I have my father's old copy: he was a shopkeeper (bicycles) in Buttermarket st and had it to check on the addresses customers gave when they asked for credit on a bicycle. There weren't many bombs dropped on warrington during the Blitz, except for one notorious incident which killed children at a Thames Board works garden party (information about this on the web). My dad's parents, brother and sister were near misses for a stick of bombs that dropped on Church street, at the top of Howley Lane, near Rylands's steel works (there's a brief item about this on a BBC website for war reminiscences, it was in september 1940, I think). Bewsey Road is not that far away, but I don't think the line of bombs started that far up. My dad told me in a monent of indiscretion many years ago that I was conceived during a bombing raid (!), but I've never been able to verify this. If true (and he wasn't joking) this must have been around March 1942. I grew up in the area, and my postwar memories were of vast wastelands where old housing had been demolished recently, as part of slum clearance. Indeed, in the Directory I have, there are gaps in the street record for the houses where my great grandparents lived in the 19th century, though other houses in the street are still there. These were probably older houses than those around them, where newer houses were probably added later in the day. This was the old historic living area of medieval warrington, so there'd probably originally be isolated houses with land around, where other properties slowly accreted until they became streets. The house clearance scheme in this area in my childhood was like a dental programme, with gaps between healthy teeth where the unrepairable ones had been extracted. The waste land is even more extensive today: the whole area has been gutted by 'civic' action and the hope of building supermarkets etc around the place. Only in 2005 the 1863 listed building of the Boteler Grammar School on School Brow, owned by the council and left to rot, was pulled down, presumably because there was a commercial prospect for the land. Good luck with your researches. Stan -----Original Message----- From: eng-lan-warrington-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:eng-lan-warrington-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Neil Grantham Sent: 03 February 2007 00:07 To: eng-lan-warrington@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [LAN-WARR] Catherine Street Thanks Stan, I suppose, given the date of that directory, 77 may have been a victim of the Blitz? At least I know now that the road was continuous. By the way, where did you get such quick access to the directory. Is it online or CD perhaps? Regards Neil ----- Original Message ---- From: Stan Smith <stan.smith1@ntlworld.com> To: Neil Grantham <neil40@btinternet.com>; eng-lan-warrington@rootsweb.com Sent: Friday, 2 February, 2007 10:42:26 PM Subject: RE: [LAN-WARR] Catherine Street In the 1951-52 warrington directory, Catherine St runs uninterruptedly from Bewsey Road, and is bisected by Lilford street between nos 69/71 and 73. It is classified as 'no thoroughfare' and is comprised entirely of private houses, apart from occasional grocers' shops (which were probably live-in premises). There is, however, nothing between 73 and no 81. There is a cluster of small shops here: 69/71 is a fish and chip shop, then Lilford St intervenes, then 73 is a greengrocer and 81 a grocer, so there may have been a small corner here, though probably not a square, but without houses (they could have been demolished, as much of the area was gradually over this period, usually starting with the oldest houses first). There is no interruption of the house numbering on the Lilford St corner across the road, in the even numbers. Stan Smith -----Original Message----- From: eng-lan-warrington-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:eng-lan-warrington-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Neil Grantham Sent: 02 February 2007 21:41 To: ENG-LAN-WARRINGTON@rootsweb.com Subject: [LAN-WARR] Catherine Street Dear List My grandma's birth certificate names her birthplace as 77 Catherine Street, Warrington If I look at a modern map, I see it as two 'bits' of road, and a search on Google shows commercial properties in one section. Can anyone tell me if it really was one complete road in days gone by and has it been re-developed. Are there any pictures online anywhere that I might see what it was like? Many thanks Neil ** PLEASE CHANGE YOUR SUBJECT HEADING WHEN E-MAILING THE LIST ** ** PLEASE REMOVE "signatures" from your e-mails to facilitate easier searching of the archives ** ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ENG-LAN-WARRINGTON-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ** PLEASE CHANGE YOUR SUBJECT HEADING WHEN E-MAILING THE LIST ** ** PLEASE REMOVE "signatures" from your e-mails to facilitate easier searching of the archives ** ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ENG-LAN-WARRINGTON-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Hello, What year is your Directory ?. My Family lived in Warrington for many years. Licensees of the Packet House Inn for some years. I lived in the town for some of my Childhood years - evacuated to Warrington during the Liverpool Blitz - lived over Welsby's Hat Shop in Bridge St for a time !!. Regards Maureen Qld. Researching Fair, Green,Wright,Webster,Grace & Robertson. --------------------------------- Need a quick answer? Get one in minutes from people who know. Ask your question on Yahoo! Answers.