[jambutty]

Being aware of how memory can play tricks, particularly with we old codgers (and you young ’uns too for that matter) I decided to take some time out from surfing around and head for Accrington. En route I planned to call in at Whittakers’ butchers on Union Road in Ossy to buy some of the best meat around. The butchers is on the left going down Union Road about 50 yards or so before you get to the library on the corner of Bent Street. There is a Panda crossing right in front. Just under a fiver for half a pound of fillet steak might seem expensive but boy is it worth it. I will enjoy my dinner with some mashed spuds, peas and fried onions. Their other meats are also very good.

But I digress.

To mark the occasion I put a 50’s CD in the player, set off and listened to Johnny Ray, Frankie Laine, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Guy Mitchell, Wanda Jackson, Jo Stafford etc as the clouds rolled in and it started to drizzle. Driving down Union Road past my old school – the Accrington Secondary Technical School now known as Rhyddings – and listening to records of my youth as I progressed along Blackburn Road it was almost like being back in the 50’s. OK! So I’ve got a good imagination. But it really was a weird feeling.

The object of the trip was to find out how wrong my memory is, if it is wrong.

The first picture is of the top of Ellison Street. Don’t ask – I’ve no idea what happened except that it started to rain and I wanted to protect the lens and get under some cover.
The second picture is Ellison Street a bit further down. As you can see it isn’t a great distance from the top of Ellison Street and the back street.
The third picture is further down still and clearly shows the back street leading to the Tenament. Except it didn’t. It led to half way down Albion Street, which led to the top of the Tenament. The car park is where the Hippodrome used to be. The red brick wall is where there would have been a back street, if there had been one. But it would have led directly onto the Tenament. As you can see the wall was a decent distance away (25 yards or so) from the front of what was the tram and bus depot.
The fourth picture shows the bottom end of Ellison Street and where the tram and bus depot used to be. Between the wall and the current building is now a builder’s yard but back then it was a building and probably part of the garage not a row of houses.
Pictures 5 & 6 are what have been published already for ease of comparison.

The houses on the left of Ellison Street are no more.

My conclusion is that the Hippodrome straddled the half way point down Ellison Street, with, in those days, the Co-op grocers just above the back street where that house with ENTRANCE above the doorway is. Bear in mind I’m talking of 1948 to about 1952.

Tony if you were born at number 4 and then lived at number 7 before leaving that means there were houses on both sides of the street unless it was a street that had odd and even numbers on the same side of the street. I think that a brick by brick description is called for.

Alan the distance between the top of Ellison Street and the Hippodrome could not have supported houses numbered 1 to 19. That’s 10 houses. Even if each house was just 15 feet wide there just isn’t room. Now if you had lived at number 7 and memory has added a one that would be feasible. Or are you talking about Albion Street. Ellison Street did not lead directly to the Tenament – Albion Street did.