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OldBoy · Post by **OldBoy** » Sat 10 Mar, 2007 9:40 am

Its a strange building - it has high windows all the way around and is built of stone throughout but with a brick (yet very old brick) wall running through the middle of it. It drops and raises in levels all throughout which I constantly trip over! In the back yard there are some strange fixings into the floor and a hole covered in railway sleepers which I'm dying to find out whats underneath but can't budge the things. It's been converted for different purposes though that I can't figure out whats original and what isn't. I do know that it was once an undertakers. I can't find any pictures of it on Leodis unfortunately though.

catkin · Post by **catkin** » Thu 05 Apr, 2007 7:19 pm

In the 1871 census my husbands great grandmother Sarah Maples aged 7 was listed as living at 14 Aloe St Hunslet I found a picture of the St on leodis .com. She lived with her parent's William & Charity along with her three younger sister's Demolish in 1958 unfortunately. catkin

drapesy · Post by **drapesy** » Fri 06 Apr, 2007 1:44 am

I think that the original poster meant " what are the oldest back-to backs that still exist"!

Martyn · Post by **Martyn** » Sat 07 Apr, 2007 10:35 pm

I'm sure you're right, Drapesy. Still, it would be interesting to find where the original and genuine ones where.I've seen some houses described in old documents and on Leodis.net as "Through by Light". I can imagine what that means but how would it work in practice?

drapesy · Post by **drapesy** » Sat 07 Apr, 2007 11:43 pm

I believe that "through by light" means that the houses are a terrace where the houses are in pairs - and in effect are interlocking 'l-shapes'. This means that you have a front door, window and main part of the house on one side of the row but thhen one side(interior) is narrow and goes right through the block to a window on the other side of the row. the interlocking house is vice-versa. This means that the two houses occupy the same floor space area as a normal back-to-back, but you have the advantage of a through-flow of air if you open the windows. Hope this makes sense. I believe there are still some through-by lights in Armley, at the top of Town street. Armley also has at least one row of "blind" back -to-backs - that is a single row with a blank wall at the back rather than another row of houses.

jf · Post by jf » Sun 08 Apr, 2007 1:55 am

'Through by light' just means that there is a window (or windows) at the rear of the house, but no door, so literally light goes through the house, but you can't walk through it.There are several rows of blind backs in Armley in the Edinburghs, Aberdeens and St Ives, the gap is about half a meter between rows of houses which you could theoretically walk along (although most are blocked with debris). There's a row off stanningley road (pasture view) with no houses behind which backs on to a former factory site, and similarly Moorfield Street which backs onto the old Meter Factory (soon to be demolished). There's a good view of the backs of these on Google Earth if you look for it, also look at the narrow gap between adjacent rows of 'blind backs' off to the east.Most Leeds back-to-backs appeared between 1890 and 1910, but some were built as late as the 40's. Leeds was fairly unusual in this as most other cities outlawed them in the mid nineteenth century. The law changed for Leeds in the early 20th century but any that were already planned could still be built, hence the few appearing later on.

RFarrell · Post by **RFarrell** » Sun 08 Apr, 2007 4:19 pm

Also an easy spot on Google Earth is a row immediately to the North of the railway on Swinnow road - these differ from many in that the roof is single pitched - ie it looks like half a back to back.There is also a very prominent row of blind backs in the Woodviews off Dewsbury road on the right hand side as you head out of town.I'd be interested to know if there are any stone back to backs of the early 8 block type still about in either Leeds or Bradford (like the Gaythorne Street block at the Bradford Industrial Museum).In Calverley, where I live, there are plenty of back to backs but I suspect many have been converted from through terraces (the reverse of the situation that applied to the row in Low Lane Horsforth where I used to live) - plenty have blocked in windows in the middle of end walls which I presume was where the original staircases gained their light. Can't work out why so many such windows would be blocked in if it wasn't for this reason. When Calverley developed as a mill village, it still wasn't allowed to expand into the surrounding fields so it must have put a lot of pressure on making best use of the houses that were already there.

drapesy · Post by **drapesy** » Sun 08 Apr, 2007 11:34 pm

There are some of the '8 block' type terraces on or around Oddy street in Tong (not Tong village!!) in Bradford

south of the river · Post by **south of the river** » Tue 10 Apr, 2007 8:03 pm

i lived in zoar street at one time.....in olden days that area was wooded..hence the name st mary in the wood church which is at the top of zoar street..on coffin corner as the locals call it..Zoar is the old name for wood..its a remarkable street..houses were built out of morley stone...and have blue slate roofs....most are in very good condition..they dont build them like that anymore do they..there is date carved into one of the properties on zoar street..i think its 1905 from memory..Also its the last street in the leeds a to z....its unique in more ways than one......

munki · Post by **munki** » Tue 10 Apr, 2007 8:04 pm

Do we know why it was called Coffin Corner?