{"id":12257,"date":"2010-01-27T18:52:59","date_gmt":"2010-01-27T17:52:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bohemiavillage.com\/?p=12257"},"modified":"2013-08-21T17:38:03","modified_gmt":"2013-08-21T16:38:03","slug":"tramways-arrive-in-bohemia-a-century-ago-bohemia-acquired-its-first-tra-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.bohemiavillage.com\/?p=12257","title":{"rendered":"Tramways arrive in Bohemia"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Bohemia<\/a>

Bohemia Road, in the early 1900s being laid with tramlines. (Picture kindly supplied by Geoff Northwood)<\/p><\/div>\n

A century ago Bohemia acquired its first tram<\/strong><\/p>\n

The laying of tramways in this town began towards the end of 1904, so the photograph was probably taken during the spring of 1905, since the man seen walking past no. 55 is not wearing a top coat. The public tram service commenced on 31st July 1905, running from the depot in Beaufort Road, Silverhill. This is now used by Stagecoach-in-Hastings as their bus depot.<\/p>\n

Certain features in this picture which have changed are: the gas street lamps, replaced by electric, and the sunblinds. Most of those blinds were supported by poles which fitted into square holes with metal surrounds in the granite kerb-stones. Many of these may still be seen (picture, right, outside Masquerade). The fact that so many blinds are drawn down suggests that this photograph was taken during the afternoon, when the eastern side of Bohemia Road receives full sun (at least on sunny days).<\/p>\n

Apart from shop-fronts and shop names, very little has changed architecturally since these two terraces were built (early 1870s). An intriguing feature, still present, is the niche above the corner entrance of no. 61 (top right). It appears as though intended for a saint\u2019s effigy. However, no. 61 was originally named Albert House, so perhaps a statue of Prince Albert, who had died in 1861, had been considered.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, Memorial House, built around the same time, is to be seen on the side entrance of no. 45, Bohemia Road, i.e. in Upper Park Road.<\/p>\n

\"No<\/a>

No 61, Bohemia Road today with mystery alcove<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Kerbstone<\/a>

Kerbstone with metal pole socket<\/p><\/div>\n

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Bohemia Road – 1904<\/strong><\/p>\n

53 J. H. Weatherseed – Plumber
\n55 Thomas W. Jones – Chemist
\n57 Mrs E. Murray – Draper
\n59 London & County Banking Co. Ltd. – W. G. Carpenter, manager. Bank House – W. C. Hawker
\n… here is Upper South Road …
\n61 John Banks – Butcher
\n63 S. Gold – Corn Merchant
\n65 B Crouch & Son – Shoe Warehouse
\n67 P. W. McLaggan – Watchmaker
\n69 J. H. Pullman – Stationer
\n71 W. B. Taylor – Draper
\n73 William Wratten – Grocer
\n75 G. M. Smith – Oil & Colourman – G. J. Peal, mnger
\n… here is Newgate Road …
\n77 King Bros. – Newsagents (Tele. 354a)
\n79 not listed
\n81\/83 J. B. Ward – Hosier
\n85 not listed
\n87 A. G. Ward – Confectioner
\n… Opposite …
\n62 Edwin C. Smith – Grocer
\n64 J. Cosens – Plumber, Decorator, Ironmonger and Gasfitter
\n… here is South Road …
\n66 W. H. Knight – Draper<\/p>\n

COMMENT<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Priory Avenue resident <\/strong>writes (Jul 2009)<\/p>\n

Dear Sir, I was interested in your article on the tramways [Village Voice<\/em>, May 2009]. After the trams were discontinued, they were replaced by trolleybuses. My father was a conductor on the trolleybuses after the Second World War, and later he became a driver.\u00a0He said it was very cold driving trolleybuses in the winter, as the electric motor gave no heat at all. I remember there was an island at the top of Elphinstone Road by the cemetery, where the trolleybuses had to turn round. It was a tight curve, and also going downhill, and if the drivers didn’t judge it right the poles would come off the wires.\u00a0Then the conductor had\u00a0 to get out the long pole with a hook on the end of it that was carried on the bottom of the trolleybus, and hook the poles back on.\u00a0Priory Avenue resident (name and address supplied).<\/p>\n

Peter Winder<\/strong> writes (Jul 2009)<\/p>\n

Dear Sir, inspired by the article, “Tramways arrive in Bohemia”, [Villiage Voice<\/em>, May 2009], I did a little research. I wondered if 61 Bohemia Road might originally have been a pub with its name in the niche. I found that it seems to have been a butcher’s shop from the beginning.\u00a0 At the time of the construction of the house, and for some time after, Bohemia Road was not used as an address.\u00a0 The group of houses between Upper South Road and Newgate Road were known as number 1 to 8 Albert Terrace, with the present 61 Bohemia Road being number 8.\u00a0Mr. Preston may well be right and the niche was intended for a memorial to Albert as, presumably, the terrace was named after him, but were people still lamenting his passing more than ten years later?\u00a0Peter Winder, Essex.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve passed on your query to our local history expert, Edward Preston \u2013 ed.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bohemia Road, in the early 1900s being laid with tramlines. (Picture kindly supplied by Geoff Northwood) A century ago Bohemia acquired its first tram The laying of tramways in this town began towards the end of 1904, so the photograph was… Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[7,17,19],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bohemiavillage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12257"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bohemiavillage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bohemiavillage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bohemiavillage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bohemiavillage.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12257"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.bohemiavillage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12257\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26221,"href":"http:\/\/www.bohemiavillage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12257\/revisions\/26221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bohemiavillage.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bohemiavillage.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bohemiavillage.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}