A little bit of England IV

Continuing with our walk along Chester City walls.........


What maybe of interest to overseas readers is what is quintessentially a bit of ‘working class’ England. During the late industrial revolution enlightened employers arranged to move their employees out of the pitiful slums they lived in and into better purpose built accommodation. Many of these streets of houses still live on. I’m not sure how far the classic British soap ‘Coronation Street’ travels but here is another example of what became known as back to back terraced houses. The name of this street ‘Albion’ (the old name for England) is equally jingoistic. This corner house is typical. The front door opens directly onto the street and the original stone flags of the pavement and cobbled road still survives.


Here you can see the back of the same houses. The rear of the houses in the next street are to the left just off camera. Each house has a little yard in which to hang the washing and an outside privy A ( toilet or as the Americans call them bathroom even though they contain no bath). Some houses would share a privy and two and three-seaters were quite common and it was not unusual to huddle together for warmth in freezing winters. Most houses now have indoor toilets (please do not send cheques folks). The privies of the row of houses on the left are different in style and not so big B. Between the two sets of privies and yards an ally way (or ginnel) runs for access C.



Every other street will have its own pub and Albion Street is no exception. Here you can see the original gas street light that has now been converted to electricity. Whereas working class people everywhere get a poor deal compared with the rich, the one exception in Britain is the ale. The rich drink incredibly expensive designer Scandinavian beer at exorbitant prices which is largely gas, whereas the working class in little pubs like the Albion have access to some truly brilliant ale. Unfortunately I was unable to get down from the wall at this juncture.


Inside they tend to be very small and intimate…..


..and the landlords idiosyncratic to say the least.


Today however I had to make do with the Bear and Billet ( how we English love off the wall pub names) which had a very quaffable beer……


Spring is here at last and miniature daffodils were everywhere.


Even Queen Victoria was trying to force a smile.


...leaving the wall I cut back into town.. to be continued....