LANCSGEN-L Archives

Archiver > LANCSGEN > 2001-08 > 0996672344


From: "Ernest Wood" <>
Subject: Re: [LAN] 1881 census look-up,Manchester
Date: Wed, 1 Aug 2001 14:25:44 +0100
References: <3B670D2E.9A44474@golden.net>


> Hello,
> Where in Manchester is Mancre? Is 10 Johnstons Bdgs a group of
> buildings
> on Johnston St in Manchester?
> Ed Finney in hot,Guelph,Ontario,Canada.

Edmund, Hello again,
"Mancre" is most likely a typing error. The abbreviation for Manchester is usually
M/c. The term "Bdgs" (as an abbreviation for "Buildings") is a vague one and fairly
common in early mid-Victorian working class housing. The name "Johnston" could
possibly be the name of the builder or speculator who was responsible for the
erection of the "Buildings" and the building of houses to form a street of that name.
But this was not always the case. I have come across quite a few of such "Bldgs" that
did not have a street of the same name. Without going into the etymology of the word
"building" (as a Surveyor I was once involved, in Germany, in a discussion on the
technical meaning of the word where, unlike the UK, the word was used in a precise
technical sense!) in this context it would refer to a very basic sort of dwelling
either in "flats" or "rooms" shared outside "ash-pit" privy. They may even have had a
shared cold water tap outside in a common yard. The component dwellings in the
building could even have been "back to back" dwellings. This was an arrangement of
dwellings which shared common rear walls so there was no rear access. In which case
the common "toilet" facilities would have been sited at the end of the row of
"buildings". I have not come across Johnston's Buildings but I've found at least
three "Johnson Building". In Ancoats this was accompanied by a Johnson Street.
Regards,
Ernest (Southport - ex Manchester)

----- Original Message -----
From: "Edmund Finney" <>
To: <>
Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2001 8:55 PM


This thread: