Low Side

Our row of terraced houses was built in the 1840's for local mill workers. They are three storeyed with a two-roomed house for couples in the basement, and two-storeyed family homes above. Over the years most of them have been knocked through to make single houses. When we moved here thirty years ago our house had a 'keeping cellar' in the basement which could be accessed by our neighbours who were supposed to pay us a penny each year in rent.

The basement houses were accessed by the Low Side and the family houses by the High Side of the Street. This Victorian sign fell off the wall some years ago and has found a home by our shed. It always reminds me of the history of our house, and I can imagine the couple emerging from what is now our kitchen of a morning and heading down to the mill, probably in their clogs.