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Fisher's Lane c1917

Fisher’s Lane, (Rea Lane) Magdalene Street

History of Fisher's Lane, Magdalene Street

The alternative name for the River Cam had been the Rea, the Celtic for water.

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1861

(1) Elizabeth Faudham, 51, laundress, b Chesterton

(2) Mary Fletcher, 69, laundress, b Cambridge

(3) George Amos, 43, weaver, b Norwich

(4) Isaac Strange, 30, boat builder, b Linton

(5) Lydia Ison, 40, dressmaker, b Longstanton

(6) Rebecca Coulson, 51, nurse, b Hilton

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1871

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

John Fry, 37, general smith, b Somerset

Ann, 37, b Cambridge

Alfred, 11, b Cambridge

Henry, 7, b Cambridge

Elizabeth, 3, b Cambridge

Anne, 1, b Cambridge

In 1861 the Fry Family were at 29 Prospect Row

(6) Alfred Smith, 27, cabinet maker, b Bedford

(7) Rebecca Coulson, 63, nurse, b Hilton

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1881

(7)

John Fry, 47, general smith,

Ann, 46,

Albert, 22, college servant,

Harry, 17,  general smith,

Elizabeth, 12,

Frank, 8, b Cambridge

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1891

(7)

John Fry, 56, whitesmith

Annie, 57,

Elizabeth, 22, dressmaker

Frank, 18, broker’s porter, b Cambridge

Gertrude E, granddaughter, 9, b Cambridge

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1901

(7)

John Fry, 68, whitesmith, b Cambridge

Elizabeth, daughter, 32, dressmaker

Frank, son, 29, packer of fish

Ellen, daughter in law, widow, 41, college …?

John E, grandson, 17, apprentice whitesmith

Harry, 15, apprentice whitesmith

Emily, 13,

Nellie, 8, b Cambridge

Florence, 4, b Cambridge

John Fry the elder died in 1906.

Note in photo early garden punt. Pleasure punts first appeared around 1902-1904.

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1913

(Life Buoy No. 6)

1. Frederick W Bullen, Bullen & Co’s Boatyard

7. William Charles, shoeing smith

See Enid Porter: Boat Building

W F Turner, Old Cambridge – Cambridge Chronicle 19.11.1929: The wharf down Fisher’s Lane was at one time a very busy place when barges came filled with merchandise and in the cottages lived the bargees. At the Pickerel Inn there still existed a room called the Cock Pit where the men who plied the ferry which existed before the first bridge was built used ton spend their spare time in cock fighting. He was given to understand that at one time the  Binn Brook was a waterway up which coal and merchandise was taken to Barton and Coton. One of the old inhabitants well remembered the state of affairs when there were very elementary sanitary arrangements, and the river was the source of water supply. When he was a boy, the old man said, there lived an old woman who used to get her water every evening in a bucket attached to a pole with a metal clip at the end. One evening when she was filling her bucket he noticed a dead dog in the water near the bucket and called to her, ‘Oh! look there’s a dead dog’ to which she calmly replied, ‘I always boils my water before I drinks it.’

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