wilmer street

[deckard1]

Hello everyone,

Not sure if i'm posting this in the right place so if this is indeed the case then my apologies.
I was looking over the Booth poverty maps for other places that deserve the dubious title of 'vicious/semi-criminal' and came along a street called Wilmer Street wich has its total lenght marked in black on both sides.
Today it's called Wilmer Gardens and is only half of it's original lenght. Does anyone know what this street was made up of and if any of the original buildings of this street remain?

[Chris]

I was looking over the Booth poverty maps for other places that deserve the dubious title of 'vicious/semi-criminal' and came along a street called Wilmer Street wich has its total lenght marked in black on both sides.
Today it's called Wilmer Gardens and is only half of it's original lenght. Does anyone know what this street was made up of and if any of the original buildings of this street remain?

You can look at the remaining western part and what used to be the eastern end of it on Google Street View:

http://tinyurl.com/3aetp3g

http://tinyurl.com/3y7vp6r

It looks as though the only original buildings are the ones at the ends. The street itself has been redeveloped.

[John Bennett]

Have a personal link to this one!

My great-grandmother (who I remember and who died in 1974) lived there during the 2nd World War. It was bombed and she was there at the time and survived, miraculously. As a result of the destruction, Wilmer Gardens is now mostly made of mid-20th century flats and as noted, is much shorter than it was.

My father remembers it well - he was born in Harman Street ,bottom right of the map here - and recalls that it was known as 'Kill copper alley', as local legend had it that a policeman was murdered there and his body put down the drain.

I went to see a talk recently by Sarah Wise, author of 'The Blackest Streets', who stated that many residents of the notorious 'Old Nichol' settled there whilst those slums were being demolished, perhaps accounting for its bad reputation.

JB