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BBC: A House Through Time

  • 05-01-2018 3:46pm
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 7,182 ✭✭✭


    Anyone watch this last night. I enjoyed it, great concept for a programme.
    From a genealogical perspective I liked the way they used the normal registers,census returns for the facts and then used newspaper archives etc to put 'flesh on the bones' so to speak.
    Fabulous house with a very interesting history. I liked the way they showed a broader view of what was going on in the world geographically and socially at the time. Looking forward to next week.


Comments

  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 6,609 Mod ✭✭✭✭pinkypinky


    Have it recorded to watch later.

    Genealogy Forum Mod



  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 11,291 Mod ✭✭✭✭Hermy


    Watched this myself. I thought it was very good - a nice twist on genealogy TV focusing on the residence rather than the individual.
    Although where it was warranted they stuck with the individual till the end.

    Genealogy Forum Mod



  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,108 ✭✭✭Jellybaby1


    Enjoyed it very much. Extremely well done too.


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,777 ✭✭✭shanew


    caught one of these this afternoon - very good, well worth a watch


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,706 ✭✭✭Waitsian


    I managed to see it today too and found it fascinating. I actually started something the same a few years ago but never finished it. I still have my initial notes and hopefully I'll go back to it someday.

    I lived in Stapleton Place, Dundalk from 1999 to Sept 2017. The house was built in the early 1830s, designed by the architect who built Dundalk's first proper hospital (which still stands at the top of the street). You can find old b&w photos online and of course it's in the 2 online censuses.

    When I moved in the house had been converted into 4 modern apartments, but it seems from it's initial build right up to 1911 it housed people of wealth and status and high to middling social and political positions. In fact very like the house depicted in this show.

    The details and history of the house, no 4, can be found on the Buildings of Ireland website.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 28,403 ✭✭✭✭vicwatson


    I assume the one on this evening was a repeat of Thursday’s one?


  • Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 67,090 Mod ✭✭✭✭L1011


    mod9maple wrote: »

    The details and history of the house, no 4, can be found on the Buildings of Ireland website.

    The asymmetrical nature with with the dormer vs velux on the 'twin' is making my eye twitch looking at it

    http://www.buildingsofireland.ie/niah/search.jsp?type=record&county=LH&regno=13707004


    My own house is rather boring and 1970s but had a very frenetic turnover of residents until the late 1990s and even then I believe there was a room rented out by the guy who's estate I bought it off so a similar study would need to be very detailed.


  • Registered Users Posts: 43,017 ✭✭✭✭SEPT 23 1989


    Can't go wrong with BBC4


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,706 ✭✭✭Waitsian


    vicwatson wrote: »
    I assume the one on this evening was a repeat of Thursday’s one?

    Indeed it was.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,706 ✭✭✭Waitsian


    L1011 wrote: »
    mod9maple wrote: »

    The details and history of the house, no 4, can be found on the Buildings of Ireland website.

    The asymmetrical nature with with the dormer vs velux on the 'twin' is making my eye twitch looking at it

    It used to be a beautiful street. The old photos show it at it's best. They ruined the street - cut down the trees that lined it, put in a bike lane, it's crisscrossed above with multiple wires, parking either side, parking metres. Ugh!


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  • Registered Users Posts: 28,403 ✭✭✭✭vicwatson


    Can't go wrong with BBC4

    Yes you can, as it’s on BBC 2:P


  • Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 67,090 Mod ✭✭✭✭L1011


    mod9maple wrote: »
    It used to be a beautiful street. The old photos show it at it's best. They ruined the street - cut down the trees that lined it, put in a bike lane, it's crisscrossed above with multiple wires, parking either side, parking metres. Ugh!

    The bike lane and parking are an unfortunate side effect of living in an urban area. Wires though - having lived for so long in a town that had a huge undergrounding effort decades ago I even find the cable TV 'overhead' that jumps between terraces odd and would find an urban streetscape with overhead cables unthinkable now.

    (this has veered hugely off-topic...)


  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 11,291 Mod ✭✭✭✭Hermy


    L1011 wrote: »
    ...(this has veered hugely off-topic...)
    Let's go further.:pac:
    Can't go wrong with BBC4

    BBC4 has gone to hell - endless repeats, especially of the Top of the Pops variety, are ruining this once fantastic channel!!:(

    Genealogy Forum Mod



  • Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 67,090 Mod ✭✭✭✭L1011


    Hermy wrote: »
    Let's go further.:pac:



    BBC4 has gone to hell - endless repeats, especially of the Top of the Pops variety, are ruining this once fantastic channel!!:(

    Why not...

    They spent a lot of time re-editing TOTP to remove all the unsavoury presenters, they want to get their moneys worth from the content now :pac:


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,108 ✭✭✭Jellybaby1


    Our family home was occupied by my ancestors for over a hundred years ending in the 1980's so I know about those residents, before them there were a few small businesses. Wish I'd thought of a TV series! :rolleyes: My version of the Forsyth Saga! :D


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,706 ✭✭✭Waitsian


    I was delighted to see the presenter of this series too. Did he write it as well? He made a previous series on black people in Britain and twas very interesting. I'm looking forward to the next episode.


