York Road

Another reason why I’ve stayed in the County Hall Premier Inn for my weekend of social events, is because in York Road (the road between the back of County Hall and Waterloo Station) lived in 1891, my 2 x great grandparents Alfred and Martha Foster with their many children including my great grandmother Rosina then aged 9.  
An old map of the area shows wharfs where County Hall now stands. Other than Waterloo station, the only building in the area from those days, still standing is this hospital – The Lying-In Hospital which opened in 1767 was one of the first maternity hospitals in the country.  Guess what, it’s now a Premier Inn.

In York Road in 1891 Alfred was an “iron plate worker” which is a blacksmith and farrier. I note, on the old map there was a large cab stand for the station which in those days would have been horses and carriages- lots of work for Alfred. My ancestors lived at 182 York Rd. The children in the family age 14 and younger are listed in the census as scholars. The older children, boys and girls are listed as “Fancy Box Makers”. Their neighbours included a butcher, wharf labourer, candle maker, bricklayer, cooper, carpenter, greengrocer, coffee tavern keeper, tailor, bookkeeper, carriage driver, stonemason, cab washer, glove maker, laundress….. You get the picture. None of these working-class folks could afford to live in York Road now.   

Alfred moved his family out to a Tatsfield, a farming village in Surrey a few years later where there will have been more call for his skills as a blacksmith and farrier and the buildings in York Road were demolished. But I have undoubtedly walked in the footsteps of my ancestors.