The day after the winter solstice, sharp wintry sunlight illuminates this long row of terraced houses in south Sheffield. They rise from the valley of The River Sheaf up the hillside. The name of the street is Woodseats Road. As you can see, these houses don't have front gardens but they are well-built and surprisingly spacious and comfortable inside where the residents are now no doubt ticking off the hours to yet another Christmas. All of the houses have cellars and in front of each one you can still see the tops of the chutes down which coal men once poured coal. But those days are long gone. Nowadays, the only fuels supplied to these homes are electricity and gas.
Further up the road on the right I noticed that number 210 is up for sale. It is on the market for £129,500 which is $160,000 (US) or $221,000 (AUS). It would make a nice little holiday hideaway for one of this humble blog's wealthy visitors.
Ridiculous, when you consider that when they were first built the occupiers probably struggled to find the paltry weekly rent, and the lavatory was out in the outhouse at the back, along with the tin bath !
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't have wanted to visit the outhouse in the middle of a frosty December night. Instead I'd have done my business in a chamber pot... or cracked the window open for a while.
DeleteMany abuse journey I've made on the 75 bus going up and down this road!
ReplyDeleteWho were you abusing in those days MAC?
DeletePatients at the Royal Hallamshire!
DeleteI've never heard of these called "terraced". There's also a vanishing point in your photo. So a nice photo !
ReplyDeleteWe have hundreds of terraced streets in northern England Red. Maybe this is why so many Britons emigrated to Canada!
DeleteTerraced houses just near us go for around. £450k. 2 up 2 down, but we are 20 mins from london on the train and 10 mins walk from the station!
ReplyDeleteWow! £320,000 more. House buying funds go a hell of a lot further in South Yorkshire. For £450,000 you could have a nice detached three bedroom house in its own spacious grounds.
DeleteThese prices are fine when you're selling, but it's the youngsters I feel so sorry for. These days many of them haven't a hope of getting on the housing ladder. Years ago, those little terraced houses were the starting point for many newlyweds.
DeleteBut if the couple are in work £129,500 should be possible here in Sheffield... but the London area has become a sheer impossibility for ordinary young folk.
DeleteIt's all a bit grim with not even a street tree! reminds me of "Billy Elliot"
ReplyDelete"Grim"? Maybe so Kylie but ordinary northern English folk are generally happy in homes like these. It's not all "Downton Abbey" and "Poldark" you know.
DeleteThey were houses put up for the workers, Kylie, and often, in the olden days, shared by more than one family. Every industrial town or city has them, even today. The workers spent longer hours at the workplace than they did at home, and these provided a roof over their heads.
DeleteSorry YP, I seem to have hi-jacked your blog !
Please feel free CG. Your input is always appreciated.
DeleteOne wouldn't want to get drunk, and then try to find which place was theirs!!
ReplyDeleteVery true, Lee. That must have led to a great many neighbourly "misunderstandings" when hubby rolled home from the pub, after spending the weekly wage before he even gave any to his wife....
DeleteThe brother of a friend of mine came home drunk one night and went up the wrong alleyway. In fact he was round at next door's house. Realising this, he must have tried to straddle the fence but fell over, banged his head and went to sleep in the frost. He died before morning arrived. He was twenty one.
DeleteI love streets like this and the photo is so atmospheric. For the price of a house in that street, you couldn't get a garage for the same price in London!
ReplyDeleteCould you get a pair of theatre tickets...or perhaps a coffee and a doughnut?
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