Yards of St Ives
In 1801 the population of St Ives was 2,099. By 1841, just 40 years later, it had risen to 3,514, an increase of 67%. Written in 1930 about St Ives from 1796 onwards, John Skeeles' manuscript records the impact of overcrowding on the poorest of the town's residents as follows.
It needs little imagination to picture the insanitary state of the town from 1800 onwards, with increasing population. No wonder that the death rate was high and that outbreaks of fevers, smallpox and cholera were almost of annual occurrence.
There was no water supply otherwise than the river or surface wells, themselves polluted by leakage from brick or common clay pipe drains and cesspools. I will only mention one row of cottages which I knew well as a child. They were superior too, having small back yards. In each yard was a convenience with its cesspool under and in some cases a pig sty too. His majesty “Pig” walked through the house to live or die and the contents of cesspool and dung pit alike were also carried through. The heat of a July or August day rendered the atmosphere unbearable (almost).
Scores of houses faced only little narrow yards, frequently with no ventilation at the back or at most a small sash with one or two small squares. Two bed rooms were rare, frequently only one and an open landing. One pump and one convenience for a whole row of cottages. Can one wonder that drunkenness, quarrelling and immorality were rife.
To show that this overcrowding led to neighbours’ quarrels I may say that more than once on a hot afternoon I have seen two enraged women struggling out of the narrow yards in the Sheep Market to finish their fight in the sheep pens.
Returning from the Church by “The Waits” almost every yard had its quota of cottages closely packed back to back right down to the Sheep Market.What was life like for the residents of the yards? How many were there? Who lived in the yards? Read on to learn more.
Locations
The town's boundaries remained constant throughout the 1800s. To cater for the increased population, jerry-built accommodation was crammed into space behind every inn and business premise.
St Ivians had a 'choice' of forty-nine yards in which to live between 1841 and 1911, their positions shown in the map below. There were undoubtedly others before this date. The Pettis map of 1728 indicates dwellings in many of the yards. In 1792 David Latimer, a pauper, rented 'a tenement' belonging to Mr. Goode in the Robin Hood yard (Cambridge Journal and Chronicle 14 July 1820).
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| Locations of St Ives' forty-nine yards with residents. |
The Inspector also had to deal with offensive conditions such as poorly maintained privies and offensive odours. A couple of examples are from 1873, when he was asked to deal with nuisances in both Robb's & the George yards (Cambridge Chronicle and Journal 8 March 1873).
Seventy-seven souls were squashed into seventeen 'cottages' in Allden's yard in 1851. John Frost moved into Vine Court yard with his wife and daughter sometime before 1881 and lived there for thirty-four years until his death in 1915. William Peek and his son, then grandson and great-grandson, all lived with their tenants in Peek's yard, continuing the family plumbing and decorating business through four generations and more than sixty years.
Some yards, such as the Cow and Hare and Lamb yards, housed residents for more than one hundred years, from before 1841 right through to 1939. In other cases the business of letting premises appears not to have been successful or to the owner's taste, those yards lasting but a few years.
The yard name occasionally altered with a change of ownership. The Campion family ran a baking business from their yard from 1800. Campion's yard was recorded in census records to 1901. In that year Charles Bullard ran his basket making business from one of the eight cottages. In the ten years to 1911 Charles squeezed a lifetime of experience and emigrated to America. Even before 1901 the location had become known as Bullard's yard, confirmed in the 1911 Census.
Census recorders couldn't make their mind up about the Cow and Hare yard. It was recorded as Cow and Hare passage, its name today, in the 1871 and 1891 censuses, an indication of its cramped nature.
In the 1871 Census there was uncertainty about the names of a couple of yards. Two cottages off East Street occupied by George Easton and his young family, and 79 year old Elizabeth Peacock, a retired nurse, were described merely as 'In a yard'. The same description was given to another three cottages, one uninhabited, a few yards further down East Street.
In 1856 you could rent a cottage in the Cow and Hare yard for £5 a year, today's equivalent of £50 a month. In 1897 a house could be bought in Bullard's yard for £100, or £13,000 at today's values.
Sanitation
John Skeeles alluded to the lack of sanitary conditions. Drinking water came from one of sixty-eight pumps shown in the image below, taken from the first Ordnance Survey map of St Ives, 1892.
In 1856 you could rent a cottage in the Cow and Hare yard for £5 a year, today's equivalent of £50 a month. In 1897 a house could be bought in Bullard's yard for £100, or £13,000 at today's values.
Sanitation
John Skeeles alluded to the lack of sanitary conditions. Drinking water came from one of sixty-eight pumps shown in the image below, taken from the first Ordnance Survey map of St Ives, 1892.
