East End Photographs and Drawings

[Jane Coram]

Miller's Court

Hi All,

Wonder if that photo could be of New Court, Dorset Street, which was supposedly very similar to Miller's Court. New Court was about half way along the street in between Miller's Court and Little Paternoster Row and was built around the same time if memory serves me right.

Brilliant photo anyway! Thanks for posting it.

xxxxxx

[Robert]

John, there are broken lines at the backs of 26 and 27, apparently giving entry to the rooms right at the back. What does that mean?

[John Bennett]

Hi Robert.

yes, they are broken - it would suggest what we already know about 13 Miller's Court being the back room of 26 Dorset Street.

It was partitioned off, though I guess whoever did the maps didn't show that. It was very likely that partitioning off the room as it was (with an old door by the look of things) was decidedly not on. Possibly illegal.

JB

[Robert]

Thanks John.

[Stephen Thomas]

John, there are broken lines at the backs of 26 and 27, apparently giving entry to the rooms right at the back. What does that mean?

Hi Robert

I imagine that the broken lines are there to indicate that the back extensions of the buildings which are a different height (2 storey as opposed to 3) are part of the same house and not different dwellings. Mary's room was cut off from the main house but the room above was not.

[Robert]

Stephen, that's a thought.

Three storeys? The demolition pic seems to show four.

I just wish they hadn't demolished it.

[Stephen Thomas]

Three storeys? The demolition pic seems to show four.

Hi Robert

I think that the top floor doesn't count as a storey, or didn't then, as it's a mansard roof with living quarters in the attic, as it were.

[Stephen Thomas]

Actually the dimensions are a little larger than what I was imagining when I studied the diagram, except for the width of the passage. I thought the court might be able 15 feet across at the widest point.

Hi Celesta

The picture John posted is quite remarkable in that it shows, while not being Millers Court, what Millers Court basically looked like. The widths quoted by Simon, (66 inches at the top of the court and 214 inches at the bottom outside Mary's room) are too specific to be a guess. Take 66 from 214 and you get 148 inches which would have been the external front to back measurement of the Millers Court two storey houses which have been described elsewhere as 12 feet square internally. The maps show Mary's room to be just slightly wider than this. I must admit that I was surprised to find that the Millers Court width was 7 inches shorter than me.

[Stephen Thomas]

Wonder if that photo could be of New Court, Dorset Street, which was supposedly very similar to Miller's Court. New Court was about half way along the street in between Miller's Court and Little Paternoster Row and was built around the same time if memory serves me right.

John/Rob

Could we have the Goads to check on this????

[Rob Clack]

Here you go John.



Rob

[Stephen Thomas]

Thanks Rob

So no way is the photo John posted New Court. Ah well. I'd guess Spitalfields though.

[Celesta]

Hi Stephen, Rob, et al,

The map on the right in your post above is the Ord Map? I'm looking at a blown-up copy of it. There's a court to the west of Miller's Ct, unless I'm misinterpreting the plat. That court is widest at it southern end where the passage would open into it and is narrow at the back. This is a court, right? It's just above the "R" in Street.

Well, it came out tiny in my attachment! Sorry. But you can easily see what I'm talking about.




PS: you can just see it your map, Stephen.

PS Again: I just went back and looked at Chris Scott's photo and this court doesn't match either! Drat-it!

[Rob Clack]

Hi Cel,

This is the Goads of the court. I believe the building to the left is a stable. So I think it rules out this one as well.



Rob

[Stephen Thomas]

This is a court, right? It's just above the "R" in Street.

Hi Celesta

I think that the word 'court' implies a mini-street off the main road with houses, like Millers Court. The somewhat phallic white area on the Ordnance Survey Map you posted was probably a 'yard'

[Sam Flynn]

The "court" in the picture seems to have a large, tall and somewhat angular building in the background - could that be part of Christ Church? If so, might the "court" in question be the one to the left of the "F" in Fashion Street?



...you'll note that it has shaded "segments" (a la Miller's Court), suggesting four "dwellings" on either side of the central alleyway - which seems to tally with the layout of the dwellings in the mystery picture.