Barnaby Buildings

Hi Les,

I don't know Barnaby Buildings, but Bermondsey Buildings was a cul-du-sac that ran off of Tower Bridge Road (between Leroy St & Aberdour St. I have an OS map for 1914 that shows it, I will scan and upload later for you if that helps.

Regards
Freddie

Bermondsey Buildings marked in yellow.
Regards
Freddie

Thanks Freddie, that helps a lot. I can now see that the street has been built over, no wonder I couldn't find the block.

OS maps, didn't think of them. A trip to the local history library is the next step to see if there is any photographs of how the street/block looked. All I have is this one of my brothers taken outside about 1960.

Thanks again,
Les.

This is an aerial photo of that part of TBR. Not sure if Bermondsey Buildings lasted into the 60s but it might help.

Thanks crosby. Do you know what period that's from? 

Booth's poverty map and walk of the area in 1889 states that Bermondsey Buildings were 2 story houses. Sometime after they were replaced by tennement type blocks, 5 or 6 story, The name remained, but blocks may have had letters or individual names to identify them? Sometime after that the name was changed. This may have been during first world war as think I once saw a casualty report with an address stated as Barnaby Buildings, which is what my mum remembers them as. Maybe the tennaments were build around same time as Brighton Buildings (which face TBR), 1904, I think. I must get to the LH Library.

Les.

I've just come across a fantastic report, relevant info re Barnaby Buildings I include here -


"Housing of the working classes in London. Notes on the action taken between the years 1855 and 1912 for the better housing of the working classes in London, with special reference to the action taken by the London County Council between the years 1889 and 1912"

Long-lane and Tabard-street, 1897. 
The Long-lane and Tabard-street improvement, authorised by
the London County Council (Improvements) Act, 1897, involved the
displacement of 291 persons of the working classes, for which 
accommodation had to be provided, and a site in Leroy Street  
was allocated to this purpose....... it was not until June, 1903, that
the Council was in a position to accept the tender of Messrs. Y. 
Smith and Son, for the erection of the dwellings. These were named
Barnaby-buildings, and were opened in September, 1904, with
.accommodation for 400 persons. 

The photo dates from the 30s. I grew up in the buildings in Webb St but the name Barnaby buildings doesn't ring any bells. I'm at the LH library on saturday morning so I'll have a look. There is a block in Leroy St where the street turns but I'm not sure what it is called - I'll see if I can check the name.

Thanks crosby. I have an interest in social housing conditions of Victorian/Edwardian era, plus the fact that I lived in one of these blocks, so it's particularly interesting for me to see what can be learned about these buildings.

Comparing the 1914 OS map and and your 1930's pic, it looks there's a likely match. I'm sure nothing remains today of them as the area has been built over, but it would be wonderful if the LH library has any photos.

In the image below I have possibly matched those four extensions in Leroy St to indicate seven identical blocks that look promising. I note that in 1914 the name Bermondsey Bldngs remain (or is that what the street was called?) even though the tennaments were built and named Barnaby Bldngs in 1904.

Barnaby Buildings were on the south side of Leroy Street and shared a common wall with Pages' Walk School. The wall at the southern extent of Barnaby Buildings area was a common wall with St George's Hall, mentioned in another thread.

To the west of Bermondsey Buildings, and parallel to Bermondsey Buildings, was Compasses Court. These are shown in yellow and green respectively on the attached map. I do recall that Barnaby Buildings was used to house those people whom it seemes the council didn't want to house but had to, considering those people as least likely to look after the property and perhaps pay the rent.

Interestingly, my father was brought up in Bermondsey Buildings and Compasses Court in the 1920s - the family having moved from Waterloo and before that Hampstead, where they lived in the period from 1800 to 1840ish. Whilst my father's family were living in Hampstead, my wife's family were living in Bermondsey Buildings and moved out about 1840ish, from there moving to Notting Hill and later Harrow and Northolt. I met my wife in 1968 in Bristol, when we were at college. Until a couple of years ago we had no idea that her family lived in the same buildings as my father's family, just 100 years earlier.

Spooky, eh!

Using crosby34's aerial photo I'm juts about certain that Barnaby Buildings is in the bottom right corner of the image - outlined in red on the attachment.

The yellow is Bermondsey Buildings, and the green is Compasses Court - I think that's correct, but working at the angle of the aerial photo makes it a little difficult.

paperboy, many thanks for your replies. Well, that's thrown me now. It now looks like previous reports I have seen that these buildings were previously called Bermondsey Bldngs (or built on the same site) are incorrect. Your plot makes more sense to my mum location "down Leroy Street", and to the buildings report above "a site in Leroy Street was allocated to this purpose".

My aunt recalls that, at that time (late 50's,early 60's), many occupants were either unmarried mothers, or otherwise where there was a single parent with children - in my case, my dad would have been in the army.

I must get to the LH library soon. In some instances actual building plans exist, usually at the Metropolitan Archives, so I'll pay them a visit too. Thanks all!

   Paperboy. Here's a shot from the "A drive down the Old kent Road" from 1970 (see Videos page). Here they are on the flyover, just passed Leroy Street. Would these blocks be the back of Barnaby buildings. Thanks.

Here is a better shot from an aerial view the Briclayers Arms Roundabout and the Old Kent Rd. I've also been to the LH library this morning and the electoral register shows Barnaby Buildings in Leroy St. Which makes sense as when they were built there was another row of buildings between them and the Old Kent Rd which would follow the line of the shops etc nearer the flyover.

 Thanks for the photo crosby, and for checking at the LH library! I'm really surprised, after so many years believing they were somewhere behind TBR area, to discover their actual position. Fortunate too that the current state of building works has provided me with a view of them in 70's.

Exactly correct! Well found.

From the same OKR in 1970 movie you can see the end of Barnaby Buildings, the end of Bacon's School .. top floor was they gym, middle floor was the school hall and the ground floor was the wordwook shop. The house was the school caretaker's house - when I was there in the mid 1960s the caretaker was Jim Hooper, who liked a drink in The Victoria, Pages' walk.

If anyone is interested my photo is from the Pathe news website and is an aerial sequence that starts at the Thames and runs down Borough High St, Great Dover Street, the Old Kent Rd and finaly finishes at the New Cross Greyhound Stadium and Millwalls Old Ground. If I locate the adress I'll post it.

I went to the LH library today. I didn't find any photos of BB, but I did find the address we lived at in the electoral returns, it was number 26. That's the middle block, and I reckon with 20 flats to a block on five floors, it was on the first floor. I was well pleased.

I also had a similar predicament with Victoria House, East Street, Walworth, which I discovered was one of the filthy Blendon Row tenamenents, as seen in the 'We was All One' video. I sorted that too.

A strange thing with the electoral returns for 1961. Many streets and blocks in section P (which is where BB is listed) were marked "no qualifying premises" so no returns were listed for them for that year, even though I'm sure all (or most) premises were occupied.

I was born at No.34 Barnaby Buildings Leroy Street in 1937. 
The Buildings were next to Bermondsey Central(Pages Walk) School.
I joined Bermondsey Central in 1948 and the Buildings were there then.
I went to look at No.34 for old times sake and after climbing the worn rickety stairs I explained why I was there to a questioning tenant.
She told me to Sod Off!  
Wasn't like that in my day.