Virtual Tour of Colchester, 1955
Just before meeting up with my long-lost cousin in Colchester, I called in at the library. I asked about trade directories of the town and was shown a glass-fronted cabinet of Benham's Almanack of Colchester going back to 1875 or so. The most recent volumes were from the 1960s and there were also a few copies of the Cullingford's directory. Reading the Benham's guide revealed a vast wealth of information that I had no chance of assimilating in the half hour available.
But what I did find was a complete list of the names and addresses of everyone who lived in the town, for each year that the Almanck was published. The books start off with some general data about the calendar, the tide tables and the list of local councillors. Then they list the "Carriers From Colchester", who all seem to start off from the yard of the Bull Inn, Crouch Street and go to the various outlying villages at set times on certain days. Then the really interesting section begins, which makes Google Street View look a bit tame. The guide lists every street in Colchester, in alphabetical order, and then gives the names of whoever lives at each house, in house number order. Side-roads are named as we pass them on a sort of text-based virtual tour of Colchester as it was in 1955. For example, we have the High Street, Left Side:
Cups Hotel
Sun Insurance Office Ltd.
Eastern Electricity Board. Tel 5411
Town Hall (Glover, F A, caretaker)
Here is West Stockwell Street
137 Brighter Homes Stores
136 Taylor, R C & Co. Tobacconists, Tel 3408
135 Hearsum Bros.
134 Travis's
The interesting line is number 135, my cousin Hugh Hearsum's fish shop. Hugh was, like some of the other Hearsum family members, a fishmonger. Sadly, while in Colchester, I heard the news that he died on the 31st of March this year.
I met up with my old friend Nicole and her husband for a curry in the evening, followed by the usual dash to her parents' house for tools and supplies and then some soldering on the TV aerial cable that we installed on my last visit. When I mentioned the Benham's guide books, she found one from 1955 (I have now borrowed it), with an advert on the front cover for Blomfield's Ironmongers and Furnishers.
But what I did find was a complete list of the names and addresses of everyone who lived in the town, for each year that the Almanck was published. The books start off with some general data about the calendar, the tide tables and the list of local councillors. Then they list the "Carriers From Colchester", who all seem to start off from the yard of the Bull Inn, Crouch Street and go to the various outlying villages at set times on certain days. Then the really interesting section begins, which makes Google Street View look a bit tame. The guide lists every street in Colchester, in alphabetical order, and then gives the names of whoever lives at each house, in house number order. Side-roads are named as we pass them on a sort of text-based virtual tour of Colchester as it was in 1955. For example, we have the High Street, Left Side:
Cups Hotel
Sun Insurance Office Ltd.
Eastern Electricity Board. Tel 5411
Town Hall (Glover, F A, caretaker)
Here is West Stockwell Street
137 Brighter Homes Stores
136 Taylor, R C & Co. Tobacconists, Tel 3408
135 Hearsum Bros.
134 Travis's
The interesting line is number 135, my cousin Hugh Hearsum's fish shop. Hugh was, like some of the other Hearsum family members, a fishmonger. Sadly, while in Colchester, I heard the news that he died on the 31st of March this year.
I met up with my old friend Nicole and her husband for a curry in the evening, followed by the usual dash to her parents' house for tools and supplies and then some soldering on the TV aerial cable that we installed on my last visit. When I mentioned the Benham's guide books, she found one from 1955 (I have now borrowed it), with an advert on the front cover for Blomfield's Ironmongers and Furnishers.