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I was born in 1936 in my granddad's house at No. 10 Prospect Cottages, off Barlborough Road, Clowne, wrote Barry Lindley. My Grandfather and two of his brothers built the four cottages whilst still fairly young men.
The original idea being that two of the brothers would occupy a couple of the houses upon their marriages, renting the other two to defray some of the costs.
At the time of construction, only one of the three was married and he owned his own house on nearby Rotherham Road, so gave of his labour to help out his other two younger brothers.
Because money was extremely tight, the three brothers enlisted the help of the quite large family, to scour the area for house demolition projects, so that second-hand materials could be bought at a much-reduced cost.
As the popular style of house, for young couples who were launching lives together as 'starry-eyed' newlyweds, was two-up and two down (just adequate) cottages, this type was chosen by the pals.
Although perfectly serviceable accommodation, certainly for the time (at the beginning of the century), when granddad did eventually marry my grandmother, his brother Frank had moved into more salubrious premises a short distance away.
Charitably granddad said in fact the move was prompted by a need for yard-space for granduncle Frank's thriving building & property business. I heard at a future date, that in fact Frank's wife had some influence on the move.
My mother was born in 1913 and lived with her parents in the cottage, until her mother became ill with a heart weakness that was the result of a severe bout of Scarlet Fever that manifested itself during her teenage years.
Mum was moved out of granddad's house, with her mother theoretically, to recuperate from her prolonged illness. Unfortunately my maternal grandmother died when my mother was nine years old, at which time it was decided that she would be brought up by her grandmother who lived in the village of Pilsley, near North Wingfield.
Because her grandma had grown children still living in her house, it seemed a stop-gap solution that eventually became permanent, at least until mum became a teenager, at which point she moved back into her father's house to help in their mutual care.
Barry Lindley, Leicestershire, 2002
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