Room 13 Miller's Court

[Stephen Thomas]

Hi John

Our posts crossed. Yes, you've got it.

[John Casey]

Yes, John, there was a partition, made of wood and two storeys high. Behind it was a staircase, not originally part of the house, that allowed access for tenants to the upper floors of #26 after the ground floor became 'The Shed', a storeroom for costermongers' barrows.

Ah...it's all beginning to make a bit more sense now. I suppose the staircase, if it was anchored to anything, was anchored to the original dividing wall...

[paul emmett]

Ah...it's all beginning to make a bit more sense now. I suppose the staircase, if it was anchored to anything, was anchored to the original dividing wall...

It has to be anchored to something, doesn't it? And I do think that your assumption here makes the most sense. I had brought up the 26 which is there to suggest that maybe the recycled door was the partition.

[John Casey]

It has to be anchored to something, doesn't it? And I do think that your assumption here makes the most sense. I had brought up the 26 which is there to suggest that maybe the recycled door was the partition.

I suppose any number of things could be used in the construction of the partition, including the recycled door. I've never been able to see the 26 mind you...but I can see the cross! (which I am convinced is nothing more sinister than the edges of two or three boards where whatever whitewash that may have been applied has worn off)

Just thinking further here....sorry once I get something buzzing round the little bit of fluff that I use for an excuse of a brain it sticks!! I wonder if the partition was attached to a framework of any sort, or, if it was nailed directly to the staircase, attached to the original wall!?....either way, you're losing a good 3 or 4 feet in Room 13 I reckon.

[Simon Wood]

Hi Stephen,

Sorry to be dim, but how did people get upstairs before the ground floor of No.26 became 'The Shed'?

Regards,

Simon

[Stephen Thomas]

How does a flimsy partition wall support a staircase? And what supported the staircase before the partition was put up?

Hi Simon

First question: Not very well.

Second question: There was no staircase behind the main back wall of the house originally. The rickety 'Prater' staircase allowed access to the room above Kelly (#19) on the left and on the right to the original staircase of the house via a spare room.

Best wishes

[Stephen Thomas]

Sorry to be dim, but how did people get upstairs before the ground floor of No.26 became 'The Shed'?

Through the front door on Dorset Street and up the stairs straight ahead just like in those photos of #29 Hanbury Street.

Best wishes

ps What happened to Nemo?

[Supe]

Guys,

A well-built staircase (and why is it assumed to be rickety at No. 26?) need be anchored only at the top and certainly needs no side supports. In fact, I've built stair cases that were so nested at the top they really didn't even need to attached there either. A well-built staircase is both quite sturdy and a thing of beauty. And so long at the proper ratio between treads and risers is maintained quite easy to negotiate.

Don.

[George Hutchinson]

What do you call someone who is sexually attracted to stairs? I think Don's got the condition.

PHILIP

[Supe]

Philip,

Laugh if you wish, but there is a real sense of satisfaction upon the successful completion of any carpentry project and this is especially so with a staircase. Stairs don't "just happen" but have to be carefully designed so that the reads and risers are all the proper size, while the pitch of the staircase must not be too steep. Basically, you want the height of two risers plus the width of one tread to equal about 25 inches and then fitting that into the vertical distance between floors can often pose quite a mathematical vexation.

As I said at the beginning, a good bout of carpentry can be quite satisfying as a job, hobby or (in my case, having grown up in an old house) necessity. And, just for the record, it is solely women who attract me sexually.

Don.

[perrymason]

I think there is every reason to suspect that between Mary's partition wall and the staircase there was a narrow hall or walkway. Marys room was originally a parlour, and it makes sense that would not be the only ground level room accessible, at one time in its earlier history, via that archway door.

Best regards.

[Stephen Thomas]

What do you call someone who is sexually attracted to stairs?

Hi Philip

A treadophile?

[m_w_r]

What do you call someone who is sexually attracted to stairs?

Hi Philip.

Flighty?

[anna]

You rotten lot!
I think Supe's stairs sounded really interesting,especially the one's that don't have to attach at the top!!!! a stairway to heaven!!!

[Jane Coram]

Hi,

I have to say that I love an old staircases..........they have to be really old and windy and creaky, and in old houses. There is always a promise of something interesting at the top.

Anyway, I think I must have spent a solid fortnight trying to work out the layout of Mary's lodgings and the rooms around it and am still none the wiser.

Firstly, I think that there must have been a door leading from the front room into Mary's room originally, although I wouldn't like to guess where it was. There would be little point in people having to trudge around the outside of the building to get from one room to the other.

I would have to say that the staircase was on Mary's side of the wall, because otherwise why put the partition up in the first place? You only put a partition up if there isn't a wall there to start with!

If the stairs were originally in the back parlour, then it would seem daft to have two doors in the same wall leading into the same room, that is the door to Mary's room that we know and love, and another door just a few yards up directly in front of the staircase which Mrs Prater would have used for access.

So I reckon that the door leading upstairs was actually put in when the room was partitioned off to give access to the upstairs.

So basically, I have a little picture in my head of it being this way..........

Mrs Prater opened the side door under the arch and found herself in a very narrow hall, probably only the width of the actual staircase. The staircase would have started about 3 feet in front of her. On her left would have been the partition to Mary's room, and on the right a solid wall, which was the original wall separating the front and back rooms. As she went upstairs there was probably a little landing at the top, with two doors. One leading to her room, which I do think was directly above Mary's on the left hand side and another which led into a room that was above the front parlour.

Of course the partition that separated the staircase from Mary's room would probably have a tiny slither of a gap where it touched the ceiling, which would have meant that anyone walking up the stairs and possibly even inside Mrs Prater's room could see a chink of light in the room below and which would probably explain Mrs Praters testimony.

Probably totally wrong, but that will do for me at the moment. Lol.

Hugs

Jane

xxxx