Hi Steve, You wrote: "Would this mean they were living in a couple of shacks thrown together on a cobbled pub yard?" Not necessarily. My GEORGE family owned the Burton Inn for at least three generations in Tipton. It was a handsome two story brick building with space for two shops on ground level (a pub of the same name and a grocery and tea business). On the upper floor were accommodations and living quarters for two families. In the back court area, called the "Burton Villa" were more family rentals. My great great grandmother, Mary GEORGE was still living there for the 1901 census which gives the sizes of the units. The largest was six rooms. The rest varied from three to four rooms. This was a good size for living quarters at the time. The residents were iron workers with a boat steerer and a coal loader thrown in. So surely they were modest residences but not a given that they were shacks. "Another question for the list while I`m here,my family,over a period of time lived at four different addresses but in the same street,Was this a common practice?If so any ideas why hey might have moved so many times?" Quite common, most people were renters. Their family sizes increased or decreased. Their fortunes rose and fell. They had relatively few belongings. Few people could read or write, so there were no advertisements to check. People just watched what was going on in the neighborhood. If there was a better deal across the street They went for it. Then again, in some cases, the city just re-numbered the street. Mae Canaga California, USA (The Southwestern Part of the Black Country)