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| Locations of St Ives' sixty-eight water pumps. |
A single privy with cesspool below served all the yard's residents. Conditions were grim enough, particularly in summer, but were even worse when the River Great Ouse flooded. Effluent from slaughterhouses turned floodwater red and raw sewage polluted drinking water. The cholera epidemic of 1832 was a direct result of polluted drinking water from pumps.
In 1900 the removal of the Star yard's pump handle by the water authority produced correspondence (Cambridge Independent Press 14 July 1900 and Cambridge Independent Press 17 July 1900). The fear was a spread of diphtheria. Transmission is actually air rather than water borne.
Living conditions
Newspaper articles from the 1800s and early 1900s give an idea of how hectic life in some yards could be. Smaller yards were home to both the residents and the owner's business. Larger yards mixed private accommodation and trade premises. Mr Woods ran his carriage repository from the Crown yard in 1852, exhibiting phaetons and gigs (Cambridge Independent Press 12 June 1852). In the Star yard, H G Parker displayed bicycles (Cambridge Independent Press 27 May 1901). Many of the articles below also mention trades.
The Crown yard seemed a busy place to live. The Huntingdonshire Agricultural Society displayed vegetables (Cambridge Chronicle and Journal 7 October 1837). From time immemorial, St Ives annual poultry sale was held just before Christmas, the crowd so large 'it was difficult to pass through the yard' (Cambridge Chronicle and Journal 25 December 1880). James Green auctioned a hundred lots of furniture (Cambridge Chronicle and Journal 26 May 1838). And in 1846 a dinner for 40 men was held, plus 80 ladies, to thank George Day for being instrumental in bringing the railway to St Ives (Cambridge Independent Press 12 September 1846).
The yards behind coaching inns were busy with horse and cart. Occasionally a horse would take fright and career through the yard to the danger of the occupants. Taking the Crown yard as an example, the Workhouse hearse, pauper's body aboard, shot through in 1886 (Cambridge Chronicle and Journal 18 June 1886). Another horse dragged a bench through the Crown yard in 1840 (Cambridge Chronicle and Journal 11 July 1840). A horse with brewer's dray in tow bolted through the Crown yard in 1895 (Cambridge Independent Press 30 August 1895).
Buildings were so poorly constructed, some roofed with thatch and straw and heated by open hearths, fire was a constant risk. In the Crown yard two cottages caught fire in 1842 (Cambridge Independent Press 4 June1842), an old thatched blacksmith's shop caught fire in 1850 (Cambridge General Advertiser 2 February 1850), and another building in 1894 (Cambridge Independent Press 11 May 1894).
The yards were a dangerous playground for children. In the Star yard a child was burnt in 1860 (Cambridge Chronicle and Journal 11 February 1860), another had a narrow escape from a falling chimney pot in 1888 (Cambridge Independent Press 12 October 1888). A little girl was knocked down by horse in the Crown yard in 1866 (Cambridge Chronicle and Journal 9 June 1866).
And with many yards being in close proximity to alcohol, placed as they were behind coaching inns, things occasionally got out of hand. In the Crown yard, in 1854 John Onget was found guilty of assault and indecent exposure (Cambridge Independent Press 14 October 1854). William Cooper was charged with stealing a barrowload of manure in 1865 (Cambridge Chronicle and Journal16 December 1865). In 1902 a man was conveyed home in a partially unconscious state after a political argument developed into a fight (Cambridge Independent Press 23 May 1902).
In the Star yard a widow was found drunk in 1902 (Cambridge Daily News 30 June 1902). Mr Parker threatened to poke Mrs Noble's eyes out when they had a set to in 1906 (Cambridge Independent Press 21 September 1906).
In 1900 the removal of the Star yard's pump handle by the water authority produced correspondence (Cambridge Independent Press 14 July 1900 and Cambridge Independent Press 17 July 1900). The fear was a spread of diphtheria. Transmission is actually air rather than water borne.
Living conditions
Newspaper articles from the 1800s and early 1900s give an idea of how hectic life in some yards could be. Smaller yards were home to both the residents and the owner's business. Larger yards mixed private accommodation and trade premises. Mr Woods ran his carriage repository from the Crown yard in 1852, exhibiting phaetons and gigs (Cambridge Independent Press 12 June 1852). In the Star yard, H G Parker displayed bicycles (Cambridge Independent Press 27 May 1901). Many of the articles below also mention trades.
