[QUOTE=Digvul;945]I've always been intrigued by the street pattern in Radcliffe. Most pit villages had parallel rows of houses near the pit
This is pure speculation but maybe it has something to do with the way Radcliffe grew. From what I can gather, when Radcliffe was first really opened up, about 1837, there was a development immediately round the pit. The newspapers were talking about colliery shops and a number of cottages being built (Stable Row?) Then there were adverts for the building of 30 cottages (1839), perhaps the first leg of Long Row? This would support the early name of the village as Radcliffe Terrace. By 1871 census, Long Row (34 properties), Burn Row (6), Cross Row (14) were up. There then seems to have been more building between 1871 and 1881 on to the existing rows. 1900 there were adverts for the building of 120 new dwellings, presumably Dandsfield and Leslie? Maybe the fact that the rows were back to back housing developments led to the square formation.
|