Cottages at Furnace Row, Cinderford, Gloucestershire.
Sue wrote: "... Taken sometime in the late 1940’s these houses were on the bend of Valley Road where a bus stop now sits opposite where the Caravan Park now is. These were built to house workers for the blast furnaces (the area that is now all new housing ‘Kings Lodge’. Their toilets went straight into the brook behind that still runs now down to the linear park . The row was demolished in the late 1950’s and the only house still standing is the one closest right on the corner, if you go to the site it barely seems possible to have fit all that row on there".
John Phillips added: "... This row of cottages was known as Whitechapel Row. By the 1950s it was probably the worst housing in the county. There was no electricity or sanitation and only 2 water taps in the two wash houses that served the entire row of 10 cottages. These wash houses can be seen as the lean-to buildings at either end of the row. The back wall of the entire row had its footings in the river so they must have been dreadfully damp and should have been condemned years earlier. In spite of these insanitary conditions the people who lived in these dwellings were very respectable. It was a great relief to these people when they were rehoused and the row demolished in 1960".
Dave Roberts added (February 2021): "... We lived in Whitechapel Row when our dad left the Royal Navy in 1948. Not the best reward for 15 years service, still it was the best available at the time. The toilet was across the road where our dad had installed an Elsan toilet in an old lean to shed. When it rained heavily the brook at the back flooded the house so the furniture was kept balanced on wooden blocks. Our dad's name was Vin Roberts, mam's name was Zena, my name is Dave and my brothers name is Tony. We eventually moved into a prefab in Denecroft, pure luxury".
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