The Crown yard seemed a busy place to live. The Huntingdonshire Agricultural Society displayed vegetables (Cambridge Chronicle and Journal 7 October 1837). From time immemorial, St Ives annual poultry sale was held just before Christmas, the crowd so large 'it was difficult to pass through the yard' (Cambridge Chronicle and Journal 25 December 1880). James Green auctioned a hundred lots of furniture (Cambridge Chronicle and Journal 26 May 1838). And in 1846 a dinner for 40 men was held, plus 80 ladies, to thank George Day for being instrumental in bringing the railway to St Ives (Cambridge Independent Press 12 September 1846).
The yards behind coaching inns were busy with horse and cart. Occasionally a horse would take fright and career through the yard to the danger of the occupants. Taking the Crown yard as an example, the Workhouse hearse, pauper's body aboard, shot through in 1886 (Cambridge Chronicle and Journal 18 June 1886). Another horse dragged a bench through the Crown yard in 1840 (Cambridge Chronicle and Journal 11 July 1840). A horse with brewer's dray in tow bolted through the Crown yard in 1895 (Cambridge Independent Press 30 August 1895).
Buildings were so poorly constructed, some roofed with thatch and straw and heated by open hearths, fire was a constant risk. In the Crown yard two cottages caught fire in 1842 (Cambridge Independent Press 4 June1842), an old thatched blacksmith's shop caught fire in 1850 (Cambridge General Advertiser 2 February 1850), and another building in 1894 (Cambridge Independent Press 11 May 1894).
The yards were a dangerous playground for children. In the Star yard a child was burnt in 1860 (Cambridge Chronicle and Journal 11 February 1860), another had a narrow escape from a falling chimney pot in 1888 (Cambridge Independent Press 12 October 1888). A little girl was knocked down by horse in the Crown yard in 1866 (Cambridge Chronicle and Journal 9 June 1866).
And with many yards being in close proximity to alcohol, placed as they were behind coaching inns, things occasionally got out of hand. In the Crown yard, in 1854 John Onget was found guilty of assault and indecent exposure (Cambridge Independent Press 14 October 1854). William Cooper was charged with stealing a barrowload of manure in 1865 (Cambridge Chronicle and Journal16 December 1865). In 1902 a man was conveyed home in a partially unconscious state after a political argument developed into a fight (Cambridge Independent Press 23 May 1902).
In the Star yard a widow was found drunk in 1902 (Cambridge Daily News 30 June 1902). Mr Parker threatened to poke Mrs Noble's eyes out when they had a set to in 1906 (Cambridge Independent Press 21 September 1906).
Clearance
In the late 1800s removal of housing in some of the yards commenced, creating even greater pressure for available accommodation. Thirty cottages were pulled down in 1879 at the rear of a newly erected shop to provide a yard and workshop for John Harrison's basket making business. Other wholesale clearances took place. The southern ends of the Lamb and Robin Hood yards were cleared, the land added to The Priory gardens.
Pressure for housing continued beyond 1920. Having survived the horrors of WWI, returning soldiers expected the world to be a better place. A desire for improved housing was encouraged by Lloyd George's speech made shortly after the armistice in November 1918 in which, among other promises, he said there would be 'homes fit for heroes'.
The Government provided subsidies to encourage the construction of the first social housing. St Ives Town Council took up the offer but was criticised for delays and the few houses planned to be built (Hunts Post 27 February 1920 and Hunts Post 12 March 1920).
Today, of the forty-nine original yards only the George yard, Cow and Hare passage and Crown yard remain (the latter actually slightly west of the original location, which is at Crown Place).
Read more
To view a summary of resident numbers in each yard from 1841 to 1939, click here. To view census records for each yard, click any of the links below.
In the late 1800s removal of housing in some of the yards commenced, creating even greater pressure for available accommodation. Thirty cottages were pulled down in 1879 at the rear of a newly erected shop to provide a yard and workshop for John Harrison's basket making business. Other wholesale clearances took place. The southern ends of the Lamb and Robin Hood yards were cleared, the land added to The Priory gardens.
Pressure for housing continued beyond 1920. Having survived the horrors of WWI, returning soldiers expected the world to be a better place. A desire for improved housing was encouraged by Lloyd George's speech made shortly after the armistice in November 1918 in which, among other promises, he said there would be 'homes fit for heroes'.
The Government provided subsidies to encourage the construction of the first social housing. St Ives Town Council took up the offer but was criticised for delays and the few houses planned to be built (Hunts Post 27 February 1920 and Hunts Post 12 March 1920).
Today, of the forty-nine original yards only the George yard, Cow and Hare passage and Crown yard remain (the latter actually slightly west of the original location, which is at Crown Place).
Read more
To view a summary of resident numbers in each yard from 1841 to 1939, click here. To view census records for each yard, click any of the links below.
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