One of the things I love most about this blog is how it’s connected us to new family and new friends, and it has made this big world seem a wee bit smaller. The following is a great example.
In January 2019 I received an email through this blog from a gentleman in Glasgow (we’ll call him FB) who happened to have been born at 10A Prospect Terrace in Aberdeen...the same home where Ella was born (she in 1934, he in 1953. Ella’s family moved to Holburn Street in 1938).
What’s more, he said that when he was growing up they still called the home Tornaveen, and Mrs. Patterson (“Ma Pat”) still lived upstairs, just like when George, Kate, Ina, and Ella were there.
Small world, eh?
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| Ella, her older sister Ina, and Ma Pat, at their home on Prospect Terrace - about 1938 |
I asked him to describe the home, as I've always wondered what it was like - how the rooms and kitchen were arranged, and when indoor plumbing was installed (when Ella lived there they used an outhouse out back for the toilet and the public baths or their grandmother's tub once a week to bathe.) Below are the details he shared.
Here’s a previous blog post describing the home.
And what also resonated with me that FB related:
It’s funny how many physical things that you connect with disappear - family members, schools, colleges, houses, even objects; perhaps that's why Prospect Terrace is important to me in that it’s still there!
I think we find the same comfort, that each time we go back, it’s still there, which continues to connect us to our past.
….......
From an email received on 8 January 2019, from FB:
My name is [FB] and I was born at 10 Prospect Terrace Aberdeen in 1953 … I recognise a lady in one of the photographs - Mrs Paterson - she was still living there in my time - but was quite old by then.
From an email received on 14 January 2019, from FB:
Hello [KF]; it was nice to hear from you. I happened to stumble upon your site by chance when I typed in Bank Street and Prospect Terrace. I wanted to find out a bit more information about the corner shop where I went to spend my pocket money as a child; it was run by two elderly brothers called Archibald (I think). It's no longer a shop, but it does not take too much imagination to see it still on the corner.
I no longer live in Aberdeen, having moved to Glasgow during the mid 1980's. My Grandfather and Grandmother lived in the house until the end of the 1950's. He worked in the railway as a signalman; working in the signal box under Union Bridge, which has now gone. He was born near a town called Inverurie. It's funny how many physical things that you connect with disappear - family members, schools, colleges, houses even objects; perhaps that's why Prospect Terrace is important to me in that its still there!
You asked about the house. From what I can remember it was always rather dark, having a faint smell of mothballs and furniture polish, strange how smells stay with you and often trigger memories. You entered the house from a small vestibule which led to the hall. The stairs were to the left. The kitchen was at the back of the house, it had flagstone floors with high worktops made of very thick wood supported by equally thick rectangular wooden legs.
Regarding baths; we had a big tin bath tub which was kept under one of the sinks or worktops The larder was next to the kitchen on the left hand-side, to the right of the kitchen was the back door leading into the garden. Toilets were still outside but I think plumbing was installed by this time. I had forgotten about them being outside until you mentioned it in your email.
Old flagstones ran along the back of the house bounded by a small wall. This wall was the division where the garden began and the house stopped. The garden was uphill eventually leading to a fairly high wall at the top. Behind the wall was a lane which ran for nearly the entire length of the back gardens.
To the left, along the wall of the garden was the old coal bunker which doubled for storage with all sorts of paraphernalia inside. I think that there could have been a milk churn in there also. The toilet was up from the bunker. Steps led to the toilet.
The idea of having an outside WC, I believe was common even in the 1860s when Prospect Terrace was built. Thought to be necessary for hygiene purposes. Grandmother always seemed to be busy in the house. I remember helping her beating rugs on the clothes line with a very ornate cane beater which used to hang under the stairs. I used to help by holding the ends of the rug.
I wonder how the coal was delivered? Perhaps there was a door in the lane at the top of the garden. You have got me thinking now. The house tended to get sunlight from the street side which faced south which makes sense. The garden was always cold and in the shade when I think about it now. Not very many plants, some ivy on the garden walls.
….......
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| This snapshot is of Ella's sister Ina in front of 10A Prospect Terrace when she returned to visit. (Year?) Anyone know who the friend is in the photo? Is this Ma Pat? |
Sources:
- From email correspondence with FB on 8 Jan 2019 and 14 Jan 2019.
