Street Voice

I was born amongst the courts and yards by the Wensum’s brown curl,

where the air was sweet with yeast from the brewery

and the clatter of drays echoed along the cobbles.

We played out with the neighbours, all of us together for hours and hours, 

our shouts bouncing off warehouse walls,

our boots kicking the stone, voices louder than the river.

We made games from whatever we could find.

We fished, boxed, swam and collected bottles for a farthing, 

sneaking through the warehouses, 

trading tales with the fishermen, 

chasing the rats!

On Fridays we washed ourselves clean 

In a zinc bath by the fire, then took our syrup of figs, 

the kettle rattling on the hob,

coal stacked beside us like treasure. 

Our water was as brown as tea.

Mother boiled the water twice, saying,

‘Prayer’s cheaper than medicine.’

Always wearing her apron, she took in laundry that would take all day and scrubbed graves for the wealthy. 

Her kettle broth simmered on the black iron stove, 

the lid clinking gently as it fed six of us from scraps.

‘Make do or go hungry,’ she said. 

So we made do. 

We grew up quickly in those yards. 

If I could ask her now, my dear Mother would look back and say 

‘We lived hard, but we laughed harder’ 

By the time I was ten the street whispered about change. 

At first it was only rumors, 

carried on footsteps along the cobbles 

and passed from doorway to doorway.

‘They’re clearing the yards’ someone said.

‘They say the houses are unfit.’

Unfit.

A strange word to hand over a place

‘They’re going to clear the slums’

Slums.

Another word that didn’t sit right.

On a street that held all I knew. 

Our houses were small, yes 

and damp when the river mist crept in, 

but they were full of sound and life.

Babies crying behind thin walls.

Drovers with cattle on the road to Trowse station. 

The travelling sellers shouting their wares – Ice Cream! Hot Cross Buns! Fish! Pop!

Then the men came measuring. 

Clipboards snapping open. 

Pencils scratching against paper. 

Some families were told they would be moving

To new brick semis at Mile Cross 

with gardens

and a bath indoors. 

But as the carts carried neighbours away 

the street grew quieter.

Then the sirens began.

They droned over the rooftops like mourning doves. 

Blackouts swallowed the windows. 

Bombs fell. 

Smoke and dust rolled along the river.

Overhead the sky burned red.

We swept up the shards, 

carried buckets,

and slept in the cellars.

One blast took the baker’s shop. 

After that ration books changed how we ate.

Then the Council spoke of welfare, 

of family allowance 

and a National Health Service for all.

I lined up at the surgery in 1948, still doubting. 

The Doctor looked up, smiled and said, 

‘As free as air’ 

‘Next’

Just like that.

Other things changed too,

Ration books got thinner.

New houses rose beyond the city.

People spoke of better days coming..

But King Street still sounded the same to me.

We had lived through the hard years.

King Street holds its people close. 

And the river, silent witness to it all,

keeps our stories safe

and will carry them on.

Council Record

1848: Norwich Board of Health established under the Public Health Act. Resolved that dwellings in King Street and adjoining courts be inspected for sanitary condition. 

Sanitary Inspector reports 22 houses without privies along the Wensum. Further inspection recommended. 

1890: Housing of the Working Classes Act adopted. Survey authorised of overcrowded courts and yards on King Street. Conditions noted as conductive to the spread of contagious diseases, including tuberculosis. 

1919: Addison Act. Under the Housing and Town Planning Act Council resolves to provide ‘Homes for Heroes’ following the First World War. Mile Cross Estate approved with 678 houses planned. 

Board of Guardians administered the Norwich Poor Law until April 1930, then responsibility passed to Norwich City Council overseen by the Public Assistance Committee. 

Sanitary Inspector instructed to undertake vermin abatement measures. 

Funds allocated for installation of additional sewers and pumps serving King Street, in response to repeated reports concerning drainage and floodwater entering properties in low-lying parts of King Street during periods of high river level. 

1930:  Norwich Improvement Scheme under the power granted by the Housing Act allows Norwich City Council to target King Street for clearance. Rationale:  public health hazard. 

Mile Cross Estate expanded to re-house families displaced by the slum clearance. 

1942: Baedeker raids cause widespread destruction across Norwich. Council records relocated for safekeeping; offices continue in City Hall (opened 1938). 

Council Emergency Committee committed goods and expenditure to undertake repairs to damage during enemy air activity.

1945: Council resolves to support Beveridge’s proposals for social security. Under the Family Allowances Act weekly payments are introduced for families with children. 

1946: Public Health and Welfare Committees expand to prepare for the implementation of the National Health Service. 

1948: Residents invited to register with local doctors as healthcare becomes free at the time of need. 

1949: Housing Committee survey concludes that a number of dwellings within King Street are no longer suitable for modern habitation.

1950: King Street redevelopment scheme, Phase 1 approved. Clearance and reconstruction to proceed in accordance with modern housing standards.