Garages 3
Note also the metal casing over the 2 drainpipes to the left & right...next to the right drainpipe is an electricity type substation-anyone elaborate on its function?...In the wonderful book'Ryder & Yates' by Rutter Carroll it seemed 'each house was to have an allocated garage in anticipation of the rise in car ownership'...I am not sure whether this included the flats...the shoe laced curved bit type garages up in the posh blue zone would have been much more suited for the game of garages mentioned elsewhere on the blog than the parallel garages at Reestones, Laverock/Studdon & Thirston/Hazeldene (Aside:the game of 'garages' was not played at Thirston/Hazeldene as malchicks from the red zone played not team games but lurked solitarily or in 2's in the dark alleys...)but alas the posh types from the blue zone cared not for football type games preferring sword fighting, fox hunting, rugby & croquet..."Tally Ho!"
Sub-stations are everywhere but we don't really notice them. They have a transformer and switchgear to convert medium voltage (MV, ~=11,000 Volts) from the power network to low voltage (LV 230 Volts, more strictly 400 Volts three phase).
ReplyDeleteThere are probably 3 or 4 scattered around the Estate. I can't actually recall any at Kenton from childhood, although I remember one in the car park of the Fox & Hounds on the West Road. (I was fascinated by the hum).
Most interesting Shades...just had a quick look on google earth and there is one(sub station) in an identical place to the one in the Byrness photo at the Apperley Ave shoelace garages- but not so at the top block at Hazeldene Ave...
ReplyDeleteI think I've found three more- one definitely standing by itself on Hartburn Walk where it turns the corner to pass between the two blocks of bungalows, one probably behind the top garage on Reestones Place and probably one at the end of the row of garages in Thirston Way.
ReplyDeleteI would have expected a sixth down the bottom somewhere but can't see anything.
(I hope the Google clickthroughs work properly).
Curious, the end garages on Byrness close are oversized, look at this one on the west and this on the east.
ReplyDeleteCock-up, perhaps?
Typo above, I meant Studdon Walk, not Byrness Close.
ReplyDeleteI've just twigged why some of them were oversize- so that they could have a Rediffusion cubby hole set into the wall and not impinge into the car space. The tenant who got the end one would have a bonus of extra storage space for most of the depth.
ReplyDeleteA good example can be found here opposite the sub-station.
I remember that one you found at Hartburn(24)..memories flooding back...behind it to the east of it was a row of garages now gone (where the grass is)facing a row still standing...to the south was a wall(the foundations of it are just visible-where the lampost is in the foreground) which ended just short(1/2 of a metre) before the substation which kids used to climb on and jump across the 1/2 m gap onto the roof of the substation..they must of knocked the wall down in an attempt to prevent vandalism etc being done to the garages behind it...
ReplyDeleteYes, I now recall the one at Reestones places, you are right about that one...
ReplyDeleteAnd also the Thirston one, yse I see it on the link and in my head!
ReplyDeleteBrilliant deduction re the oversize- I would never have spotted that, but now we know-good work Shades!
ReplyDeleteI didn't remember the Hartburn one being in an island setting; the end of a row of demolished garages makes sense now.
ReplyDeleteBiggin's used to get up on the now demolished wall at the Hartburn garages by running and leaping gazelle like...littlin's used to use the lampost(not the scarey gulag type one visible on google-one of the lovely old round top ones now sadly all replaced)this was done by holding onto the lampost facing the wall then putting the sabogs(feet) on the wall and like leaning back away, moving the next sabog higher up on the wall then moving rookers(hands)up the lampost on and on until the sabogs could be placed on top of the wall in triumph-maybe a bit like when you see vecks on tv climbing coconut trees if you viddy what I slooshy...
ReplyDeleteyou coming over all clockwork again?
ReplyDeleteIt's a good job he did not come over all Virginia Bottomley eh? - bet you cannot find where that quote came from.................
ReplyDeleteWhat a horrible thought.
ReplyDeleteI said:
ReplyDelete'to the south was a wall(the foundations of it are just visible-where the lampost is in the foreground) which ended just short(1/2 of a metre) before the substation which kids used to climb on and jump across the 1/2 m gap onto the roof of the substation'
what I ommited to say was why:It was deemed one of the top 'duffs'to do on the estate...I of course never even dreampt of attempted to do this act of idiocity as I was a sensible cub scout type of veck...
Interestingly in the riveting Rutter Carroll book'Ryder & Yates'apparently tenants on Kenton Bar were unhappy with the 'long' walks they had to undertake to their garage blocks separate from their house...now I dont get this...I reckon every house on our beloved Kenton Bar Estate was within no more than 100m distance from their allocated garage due to the excellent design of the estate...this was hardly a 'long walk'...nevertheless apparently this disatisfaction had ramifications for the design of Ryder & Yates subsequent 'Albany'development...
ReplyDeleteI didn't remember the Hartburn one being in an island setting; the end of a row of demolished garages makes sense now.
ReplyDeleteCurious, the end garages on Byrness close are oversized, look at this one on the west and this on the east.
ReplyDeleteCock-up, perhaps?
The garages mentioned in this post were pulled down yesterday. Only "substation" is remaining. It is sad in the way, but I think it is better to see them gone than unused and in such a disrepair.
ReplyDelete