Willow Place (MoC141/71)

Willow Place, Cambridge

History of Willow Place

1851

(32)

Henry Pont, 30, shoemaker, b Ramsel

Sarah Pont, 32, b Gransden

Henry Pont, 4, b Cambridge

Samuel Pont, 2, b Cambridge

William Pont 1, b Cambridge

Ellen Pont, 22, sister,b Cambridge

William Robson, 18, shoemaker’s apprentice.

In 1841 the Pont family were at 12 James Street

In 1861 see 12 Fair Street

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1861

Henry Pont, 41, shoemaker,

Sarah, 43,

Henry, 14,

Samiel, 12,

William, 10,

George, 8,

Frederick, 5,

Walter, 1 mth,

In 1871 the Pont family is at 19 St Peters Street

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1881 24 Willow Place

Henry Brown, 26, college kitchen porter,

Emily, 28, b Cambridge

Florence, 5, b Cambridge

Alfred, 4, b Cambridge

Alice, 2, b Cambridge

In 1871 the family were living at 6 Shelley Row

In 1891 they were living at the Pike and Eel in Chesterton

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1913

NORTH SIDE

1-19

CAUSEWAY PASSAGE

EAST SIDE

GARDEN COTTAGES

1-5

SOUTH SIDE

27-36

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1939

NORTH SIDE

(1) Mrs C Rowell

(2) Mrs Davis

(3) C Mountain, painter

(4) Thomas Hall, barman

(5) L Newling, railway employee

(6) L W Newling, railway employee

(7) A Cooper, fishmonger’s assistant

(8) –

(9) –

(10) George Unwin

(11) to (16) –

(17) Frederick Freestone, LNER labourer

(18) Mrs Redman

(19) H J Gurner, labourer

EAST SIDE

Garden Cottages

(1) Mrs Peck

(2) Messrs Sturton ‘s warehouse

(3) G M Pond, carriage cleaner

(4) Mrs Minns

(5) C D Short

SOUTH SIDE

Laurie and McConnal’s warehouse

(27) Charles H Micklewright

(28) William Dorling, nightwatchman

(29) J R W Anderson, warehouseman

(30) Richard Barrett, fishmonger’s assistant

(31) W Lucchesi

(32) Walter Matthews

(33) A Allen, labourer

(34) Frederick Jackson, painter’s labourer

(35) W Silk, labourer

(36) T Bilton, railway servant

(37) Laurie & McConnal’s Warehouse

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1962

NORTH SIDE

(2/3) Sidney F Thurlbourn

(4) Mrs Caddick

(5) Miss D Newling

(6) Leonard W Newling

(7) Albert Cooper

St Tibbs Press

(17) Frederick Freestone

(18) Dennis Gurner

(19) Mrs Gurner

SOUTH SIDE

(27) Ernest C Gray

(28) Charles A Dorling

(29) Mrs E Anderson

(3) Charles Richard Barrett

(31) William H Lucchesi

(32) Mrs W Matthews

(33) Mrs L L Burgess

(34) Mrs M Newman

(35) William J Silk

(36) Mrs Bilton

Labgear

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Note from BT in 2025:

(3) I lived at number 3 from 1947-1963. My father was a POW in Singapore and got a job on his return with Greene King and so that was where I lived. It had a shared kitchen with number 2; the yard was 8ft x4ft and had two toilets . In number 2 was the stairs for both houses,  one bedroom and a small box room off the bedroom. I don’t know when number 2 left but we then had their bedroom too! Mushrooms were abundant under the stairs and I used to play with mice in my pram! No hot water – only by heating the copper. Kitchen was also 8ft x 4ft. Tin bath for us all; sister who was younger slept in the same bedroom as me until ’63 .

The house in Willow Place was a tied house – as in it was connected to the job. When the people at number 2 moved out we had both houses. No more shared kitchen or stairs!

(4) At number 4 was Mrs Caddick, who had a small back yard where in later years I used to mend my motorbike.

(5) At number 5 was Daisy. She used to have some kind of fit every now and again. If she started twitching and threw her turban in the air it was time to run away ‘cos if she caught me, she would give me a bear hug whilst jabbering on and dancing about!

Now this is interesting, as you mentioned Daisy’s surname which is the same as the person who lived at Number 6.

(6)  I only knew them as Uncle Len and Auntie Elsie [Newling](we were polite in those days). He was a billiards champion, and he used to take me to some club I don’t recall and teach me. He also let me have a sip of beer from his jug from the Hopbine public house!

(7) Number 7 was Mr and Mrs Cooper. They were my cousin’s grandparents. He worked at MacFisheries in Petty Cury. Their house was very basic. No electric, so gas lights throughout the house (they were still the same when we moved away in 1963). Their front door was dark brown and had large bubbles from blistering which I was always bursting! Beyond this was a large piece of waste ground, at least until about 1955 when St Tibbs Press was built (which I helped to build – I was 8 at the time and I used to move some bricks and sand about for them!).

(17) At the end of the Press, Mr Freestone lived. He was a very quiet person. Past him, the other houses never appeared occupied and then Willow Place narrowed and at the top there was a row of cottages which led into Fitzroy Lane.

(37) Opposite Mr Freestone’s house was Laurie and McConnal’s Warehouse, which caught fire one night (what a blaze that was!). The fire brigade had been alerted by Mr Grey, whose house was built against the warehouse wall. He was taking his son to bed when he felt the heat on the bedroom wall.

(30) A few houses were empty, so the next person I knew were the Barretts. Mr Barrett was a postman and had a son and daughter.

(32) Then Mrs Matthews and then my Nanna at Number 33 (she once took me to a cinema in Cambridge where she worked and got me on stage with Roy Rogers!). Also, once a week she would take me in the early evening to a college (I think it was St Johns where we would get a handout of some sort of meat and potatoes).

(34) Next to my Nanna was a very quiet man who used to mumble whenever he was trimming his hedge (I was told he suffered from shell shock). The next house was empty, but the last was a Mrs Bilton.

(36) Mrs Bilton was a nasty woman who always finding fault with me. Her son used do a short visit sometimes. He was an electrician for Eastern Electrical Co. opposite the bus garage in Hills Road (the reason I know this was because I was an apprentice there). Next to Mrs Bilton was Labgear. One day I saw smoke coming from a vent, so I went in their back door mentioned it to someone and then thew whole place went into panic stations (although it had only been a small fire). Next was the walled garden of Mr and Mrs Bush. He had had a repair garage in Willow Walk (could you imagine that nowadays!). As we were an extremely poor family, I used to run errands for Mrs Bush and I also used to collect newspapers and take them round to Hopkins Fish and Chip shop and get 2 bags of chips in exchange (it all helped).

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