Hi Ive been thinking about the info Stan gave yesterday re the Cholera deaths Monkwearmouth 1848- the Registrars report "Many passages and staircases are quite dark, and windows are built up to escape the tax" Does anyone know whether the tenants would have built up windows to keep rents down or would it be the landlords to keep their taxes down. Any info would be welcome, Im used to thinking about dwellings in colliery villages at this time, presumably owned by the pit owners but am thinking Monkwearmouth would have been different in that there would be pre existing housing owned privately, presumably several storeys in height. My William Ramshaw, wife and kids came to Monkwearmouth mid 1840's from Ryhope- sounds like they stepped into an awful place from what I think would have been a rural lifestyle in Ryhope, even if they had been working on the railways/waggonways around the pit. All the death cert and burial record states is that he lived at the colliery, in 1851 census the family were shown to be at North Quay Monwearmouth. Any thoughts on this are welcome. Carol