Gardens

Back gardens were shared between upper and ground floor flat tenants, and while the division was marked with a central path tenants often agreed to lay out the garden as a single space. The yard at the side of the house was paved with Staffordshire brick and sanitary zinc dustbins were stored here rather than in the front garden. When flats were modernised and internal storage space reduced, coal bunkers were built in back gardens. Sheds, greenhouses, outhouses and fences could not be built without written permission and residents were required by tenancy agreements to keep their rear gardens in order.

Text © Kirstin Sibley, 2014