Street scenes of the 1930s
IT IS 87 years since these photographs were taken by Norman Cookson, and we thank his son David Cookson, of Amblecote, Stourbridge, for kindly loaning them to the Bugle.
From 1931 to 1979, with a break for war service in India, Norman Cookson worked in local government, first with Stourbridge Council, the Brierley Hill and finally Dudley.
In the 1930s he was a clerk in the sanitary department of Stourbridge Council and was involved in the work of improving the borough’s housing stock, a task that faced all local authorities in the years between the two world wars. It involved not only demolishing slums and building new houses but also improving many existing houses by building new sculleries, kitchens and bathrooms and ensuring they had adequate sanitation.
Norman was also a keen amateur photographer and often took his camera with him when visiting the poorer houses of the borough.
These photographs were all taken in Lye in 1934. The previous year Lye and Wollescote Urban District Council was absorbed into Stourbridge Borough Council and the housing in Lye then came under the jurisdiction of Norman’s department.
Narrow
The three photographs at the top of the page were taken by Norman in Green Lane, Lye, which runs in an arc from Pedmore Road to Cemetery Road. They show the narrow street of tightly packed houses, many with a workshop or forge at the rear.
The three pictures at the bottom of the page were all taken in Stourbridge Road, Lye. Again, they show the hodge-podge of terrace houses that were to be demolished to make way for new housing and business developments.
Have you any pictures of lost street scenes from your part of the old Black Country? Please share them with readers and email dshaw@ blackcountrybu gle.co.uk
Camera