two guns made out of tree branches and holsters made from the stiff cardboard pages of a book. Christmas for parents must have been a nightmare, because they could not get toys, I was one of the lucky ones because I had an Uncle who was a carpenter and Mum would commission him to make something for me for Christmas, one year it was a wheelbarrow, and another a lorry and then a scooter. Mum also ordered every year a Rupert annual and I had one for many years. I wish I had kept them because now they would be quite valuable. They had to be ordered a the beginning of the new year and Mum paid so much a week up until Christmas.

Dreamtime and Freeman, scroll down to Radford history here to give you a rough idea of when the cottages were built, mentions the Radford Common, also someone writing from their castle?

Thanks Morgana, most interesting and enlightening read.

An interesting link to a picture of terraced houses in Engleton Road which says they were built by German Prisoners of war. LINK