Drew Family Diaries

Drew Family Diaries provides details of the Drew and Parkin families by providing notes on diaries kept by Sheila Drew nee Parkin and her father Charles Gordon Parkin

Factory Road/Portland Street

The street that joins Station Street between what was the station and what was a factory is now Portland Street. However, according to maps I have from circa 1900, 1914, 1939 and 1969, it was previously called Factory Road.

Portland Street sign August 2023
Part of 1969 map showing Factory Road and Portland Street
This wonderful photo of Mavis Coleman nee Brewitt in 1958 was posted by her son, Gary Coleman, on Kirkby Living Memory Facebook Group. She worked at the nearby “Walkers Spring factory” for around seven years until 1965.

Recollections

In discussing this on Kirkby Living Memory Facebook Group, David Meredith noted that “you could walk up the back [of the garage] which would take you onto the pond hole. two houses were situated there, I remember Robert Hunt living in one cannot remember the name of the other householder’s“. Paul Starmore replied that the other house was occupied by a workmate called Ken Dowsing.

One response to “Factory Road/Portland Street”

  1. mark Avatar
    mark

    It was always Factory Road, the name was changed when they built the community hospital, didn’t sound quite right a hospital on Factory Road, so it was changed for it all to become Portland Street, off this road is Hosiery Street, consisting of 2 houses, should have been a row of terraced houses, but the Pond hole land is too unstable to build, my grandfather William Clarke Hunt owned one of these, and always said he owned half a street. 😂😂

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