Clipstone street Leicester

[deskhermit]

Clipstone St was in the Highfields district but in 1966 the whole area was demolished to make way for new housing estates. Parts of these estates were themselves refurbished in the 80s. My problem is I cannot relate the old maps of the area to the latest maps on Google. The only maps I can find at oldmaps.uk do not help as they contain few street names.
I located an old thread here 'help in finding Leicester street names' begun in 06.
Can anyone (maybe Tony Vines) help locate Clipstone street on a modern map?

[Waitabit]

I didn't find that thread deskhermit, but you may find something ueful Here

[malcolm99]

Hello deskhermit

I think I may have something for you but it’s rather complicated and will take a little time to set down clearly. In the meantime have you seen this rather splendid site about the Highfields area http://highfields.dmu.ac.uk/index.html ?
If you click on the ‘Photographs’ link you’ll find some lovely old photos of Clipstone Street and the surrounding area.
If you put Pluto Close, Leicester into Google maps and zoom in a couple of times, I have a feeling that Clipstone Street is/was round about the ‘dog leg’ in Pluto Close – but I’m still working on this and will get back to you a bit later on.

malcolm99

[malcolm99]

Hello again deskhermit

I’ve finally unfuddled my brain and can pinpoint Clipstone Street for you. First go to this site http://highfields.dmu.ac.uk/maps/map...s_html/b3.html (it helps if you can copy this and then enlarge it, but it’s not the end of the world if you can’t).

In the lower half of the map there’s a single purple blob, the top of which is on Clipstone Street. The road beneath the blob is Oxendon Street which still exists. The ‘red’ road to the right is Melbourne Road.

On this map you can see that Clipstone Street runs parallel to Oxendon Street and so if you search for Oxendon Street in Google Maps you can trace where Clipstone Street would have run before it was demolished (the eastern end of Clipstone Street was directly opposite Donnington Street).
It’s just slightly off-putting that the ‘Highfields Remembered’ map is in two sections and the edges don’t meet up perfectly but I’m sure you can trace the street fairly easily.

At the western end of Clipstone Street you can just make out the junction with Upper Conduit Street and it’s just possible that Clipstone Street ended opposite Hutchinson Street (see this map http://highfields.dmu.ac.uk/maps/map...s_html/a3.html ) but I can’t be absolutely sure. If this was the case then you could draw a line from the end of Donnington Street to Hutchinson Street (both of which still exist) and that would give you the exact site and position of Clipstone Street. See what you think.

Just two little gems I’ve found about the area. There is a map here http://www.le.ac.uk/emoha/leicester/...ldsbombs3.html showing where bombs dropped in the area (I‘ll leave you to name all the streets!) – and apparently the singer Engelbert Humperdinck grew up in Stoughton Street which crossed Clipstone Street!

Hope this is of some help.

malcolm99

[tony vines]

Hi deskhermit

malcolm99 has it pretty much spot on and I can confirm that the western end of Clipstone St came out onto what was then called Upper Kent St (but is now called Maidstone Rd for some inexplicable reason) opposite the end of Hutchinson St. which you can still see on Google Map.

It isn't however correct that Highfields was demolished in 1966. I worked on and off in that area at that time and it was still very much in existance. True, lots of it has since been redeveloped over the years but have a virtual drive round using Street View on Google Maps and you will see lots of Victorian and Edwardian houses and terraces still intact.

[tony vines]

PS

I am really grateful to malcolm99 for pointing me to the DMU site on Highfields. I shall be contacting them to contribute my own memories.

[deskhermit]

Malcolm,
Where to start perhaps with a simple thank you but I cannot tell you what this means to me. I was born in my grandparents house on Clipstone street and spent my boyhood there. My parents first house was around the corner on Melbourne Road. Two of my daughters have visited home but could not find Clipstone so this is quite a revelation.
The key, of course, is knowing Oxendon St was not demolished after that it all becomes clear. I was aware of the DeMontfort Uni site one of its photos shows Clipstone from the shop at 115 back and you can just see 91 where I was born.
The western end of Clipstone did run into Hutchinson which lead to the Birdcage Walk a lane over the railway goods yard that took you into the city, if you wanted to walk and did not have enough pocket money for the bus!
I know all the bomb sites we played in them as kids because we specifically told not to or risk a spanking. The germans where trying to hit the railway yards and got close to my house but not close enough. My grandparents had an anderson shelter in the backyard. Nothing grew there after it was removed and my grandmother always claimed the germans killed her garden.
I knew about engelbert too he went to school with my cousin but we never met. He lived across the otherside of Spinney Hill Park.
A final heartfelt thank you - its just like coming home.

[deskhermit]

Tony,
I recommend the Demontfort site to you I am certain you will find it fascinating. Thanks for the update on Highfields I have assumed until today that it was largely demolished. Now I'll take the google tour!