Working-class housing in West End Derby

By the 1840s the West End was the most crowded corner of Derby. Houses were packed into courts and yards behind the main streets. When the General Board of Health reported on the town in 1849, it found more than a hundred people in one Willow Row court sharing just two privies.

This talk looks at who lived there and why, how the houses were built and paid for, what the inspectors found, and the long story of clearance that eventually swept most of the old West End away. Jon’s own family lived in these streets, and some of them appear along the way.

Illustrated with maps and photographs from the Local Studies Library.

• LengthAbout 45 minutes, plus questions
• WhereAt your group’s usual meeting place, or at a public talk