  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 6,609 Mod ✭✭✭✭pinkypinky


    Right: back on topic you lot. David Olusoga is really very attractive, isn't he?

    I think it's a brilliant idea for a show: combining the stuff WDYTYA does in a new fresh way. He's a good presenter and yes he did write it too. I have his Black & British book but haven't read it yet.

    Genealogy Forum Mod



  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,108 ✭✭✭Jellybaby1


    pinkypinky wrote: »
    Right: back on topic you lot. David Olusoga is really very attractive, isn't he?

    Well yes he is! (I'm furtively smirking but too old to do it right!)


  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 11,291 Mod ✭✭✭✭Hermy


    Have to say the endless assumptions and overindulgence in sentimentality is starting to ruin this for me. :(

    Genealogy Forum Mod



  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 6,609 Mod ✭✭✭✭pinkypinky


    Hermy wrote: »
    Have to say the endless assumptions and overindulgence in sentimentality is starting to ruin this for me. :(

    Oh really. Will you elaborate?

    Genealogy Forum Mod



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  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 11,291 Mod ✭✭✭✭Hermy


    Assumptions as to what the occupants were like as people, from toys on the floor to the parents regard for their children. All we really know for sure about them is the written documentary evidence. Everything else is in the realms of speculation and to speculate too much is actually to make the picture less vivid than it might otherwise be.

    Overindulgence in sentimentality on the theme of people triumphing over adversity. There's no doubt that some of the occupants of No. 62 had to overcome huge challenges in their time but there's a limit to how often you can make this point before it begins to sound gushing.

    Overall it's a great programme, well researched and well presented, but in last nights episode I felt the standard dropped as the presenter veered too far in the direction of populism.

    Genealogy Forum Mod



  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 11,291 Mod ✭✭✭✭Hermy


    What did people think of the final episode?

    I was expecting there might be a sudden jump towards the end to the present owner, owing to time constraints and a lack of interesting events to speak of, but no such thing. He tracked down every recorded occupancy and dealt with each in turn, and, just as throughout the earlier episodes, there were stories to tell. The woman who posed for John Lennon was fascinating to listen to. The Toxteth riots were striking for the way the various creeds and colours came together in revolt against the neglect they were subjected to. And then the AIDS epidemic which I remember but didn't fully understand at the time.

    And I really liked that he spent some time with the present occupier of 62. It just finished things off nicely.
    More of this please BBC.

    Genealogy Forum Mod



  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 6,609 Mod ✭✭✭✭pinkypinky


    I really liked the last episode. Also expected they might skip forward in time but the stats at the end saying how many people had lived in the house that they'd traced, etc was great. I did really want to know what the current owner did for a living to own such a big house solo but that's just nosiness.

    Genealogy Forum Mod



  • Registered Users Posts: 7,182 ✭✭✭jos28


    Yay it's back on BBC. Newcastle is the setting this time


  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 6,609 Mod ✭✭✭✭pinkypinky


    Yes, first episode on Monday. Was vg.

    Genealogy Forum Mod



  • Registered Users Posts: 7,182 ✭✭✭jos28


    pinkypinky wrote: »
    Yes, first episode on Monday. Was vg.

    It was indeed and all the better as the lovely Mr Olusoga is from Newcastle. I'd really love to see this programme done from an Irish city.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,108 ✭✭✭Jellybaby1


    First episode of the second series was very good, really enjoyed it. The UK census is a great asset to have.


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Education Moderators Posts: 27,088 CMod ✭✭✭✭spurious


    The one thing that jarred with me was the portrayal of the 14 year old umbrella nickers as children. Of course they were young (and didn't probably deserve what happned them) and by today's standards 'children', but in 1820 they would have been of working age.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 5,108 ✭✭✭pedroeibar1


    Saw the first episode – interesting but not great. I’d like more on the architectural history of the house – building methods, style, material, etc..

    The two ‘boys’ were lucky not to have been hanged – in 1820 stealing anything worth more than 5 shillings (about 50 euro in today’s value) often led to hanging which in those days also was in public. Even for lesser theft offences a transportation sentence of 5 or 7 years was the norm for the poorer classes.

    As a result of hitherto non-capital offences being deemed capital (the ‘Bloody Code’) during the 1700’s, the Statute books of England by 1823 held 222 crimes punishable by death. Prison reform commenced that year also (e.g. Elizabeth Fry) , and between that year and 1837, the death penalty was eliminated for over 100 ‘capital crimes’.

    However, Ireland had to wait until the ‘Capital Punishment (Ireland) Act 1842 (5 & 6 Vict c.28) brought the law in Ireland closer to that of England by reducing the penalties for numerous offences.

    Transportation was the norm for theft – the jails were full/overcrowded, American independence closed that market for ‘indentured servants’ (i.e. slaves) so Australia became the destination until about 1850 when the authorities out there got fed up of being a dumping ground and put a stop to it.


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