General Chat

Am so peed off!!! - had to go up to London today and had enough time to go either to Lower Holloway OR to Pentonville with a camera to have a look at a few addresses where direct ancestors were born and living in the 1880s-1920s. I'd checked all the addresses to see if the streets were still there and they were:) So as Pentonville was nearer I opted for that and was so excited (sad innit lol). Not ONE s*dding house left - all flats or garages and in the one street ALL the houses were there except mine and two either side. Needed to get that off my chest ;s David

Houses in the same street were all very similar in construction. Im sure that if you found one house in the street and took a pic it would be representive of your old home. (not quite the same but a near enough lookalike.) Wayne

Oh David sorry to hear that you must have been really disappointed, typical isnt it? luv Joxx

It is typical isn't it lol! One of the streets was full of similar houses so I think I've got a good idea of that one - another was the Pentonville Rd so it's too big and varied but I took photos anyway as I'd taken the camera! Is nice to get an idea of the area anyway:) Feel better now ;)

That has happened twice to me too!! You can put it down to WW2 bombs in most cases in London I think. Maz. XX

Thanks Maz - I was stood in the street cussing Hitler under my breath! David

David I know the feeling - my rellies lived in Lower Holloway and there's no sign of their houses either. I'm just grateful that the roads are still there, and I tried to imagine what it would have looked like - the railway bridge would have been in the same place, I think! On the other hand, some places have hardly changed - my Stoke Newington addresses are nearly all there, including the old school my dad went to, his grannie's house, and the shop his parents ran in Church Street. My big thrill though was finding the house my great-grandfather was born in on Richmond Green. It's a listed building, and looked-after, so it was easy to picture it as it would have been (next door to the pub as well!) nell

Mailed you back Lynda - Thanks:))) Nell That's what I was doing too - focusing on what was left of the time and trying to blot out the new - most of my roads in Lower Holloway (Eden Grove, Blundell Street especially) are still there so I'm really hoping that some of the buildings are - don't care what they are as long as they're original lol. Though I would like a listed building;) David:)

Hmm David - Holloway and Pentonville? I see your relatives liked to live near prisons! nell (who had a relative who was IN prison)

Lynda I could be in your debt forever at this rate lol!! (give me some more names to look out for please:) I'm hoping to go up after Christmas or New Year but I'll let you know the number in case when I can root it out - are there many Victorian houses left there? Nell I know - dodgy lot:) I've got one who was in Reading Gaol but sadly a few decades before Oscar Wilde - he wasn't in for long but not found out what for yet. David

David You are going to Eden Grove? I warn you they have pulled down most of it. The Catholic Church is till there ofcourse. I dont remember houses there? There was a school there, Mount Carmel (My old school) they have just pulled the whole of it down from the inside out, boo hoo The lovely pub is still there where are teachers used to disappear at lunch times The big Showrooms on the corner of Eden Grove & Holloway Road have gone and made way for buildings for what was the Holloway Poly now the North London Uni. There used to be flats that were like Cornation Buildings they made way many years ago for more flats and maisonettes. The LCC flats are still there, and still look good. Nell, The Railway Bridge on the Holloway Road is definetly in the same place it always was, since the railways were built (they do not change normally). The Tube station still has its original tiles, brillliant. Jones Brothers has gone, the building is still there in all its glory. Trying to remember Blundell street as I knew it well but memory is failing now, and I havent seen if its changed much. Good Luck David Pat x

Pat B***er! Mine were in Eden Grove from c1895-1920 so I think you may have saved me a trip!! I think their dwellings were very small cos all the numbers I have are with a b or c except Cornwall Cottages. Might have a look though just to get a feel of the place especially if theres a good pub :D David

David Glad you answered as I was going to mail you. definetly a good pub, really lovely and is ancient. I'd say your people were up near the Catholic Church a lot of places seemed to be rebuilt there as I went to the Secondary school which used to be a convent called Notre Dam something or other, when I went it was just changed into an ordinary school called Mount Carmel Girls School (they finally moved up to Duncombe Road to a big posh school. Now I made a terrible mistake last time I was there I took 2 photos of my school which I would gladly email you, but with the shook of seeing my lovely school empty and falling apart with thousands of pigeons living in it I forgot to take a pic of the PUB, silly a** and there is a very old building beside the Church if that hasnt been flattened. Eden Grove was considered for the Arsenal new ground totally unsuitable as its so small, but it is right beside the lovely tube station (I have a thing about the old tube stations I love them so and there are so few left). Now I believe they are flattening nearly the whole of one side of Eden Grove for a huge insinuator ??? I have some great memories of all around that area, I had to walk the Holloway Road from Highbury to school and dawdelled the whole way there and back checking out the shops LOL> If I can help anymore let me know. Good Luck David Pat x