Living on the Edge

[Freddie]

Here is a thesis written in 2010 about life in the Kinver Rock Houses which may be of interest

http://etheses.bham.ac.uk/1782/1/Willetts11MPhil.pdf

[josal]

Thanks for posting this link, it is absolutely fascinating.... On the 1851 census, I have some ancestors living Dunsley Rock, Kinver; (HO107/2017 F336 P7). Joseph Longmore b.1812 was a forge labourer, as was his stepson Samuel Elwell 20, another stepson George Elwell 17, was a boatman, 2 lodgers in the household worked in a screw factory...... by the 1861 census Joseph had emigrated with his family to Tasmania. My question is were they living in one of the rock houses and if so where would it have been situated ? Any help appreciated.

[BathroomGecko]

I'm not 100% sure, but it is likely to be Gibraltar Rock - Dunsley Rock cottage is still up there, on the steep bank by the canal that winds its way through the village.
There were many dwellings carved out of the soft sandstone around the village, and almost all of them (Holy Austin Rock, Vales Rock, Crow's Rock, Samson's Cave etc) were good places to live, being cool in the summer months, and warm in the winter. The life expectancy of many of the inhabitants of the rock houses were usually much higher than the residents of the village.

However, not so with Gibraltar Rock, which it is likely that your ancestors lived at. These rock houses suffered with damp, and conditions weren't as good as the other houses, and the life expectancy of the inhabitants was actually much lower. It sounded like a good move to go to Tasmania! I believe that much of these rock houses were the first to be abandoned.Many of the inhabitants would have worked locally, and probably be employed like your ancestors in the local factories or on the canal.

Gibraltar Rock is still there, now not a lot more than hollowed out shelters in the bank on the path that goes along the canal. Maybe next time I in the area, I'll try and get some pictures! In the meantime, have a look at this one I took in 1906. You can probably see the dwellings up in the bank. The canal would be at the bottom of the bank in this snap.

[Freddie]

[josal]

Thanks again to both for the further information, its always best to come to the experts! I'll look forward to the photographs as I'm not near Kinver and also in contact with the Australian branch who will be very interested.

[Freddie]

There is some pictures of the cave houses on this page, courtesy of BathroomGecko

[Freddie]

These parish registers may be of interest to you.....

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=257

[BathroomGecko]

I took some (rather awful) photographs of Gibraltar Rock when I was last there. They aren't the most photogenic, so I will try and explain a bit about what they show. I hope it gives you some idea of what it was like to live there.
Gibraltar Rock (or Badger Rock as it was once known) is, like Astle's Rock, largely ruined. Small hollows in the sandstone remain, some used by nearby houses as garden and wood stores. However, a couple of recognisable dwellings can be seen.
Here is one, minus the front, which has disappeared over the last century. Originally there would have been a door and window here; today it is open.

by , on Flickr

Apperently, there were around 13 rock houses along here before 1850. They weren't as well constructed as nearby Holy Austin or Crow's Rock, and by the 1880's all of them were uninhabited.


Nancy Price, famous for her work in films was a Kinver resident, and had this to say about Gibraltar Rock
"A broad ridge of rock on my father’s estate known as ‘Gibraltar Rock’ housed about eight couples, but as he was continually told that these should be evacuated, he built eight little cottages eminently desirable from the modern point of view. It is a strange fact that within a couple of years every one of the evacuated rock dwellers was dead. Some argued that they were already getting on in years, which is true,but most were in their seventies, and our rock dwellers invariably lived to between eighty and a hundred"
Certainly infant mortality was an issue at Gibraltar - perhaps these suffered more than other nearby rock houses from damp, or maybe the jobs that the inhabitants did were lower paid, meaning that poverty was more of an issue. I don't know really.
Inside one of the houses, and this is a view into the what was likely to be the bedroom.

by , on Flickr

Looking out of one of the rock houses on Gibraltar. On the left of the shot is a hollowed out area, used for storage. This is one of the great advantages of living in a cave - you can adjust the walls to suit your needs. In nearby Holy Austin Rock, there is a hollowed out part of the ceiling, scraped out so a grandfather clock would fit in!

by , on Flickr

This is the kitchen/parlour at Holy Austin Rock. You can see a hollowed out area behind the tin bath, dating from earlier times than how the rock house is currently furnished. (Much of Holy Austin is decorated in keeping from around the turn of the twentieth century - the 1900 house, a Channel 4 program was the basis for much of the decor). By 1900, Gibraltar rock was already abandoned.

by , on Flickr

Next door to the first one is the final one I found. Although this is the more intact, it looks like a very recent rockfall is putting things in grave danger of collapse. It must have been a particularly difficult place to bring up babies and small children. In one particular year, over 13 horrific days, six children died up here of smallpox. As I looked out over the village from here, I tried to imagine the horror that those families must have felt as they stood in the same spot in the past.

by , on Flickr

Many of the residents were temporary, often people who stayed for a few days and weeks up here; only a couple of families lived here permanently. Places were rented out, and after the 1880's when the became empty, occassionally a boatman from the canal beneath would stay the night.
View through into the rear room in the final house.

by , on Flickr

Some of the caves have been built in to people's gardens along here. Here is an advert for a house along here. In the discription, it lists that part of a cloak room used to be part of a cave, but sadly the photographs don't really show this. It was made from three cottages. Were these some of the ones that Nancy Price's father was pressured to build, perhaps by the local Board of Health?
http://www.propertyindex.com/RS2822882/ ... 7-6NE/100/

I hope that is of some use. Sorry it took a while to post up some snaps.

[Sniper]

Brilliant stuff Bathroomgecko. Facinating and very well illustrated. Thanks.............